Performing manual research just to stay on top of what your competitors can take hours of precious time.
However, all those efforts aside, you might be feeling like you can’t keep up with all the work you have to do. Spreadsheets, bookmarks, screenshots contribute to the daily grind.
What if you can take all of those hours and compress it into minutes? What if you can research your competitors and get comprehensive insights automatically without spending days?
Google Gemini is an ideal collaborator for you if you want an AI competitive intelligence tool on a budget and with limited technical skills.
SWOT analyses, content calendars, and strategy decoding are just a few capabilities this LLM has.
In this article, I’ll take you through how I use Gemini for competitive analysis, including how you can prompt it to analyze marketing strategies, compare websites, and craft a content calendar.
In a few words, here's what you need to know:
- Gemini is fantastic at providing quick answers on a competitor positionning, or answer any question about something that has been mentioned in the press
- You can then quickly analyze their positioning, for instance
- When it comes to marketing campaigns and intelligence data (emails, ads, etc.), it will lack specific insights, of course
- It will hallucinate 24% of the time, making up generic affirmations, instead of admitting it can't access this data
- Panoramata is the best platform to access an AI that has access to your competitors data.
To cut to the chase, AI tools like Gemini are not enough for effective and thorough competitive analysis.
For this type of research, you need dedicated competitor tracking tools like Panoramata for a better understanding at what techniques and strategies your competitors are using for their marketing.
Panoramata's competitive intelligence is not limited to search engine results. It can uncover hidden parts of a marketing strategy such as display ads, email newsletters, and landing pages.
Sign up for free to learn more about Panoramata and how it can boost your competitor tracking game.
What is Google Gemini?
Gemini is an AI chatbot based on an LLM (also called Gemini). Gemini was developed by Google AI and Google Deepmind and launched in February 2024 after the widely successful launch of ChatGPT by Open AI.
Like Open AI’s GPT-4, Gemini is a multimodal AI model family—meaning it can handle different modes of input (text, code, image, audio). As a result, it goes beyond the function of an LLM (understand and generate text) and can be used for complex tasks.
Gemini can answer questions, interpret documents, create reports, images, and videos, and summarize entire books.
Notably, Google was also the first to integrate long context windows into a chatbot.
A context window is the maximum number of tokens (a measurement of text or information) that an AI assistant can interpret and generate at once.
The larger the context window, the better, because it allows you to have longer conversations and the ability to feed more information into the chatbot. However, this also means the service becomes more expensive because it requires much more computing power.
As of now, Gemini 1.5 Pro has a one-million token context window. In comparison, Open AI’s GPT-4o has 128,000 tokens. Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet also recently upgraded to one million tokens (previously it was 200,000).
Like Open AI’s GPT-4, Gemini is a multimodal AI model family—meaning it can handle different modes of input (text, code, image, audio). As a result, it goes beyond the function of an LLM (understand and generate text) and can be used for complex tasks.
Gemini has different models but their lineup is constantly evolving.
How to access Google Gemini
You can try Gemini for free even without a Google account. However, a Google account is recommended to save your chat history and upload files.
A free Google account gives you access to Gemini 2.5 Flash and limited access to Gemini 2.5 Pro. For full access to the latter, you have to upgrade to Google AI Pro or Google AI Ultra.
To use Gemini without a Google account, go to gemini.google.com in your browser.
You can also download the Gemini app by going to the App Store or Google Play Store. Note that the Gemini mobile app requires you to sign up for a Google account.
To find the app, type Google Gemini in the search bar, then install the app.
Tips & Prompt Guide: How to use Gemini for competitor research and analysis
Use well-crafted prompts, as well as your personal research, if possible, to guide Gemini into producing a competitor analysis document.
Here is a sample conversation with a wide array of applications for any industry, plus some prompts you can try. Note that I am using Gemini 2.5 Pro the examples below.
Identify competitors
You can easily identify known competitors by using Gemini.
The prompt for this is simple. First introduce your business, then ask it for information about your key competitors. You may also specify your location for tailored findings.
Basic prompt: I am a founder of a DTC ecommerce business specializing in mattresses. Perform a competitive analysis featuring my major competitors, including their strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and other tactics.
Here’s what Gemini answered.
For each competitor it identified, it completed an in-depth competitor profile with strengths, weaknesses, and their strategies.
For example, it pinpointed that Purple’s brand invests heavily in video marketing and demonstrations that showcase the properties of their unique mattress tech.
Then, after the competitor profiles, Gemini made specific recommendations for a new DTC mattress business based on its research.
That's already OK.
But we can do better with a more advanced version of this prompt, so you can:
- Identify hidden competitors
- Include Status Quo
- Identify indirect competitors as wellInclud
- Include Strenghts and Weaknesses right away
Act as a Market Research Analyst and Competitive Intelligence Expert.
I need you to identify the competitive landscape for my business:
1. What we do [Insert what you sell, to which target audience]
Please generate a categorized list of competitors based on the following 3 tiers:
- Tier 1: Direct Competitors: Companies that offer the exact same product/service to the same audience.
- Tier 2: Indirect Competitors: Companies that solve the same problem but with a different method. (
- Tier 3: Status Quo / Replacement: What is the non-business alternative?
3. For each competitor found, list:
- Name & Website:
- Channel: How do they distribute their product? What's their main acquisition channel?
- Strenght: What is the one thing they claim to do better than anyone else?
- Weakness: Based on public reviews or pricing, where are they vulnerable?
Tip: To make Gemini’s answer more applicable to you, ask it to use a specific competitor analysis framework such as SWOT analysis or Porter’s Five Forces.
Perform a SWOT analysis based on identified competitors
Let’s say you already know your competitors.
You can take this further by linking your competitors’ websites and asking Gemini to do a thorough analysis.
In this example, I am pretending to be the Glossier owner and want a SWOT analysis of 3 competitors: Saie, Tower 28, and MERIT Beauty.
Basic prompt:
Please perform a competitive analysis of my business using the SWOT analysis framework. My business is a DTC makeup brand. Here's my website: www.glossier.com
These are the competitors I want to analyze:
Saie www.saiehello.com
Tower 28 Beauty www.tower28beauty.com
MERIT Beauty www.meritbeauty.com
The analysis should be focused on their marketing strategy, including their website, products, ads, content, and unique value proposition. You can also perform a content gap analysis.
Gemini came up with this:
Here's a most advanced prompt that I recommend to use, because it involves context, cross-analysis (TOWS) and role-playing :
Act as an expert strategic consultant.
Please perform a comprehensive SWOT analysis for Glossier.com.
Here is the Context:
- The Goal: [ex: Launching a new foundation]
- Target Audience: [ex: Men, Gen Z]
- Main Competitors: [Saie, Stryx, etc.]
- Current Situation: [where you stand]
Output Requirements:
- The Matrix: A detailed list of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
- Cross-Analysis (TOWS):
- Specifically, identify: S-O Strategies: How to use our Strengths to exploit Opportunities.
- W-O Strategies: How to use Opportunities to overcome Weaknesses.
- S-T Strategies: How to use Strengths to defend against Threats.
- Action Plan: The top 3 immediate steps we should take based on this analysis.
Identify gaps in competitor positioning
You need to force Gemini to look beyond the features, and analyze perception.
To do this efficiently, I included a few reasoning principles in this prompt:
- One word constraint, so we strip away marketing fluff
- Perception by using the axes, so the white spaces can easily be identified
Act as a Senior Brand Strategist and Market Researcher.
I need you to perform a Positioning Gap Analysis to find an market opportunity for my brand.
1. My Brand: [Name] – [what you do/sell]
Target Audience:
2. Competitors websites
3. For each competitor, identify the single word or concept they 'own' in the customer's mind.
- Based on their positioning, which customer pains are they ignoring?
- Suggest two axes for a perceptual map where all competitors cluster in one quadrant, leaving another quadrant empty.
- Clearly define the 'White Space' opportunity in one sentence.
- Draft 3 potential positioning statements for my brand that directly exploit this gap.
You can also tweak the prompt to ask for "Emotional Gaps" (how they make people feel) vs "Functional Gaps" (what the product does).
Conduct a website comparison
Next, I asked Gemini to do a website conversion analysis.
Sample prompt: Analyze their website conversion tactics
The information was detailed with sources for each piece of information. It even went beyond homepages and described product pages, the checkout process, and overall strategy.
Brand positioning and ad strategies
After, I asked for an analysis of their brand positioning and advertising.
Sample prompt: Analyze their brand positioning and advertising focus
Content and social media strategies
Next, I wanted to know more about competitors’ content strategy and social media presence.
Sample prompt: Analyze their content strategy and social media presence.
To tie it all together, I asked Gemini for a unified recommendation and analysis based on the competitor information it gave.
Sample prompt: Create recommendations for me based on my competitors' strategies and information. Create a comprehensive comparison and develop strategies based on their approaches.
Here are the results.
Create a content calendar
You can even ask Gemini to create a sample content calendar for you based on its findings.
Sample prompt: Create a content calendar for me based on your research.
Conduct a sentiment analysis
Aside from content, you can ask Gemini to perform a sentiment analysis of your brand versus your competitors.
It will pull from general public perception, common themes in reviews, and social media conversations. However, you still need to fact check this as it doesn’t cite its sources.
Sample prompt: Conduct a sentiment analysis of me vs. my competitors.
Summarize a competitor’s new product or feature
Has a competitor launched a new product or feature recently? You can ask Gemini to read through a competitor’s product or feature release and summarize it for you.
To do this, you have to upload the report to Gemini and ask it to summarize the data. It can create a report in seconds.
Plus, you can ask questions about your competitor’s product or feature based on the report.
This can be handy for a quick overview or as preparation for a meeting or more comprehensive strategy brainstorming.
Compare Marketing Agency Proposals
This is not directly related to Competitive Analysis directly, but we received a few requests from readers + competitive analysis is something marketing agencies might include.
For this, you have a few things to keep in mind: compare the price using the right metrics (agencies might use different methods for pricing), and it shows how relevant their proposals are to your business specifically: which shows you instantly if this agency really cares for your business.
Really, criteria #1, because it drives everything after: support, management involvment, etc.
Act as an expert CMO.
I need you to compare and evaluate 3 marketing agency proposals for my company.
1. My Context:
- Company
- Core Objective
- Budget Constraint
2. The Proposals in attachments
3. Output Requirements: Please provide a comparative analysis including:
- A side-by-side comparison of Costs, Deliverables (Frequency/Volume), and Promised KPIs.
- Strategy Audit: Which agency shows a better understanding of my specific industry and customer? Who is offering generic tactics vs. tailored strategy?
- Identify potential red flags in each proposal (e.g., vague scope, undefined success metrics, junior team execution).
Based on maximum ROI and minimum risk, which agency should I choose? If it's a close call, list the 3 specific 'tie-breaker' questions I must ask them to decide.
Next steps
Remember that you can export your findings to a new Google Doc so you can revisit it at a later time, save it as a file, or do more detailed work on it.
To export, click the share icon beneath Gemini’s response and then select Export to Docs.
Tips for using Gemini and LLMs in competitive analysis
You need the right tools & add your own research
Data is of utmost importance when training and requesting something from an AI assistant like Gemini.
While it can do a web search for you, Gemini’s output will be more accurate if you research real reviews, social media metrics and posts, blog titles, blog descriptions, and other components of their marketing strategy. This is a more involved method but it ensures that the answers you get are a hundred percent reliable or close enough.
If you want an even more targeted competitor tracking and analysis tool, Panoramata is highly recommended. Unlike Gemini or ChatGPT, Panoramata can track much more than information you can find on a search engine.
Find landing pages, SMS campaigns, email marketing campaigns, and email automations with this all-in-one competitor tracking platform. Try it out today and sign up for free.
Be specific: write effective prompts
Also, skip broad questions like “Perform a competitive analysis of my business vs. my competitors”. It helps to come prepared with a list of competitors and a specific analysis framework you want the AI chatbot to analyze or apply. Simply put, AI tools like Gemini need a lot of guidance at the start. A better way to ask Gemini questions is to break down an overarching task (like competitive analysis) into smaller steps.
Lastly, study how to make good prompts for Gemini because it affects the quality of the analysis you will get from it. Specificity is key with prompting. A good prompt is usually composed of:
- A task (what you want it to do)
- Context (additional details that will help Gemini understand the task like persona, target audience, etc.)
- Format (visual or writing style, number of options, a list, a table, etc.)
I hope this gets you started with using Gemini for your competitor research and analysis. While not completely accurate and without limitations, an AI chatbot can really speed up your processes and gets your brunt work done for you.
Ready to start your own competitive analysis? Grab your free competitive analysis template below.
If you want an even more targeted competitor tracking and analysis tool, Panoramata is highly recommended. Unlike Gemini or ChatGPT, Panoramata can track much more than information you can find on a search engine.
Find landing pages, SMS campaigns, email marketing campaigns, and email automations with this all-in-one competitor tracking platform. Try it out today and sign up for free.
FAQs
Is Google Gemini free to use for competitor analysis?
Yes, you can access Gemini for free with a Google account, which is sufficient for basic competitor analysis tasks. For more advanced features and unlimited access to Gemini Pro, you'll need to upgrade to a paid plan starting with Google AI Pro.
How accurate is Gemini's competitor analysis compared to manual research?
Gemini provides a solid foundation for competitor analysis, but it's most effective when combined with your own research and fact-checking. The AI can miss recent changes or nuanced details, so it's best used as a starting point that you then verify and expand upon - or use a specialized AI platform, that does only competitive intelligence work, for this.
Can Gemini analyze competitors' social media presence?
Sometimes, but not really. It depends on the social network, and that can change quickly. Gemini can provide insights into competitors' content strategies and social media approaches based on publicly available information, usually the one available on the press. However, it cannot access private analytics or real-time engagement metrics, so you may need to supplement with manual observation - or use a specific platform, made for this, that can access social media data.
