How to Conduct a Competitive PR Analysis That Drives Strategy

Before analyzing competitors, clearly define who belongs in your competitive set. Include direct competitors offering similar products or services, indirect competitors solving the same customer problem differently, and aspirational competitors whose PR success you want to emulate.

Limit your initial analysis to five to seven competitors. Too many dilutes focus and makes ongoing monitoring impractical. Prioritize based on market share, media visibility, and strategic relevance to your business goals.

Document basic information for each competitor: company name, headquarters, approximate size, primary products or services, and known PR agency relationships. This creates a reference framework for deeper analysis.

Gather comprehensive media coverage for each competitor from the past six to twelve months. Use media monitoring services like Meltwater, Cision, or Muck Rack, or leverage free tools like Google News alerts and social listening platforms for a more limited view.

For each competitor, document: total coverage volume, top publications and journalists covering them, types of stories (product announcements, executive profiles, industry commentary, crisis coverage), and sentiment trends over time.

Create a coverage comparison matrix showing relative media presence. Note which competitors consistently appear in your target publications and which struggle to gain coverage. This reveals both competitive threats and potential opportunities.

Examine how competitors describe themselves across all communications channels. Review their websites, press releases, executive speeches, social media, and earned media quotes. Identify their core value propositions, key differentiators, and primary talking points.

Map each competitor positioning against key attributes that matter in your market. Are they positioning on price, innovation, reliability, customer service, or something else? Understanding their positioning helps you find white space or areas where you can compete more effectively.

Document the specific language and phrases competitors use repeatedly. These keywords represent their strategic communication priorities. Note which messages appear consistently and which seem to be new or experimental.

Identify who speaks for each competitor in the media. Note their executives titles, areas of expertise, and how frequently they appear in coverage. Some companies rely heavily on the CEO while others distribute spokesperson duties across the leadership team.

Assess the quality and depth of competitor thought leadership. Are they publishing bylined articles, speaking at conferences, participating in podcasts, or contributing to industry reports? Strong thought leadership programs build credibility that influences media coverage.

Rate each competitor thought leadership presence: nascent, developing, established, or dominant. Competitors with weak thought leadership programs represent opportunities for your executives to claim expert positioning in those topic areas.

Identify which journalists and publications consistently cover each competitor. Note whether coverage comes from the same reporters repeatedly, suggesting established relationships, or varies widely across different writers.

Analyze the types of stories each outlet writes about competitors. Some publications may only cover funding announcements while others provide deep feature coverage. Understanding these patterns helps you target the right outlets with appropriate story angles.

Create a media relationship map showing which journalists cover which competitors most frequently. This reveals potential targets for your outreach who already cover your competitive space and understand the industry context.

Review competitor press release frequency, timing, and topics over the past year. Note whether they follow predictable announcement cycles tied to product launches, earnings, or industry events. Understanding their rhythm helps you plan complementary or counter-programming.

Analyze any integrated campaigns that combined PR with advertising, events, or content marketing. Successful campaigns often get repeated, so understanding what worked for competitors helps you anticipate their future moves.

Document crisis communications history. How have competitors handled negative coverage, product issues, or executive departures? Their crisis response patterns reveal vulnerabilities and provide lessons for your own preparedness planning.

Consolidate your analysis into a competitive intelligence summary. For each competitor, document their PR strengths, weaknesses, key messages, media relationships, and thought leadership position. Highlight the most important findings that should influence your strategy.

Identify specific opportunities revealed by your analysis: media outlets competitors have not penetrated, messaging territories no one owns, thought leadership topics without clear experts, or timing windows when competitor activity is low.

Develop recommendations for how your PR program should respond. This might include new message development, specific media targeting, thought leadership initiatives, or timing adjustments. Ground each recommendation in specific competitive findings.

Competitive analysis is not a one-time project. Establish systems for continuous monitoring including automated alerts for competitor mentions, quarterly coverage audits, and regular reviews of competitor communications channels.

Create a competitive intelligence repository where insights accumulate over time. This might be a shared document, database, or dedicated section in your PR planning tools. Make it easy for team members to add observations and access historical analysis.

Schedule regular competitive review sessions, at least quarterly. Use these sessions to update your analysis, discuss competitive moves, and adjust strategy based on changing market dynamics. Competitive intelligence only creates value when it informs decisions.