Knowing what your competitors do well, and where they are weak, helps you position your own business. This method fits in an afternoon.
Step 1: Choose five competitors
Pick two direct competitors, two that customers compare you with and one aspirational brand.
Step 2: Study their offer
- What exactly do they sell and to whom?
- How do they describe themselves in one line?
- What does their pricing or packaging look like?
Step 3: Look at their channels
Check their website, social accounts and email. Note how often they post, which formats they use and what gets engagement. Public ad libraries from Meta and Google show which ads they currently run.
Step 4: Read their reviews
Customer reviews are free research. Look for repeated praise and repeated complaints. Complaints about a competitor are opportunities for you.
Step 5: Check their search visibility
Search the phrases your customers use, in Arabic and English. See who appears, what their pages promise and what is missing.
Step 6: Write down your gaps and opportunities
Finish with a one-page summary: where you are stronger, where they are stronger and three things you will do differently this quarter.
A simple template for your spreadsheet
Create one row per competitor and columns for each of the items below. You will see patterns quickly.
- What they sell and to whom.
- Price points or packages.
- Main promise or headline.
- Proof they show: reviews, case studies, awards.
- Channels they use and how often they post.
- Offers and promotions currently running.
- Strengths and weaknesses you notice.
Analysing messaging
Read each competitor's homepage and top ads as a customer would. Write down the three phrases they repeat most. If everyone uses the same claims, such as 'best quality' or 'trusted experts', there is an opportunity to say something more specific and believable.
Looking at pricing ethically
Use publicly available information such as websites, menus and published packages. Never pretend to be a customer to extract private quotes you do not intend to use, and never use confidential information. The goal is positioning, not copying.
Using public ad libraries
Meta and Google both let you search the ads a business is currently running. Note the formats, offers and calls to action. Ads that have run for a long time are often working. Use them as inspiration for what to test, not to copy.
Turning findings into a summary
- List where you are clearly stronger.
- List where competitors are clearly stronger.
- List gaps nobody addresses, such as fast replies, clear pricing or Arabic-first service.
- Choose one or two differences to emphasise in your marketing this quarter.
From insight to action
- Update your homepage headline to reflect your strongest difference.
- Create content that answers questions competitors ignore.
- Adjust your offer or packages if you are consistently priced above or below the market without a clear reason.
- Improve the review profile if competitors have stronger social proof.
How often to repeat
Review your main competitors every quarter. Markets change quickly, especially around seasonal peaks and new product launches.
Who counts as a competitor?
Competitors are not only businesses that sell the same thing. Think in three groups.
- Direct competitors: sell a similar product or service to the same customer.
- Indirect competitors: solve the same problem in a different way, such as a delivery app versus a restaurant.
- Substitutes: options that let the customer avoid buying at all, such as doing it themselves.
Looking at all three helps you see why customers choose you, and why they sometimes do not.
Free places to gather information
- The competitor's website, blog and pricing pages.
- Their social profiles, including comments and replies.
- Public ad libraries from Meta and Google.
- Review sites and Google Maps.
- Search results for your main keywords in Arabic and English.
- Press coverage, event pages and job postings, which can reveal plans and priorities.
Make a simple positioning map
Draw a square with two axes that matter to your customers, such as price from low to high and service from basic to premium. Place yourself and each competitor on it. Gaps on the map show where few businesses compete, and clusters show where competition is crowded.
Ask your customers
Some of the best insight is free. Ask five recent customers why they chose you and who else they considered. A short call or a message can reveal differences that no website shows.
An example summary
Imagine a family dental clinic in Dubai. The review shows that most competitors promote cosmetic treatments, few mention clear pricing, and several have complaints about waiting times. The clinic decides to emphasise transparent price lists, online booking with reminders and evening hours, and to publish short videos explaining common procedures. Within a quarter, it can compare enquiries and bookings against the previous period.
Frequently asked questions
How many competitors should I study?
Five to eight is enough. More than that and the summary becomes noise.
Should I copy what works for them?
Learn from it, but adapt it to your strengths. Copying rarely wins, because customers choose the original.
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