Let’s face it— standing out is tough in a crowded market. But here’s the good news: a well-done competitive audit can be the secret weapon your brand needs to shine.
A competitive audit isn’t just a tool for seeing what the competition is up to. Rather, it can be the key to building a brand that stands out and connects with your ideal audience. For copywriters, in particular, a brand audit can help unlock better brand messaging. It helps you uncover where your brand can shine, identify gaps, and spot opportunities to elevate your voice. In short, a brand audit elevates messaging by showing exactly where your brand fits—and how to make it memorable. Here’s ID’s guide–by copywriters– to conducting a competitive audit that helps your brand stay one step ahead.
What is a Competitive Audit?
In the B2B space, it’s not just about being heard—it’s about being credible and memorable. A competitive audit can help you achieve both. It gives you a clear picture of how competitors position themselves, which messages resonate in the industry, and, most importantly, where they fall short. But why does this matter? Because understanding the competitive landscape is the first step to carving out a space where your brand stands out.
For copywriters, this audit process is crucial. With the insights gathered, copywriters can create messaging that speaks directly to decision-makers’ pain points, highlights a brand’s unique value, and earns trust.
Steps to Conducting a Competitive Audit
1. Internal audit
We all have to start somewhere, right? Before you can understand where you fit in the market, you need to take a deep look at your brand with an internal audit. As a copywriter working with multiple brands across the B2B space, here’s where I start with an internal audit:
- Brand positioning: This is your brand’s unique place in the market. This is the elevator pitch—what makes the brand uniquely equipped to solve problems better than anyone else.
- Mission: This is the “why,” the reason your brand exists. It’s what drives goals and connects with the audience on a deeper level.
- Audience: Who is your brand talking to? Knowing the ideal audience helps tailor messaging to their needs, preferences, and pain points.
- Voice and tone: This is how your brand “sounds” when it communicates. Voice is consistent, but tone adapts based on context i.e. talking to consumers about a new line versus security breaches.
- Archetypes: Think of your brand as a person—what are their traits? Are they bold and adventurous or calm and dependable? Archetypes add depth to a brand by connecting it to universal human stories. For example, Coca-Cola personifies the “Innocent” archetype, focusing on happiness and optimism. You can learn more about the different archetypes here.
- Visual themes: Your brand’s visuals—colors, fonts, imagery—create an immediate impression. Make sure it’s saying something clear and unforgettable.
- UI/UX: User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) are sometimes ignored but they shouldn’t be. These ensure digital products are easy and enjoyable to use, which is equally important to a brand as a mission statement.
- Products/tools: What are the tangible things your brand offers? These could be physical products, digital tools, or services.
- Solution: How do the products or services solve the audience’s problems?
2. Identify competitors
Now that you’re more familiar with your brand, it’s time to take a close look at who you’re up against in the market. Tools like SEMrush can help identify direct competitors in your industry. Or, if you’re like me, you can do some manual sleuthing. Look for brands that target the same audience or solve similar problems.
When one client came to ID looking to increase engagement and grow brand recognition, we started their competitive audit by identifying and analyzing the top four competitors in their industry to better understand where their brand was succeeding and where competitors were outpacing them.
3. Analyze messaging
Here’s where it starts to get interesting: Once you’ve identified your competitors, take a close look at their taglines, copy, social media posts, and content themes. What tone are they using—friendly and approachable, or formal and professional? What pain points are they addressing, and how are they positioning themselves as the solution? Most importantly, is it working? Does their messaging feel authentic, compelling, or memorable?
For copywriters, this step is not just about observing what competitors are doing; it’s about spotting the gaps, the clichés, and the missed opportunities. Compile your observations into a document or deck (they’re a surprise tool that can help us later).
4. Evaluate positioning
What’s the competitor’s angle? Are they selling based on quality, price, innovation, or something else? Understanding their unique selling points (and where they’re lacking) will help you refine your own as you build out brand messaging.
5. Dive deeper
Once you have messaging and positioning down, dive deeper into competitors by exploring their archetypes, visual themes, social media, UI/UX, products and services, solutions, and more. The more you gather, the more you can learn about a competitor’s place in the market to better establish and set apart your brand.
6. Build a competitive analysis
A competitive matrix is a powerful tool to make sense of all the insights you’ve gathered. It allows you to visually lay out each competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, and gaps side by side. This can take many forms like a traditional matrix, a Venn diagram, a SWOT chart, or even a positioning map. For the client we helped above, we used mini matrices to break down the four key competitors and highlight the top insights for each. We then created a larger matrix showing exactly where their brand could win against those competitors. Seeing the data in a clear, organized format gives you a focused understanding of where your brand can stand out.
When you know how competitors are speaking, it’s much easier to craft messaging that not only gets noticed but that truly resonates with your audience. A competitive audit isn’t just for strategists; it’s an invaluable resource for copywriters to create messaging that’s sharper, more relevant, and impossible to ignore. So, take those insights and turn them into action. Use your competitive audit to shape messaging that highlights your brand’s unique strengths, fills market gaps, and connects with your audience in a genuine, powerful way.
Ready to elevate your brand’s messaging? Reach out to us to get started.