7 AI Prompts to Spy on Your Competitors

Ever wished you could be a fly on the wall in your competitor’s marketing meeting?

Enter AI-powered competitive intelligence.

Let’s face it – traditional competitor analysis is time-consuming, often superficial and frequently relies on outdated information.

No wonder 73% of businesses lack structured competitive analysis systems, despite 90% of Fortune 500 companies leveraging competitive intelligence to gain an edge.

Our seven carefully crafted AI prompts are your new secret weapon for legally “spying” on your competitors and uncovering actionable intelligence that can transform your marketing strategy.

Why This Matters

AI is revolutionising competitive intelligence gathering.

With the right prompts, you can extract insights from publicly available information that would take humans days or weeks to compile and analyse.

But not all prompts are created equal. A properly structured prompt can be the difference between surface-level observations and genuinely actionable intelligence.

Now, let’s explore the seven AI prompts that will transform how you analyse your competition.

Prompt 1: Content Strategy Breakdown

What it does: Creates a comprehensive map of your competitor’s content strategy by analysing their content types, themes, formats, audience targeting approaches, and strategic content priorities.

Why it’s useful:

• Reveals gaps in your own content ecosystem
• Shows which topics competitors prioritise (and why)
• Identifies content formats that work in your industry
• Helps understand competitor positioning and messaging
• Creates foundation for a differentiated content strategy

When to use it:

• When planning your annual content calendar
• Before investing in a new content format (podcasts, video series, etc.)
• When launching into a new industry vertical
• After noticing a competitor gaining search visibility

Prompt 2: Blog Content Opportunity Mapping

Want to know exactly which topics your competitors are missing?

This prompt does exactly that.

What it does: Identifies high-value blog topics your competitors are missing, maps competitor blog content for gaps and opportunities, creates a prioritised content opportunity list, and reveals untapped audience needs.

Why it’s useful:

• Focuses your content resources on high-impact opportunities
• Reveals untapped topics with potential search value
• Shows where competitors are underserving audience needs
• Creates content plan based on competitive advantages
• Builds authority in areas competitors have neglected

When to use it:

• When refreshing your blog strategy
• Before allocating content creation resources
• When noticing a competitor gaining organic traffic
• After identifying industry topics trending upward
• When planning quarterly content initiatives

Prompt 3: EEAT Signal Analysis

Google’s EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) guidelines are crucial for ranking well.

But how are your competitors building trust signals?

What it does: Evaluates how competitors demonstrate EEAT. It identifies credibility signals, trust indicators, and analyses how authors present their expertise.

Why it’s useful:

• Shows how competitors build trust with audiences and search engines
• Reveals authority-building tactics you can adopt
• Helps identify areas where you can outperform on credibility
• Demonstrates quality signals that influence AI systems
• Creates framework for enhancing your own EEAT signals

When to use it:

• When developing your content guidelines
• After Google algorithm updates affect rankings
• Before investing in thought leadership content
• When targeting highly regulated industries
• When competing against well-established industry authorities

Prompt 4: Customer Review Intelligence

Your competitors’ customers are talking. Are you listening?

What it does: Mines public reviews to identify sentiment patterns, analyses strengths and weaknesses from the customer perspective, uncovers unmet needs and service gaps, and maps emotional responses to competitor offerings.

Why it’s useful:

• Reveals what customers truly value about competitors
• Identifies pain points you can address better
• Shows messaging opportunities based on customer language
• Uncovers product improvement opportunities
• Creates customer-centric competitive positioning

When to use it:

• When developing new product features
• When creating FAQs or content addressing problems
• When creating comparison pages on your website
• Before sales pitches to understand competitor weaknesses
• During customer success team training

Prompt 5: Brand Mention Opportunities

Ever wonder where your competitors are getting media coverage?

What it does: Identifies where competitors are being mentioned online, maps media outlets, forums, and platforms featuring competitors, creates strategic outreach opportunities, and reveals relationship-building targets for PR.

Why it’s useful:

• Reveals publications where you should have a presence
• Shows which journalists and influencers cover your industry
• Identifies content types driving media coverage
• Creates targeted media outreach strategy
• Builds roadmap for enhancing brand visibility

When to use it:

• When planning your PR strategy
• Before outreach or linkbuilding campaigns to industry publications
• To generate authority and to support your GEO strategy
• When developing thought leadership positioning
• After industry events or conferences
• When seeking speaking opportunities for executives

Prompt 6: LinkedIn Ad Library Analysis

What ads are your competitors investing in?

What it does: Analyses your competitor’s LinkedIn advertising strategy, identifies messaging approaches and creative elements, reveals target audience segments and value propositions, and maps offer strategies and conversion approaches.

Why it’s useful:

• Shows what messaging competitors are investing in
• Reveals their priority audience segments
• Identifies creative approaches that drive engagement
• Uncovers offer strategies and calls to action
• Creates framework for differentiating your own messaging

When to use it:

• When planning LinkedIn ad campaigns
• Before allocating social media advertising budget
• When targeting similar audience segments
• After noticing competitor growth on LinkedIn
• When developing your funnel
• During quarterly marketing strategy reviews

Prompt 7: Product & Service Positioning

How do your offerings really compare to the competition?

What it does: Analyses how competitors position their products/services, identifies key differentiators and value propositions, maps feature comparisons and pricing strategies, and reveals target audience segmentation approaches.

Why it’s useful:

• Shows how to better position your offerings
• Reveals competitive advantages you can leverage
• Identifies market gaps and positioning opportunities
• Creates framework for differentiated messaging
• Shows pricing and packaging opportunities

When to use it:

• When preparing to launch a new product in a crowded market
• During sales enablement training to equip your team with competitor comparisons
• When a prospect asks “How are you different from Competitor X?”
• Before a pricing review to ensure your positioning is distinct

Bonus Tips for Competitive Intelligence

Want to take your competitive analysis even further? Here are some expert tips:

1. Go deeper with follow-ups: Don’t settle for the initial response. Ask focused follow-up questions to explore specific insights in more detail.
2. Use multiple models: Different AI systems have various strengths. Try running the same prompt through different models to get complementary perspectives.
3. Compare multiple competitors: Benchmark several competitors against each other and your own brand to identify true industry patterns and unique advantages.
4. Update regularly: Competitive intelligence isn’t a one-time exercise. Schedule quarterly updates to track how competitor strategies evolve.
5. Connect the dots: Look for patterns across different analyses. How does a competitor’s content strategy connect to their positioning? How do customer reviews reflect their messaging priorities?

Ready to Outshine Your Competition?

Armed with these seven powerful AI prompts, you’re now equipped to gather competitive intelligence that 73% of businesses are missing out on.

From content strategy to customer sentiment, you can now extract actionable insights in minutes rather than days or weeks.

Remember, the goal isn’t just to copy what competitors are doing – it’s to identify gaps, weaknesses, and opportunities that allow you to differentiate and dominate.

Want the complete prompt deck for easy reference?

Download our free PDF guide “7 AI Prompts to Spy on Your Competitors” and start gaining actionable competitive intelligence today.

This comprehensive guide includes all seven cut and paste prompts, detailed instructions, use cases, and bonus tips for maximising your competitive intelligence gathering.

Author information

Emily, our content manager joined SeventhElement in 2018 and is behind the creative thinking and SEO content strategy that fuels our client projects.