domains / marketing / competitor-tracking / competitor-tracking

competitor-tracking

Skill card

combined

The two skills share the name and the high-level goal of ongoing competitor monitoring, but they target different product categories and prescribe different procedures. The first is an ASO/mobile-app skill that relies on the Appeeky API to track app-store metadata, keyword rankings, ratings, chart positions, and pricing, and it outputs a weekly app-store competitive report. The second is a developer-tools marketing skill that tracks changelogs, pricing pages, positioning, content strategy, GitHub/community signals, and developer sentiment, and it outputs competitive battlecards. Neither copy is a shortened or wrapped version of the other; each contains material steps and constraints the other lacks, so crowning one would hide a real alternative.

Repositories

Other copies

Combined skill

# Competitor Tracking

Use this skill when the user wants ongoing competitor monitoring. Determine the product category first: mobile apps (ASO) or developer tools (DevTools). Follow the relevant track below, or combine both if the user has both product types.

## 1. Define the Watchlist
1. Check for existing context files (e.g., app-marketing-context.md or a competitor list).
2. Ask the user for the top 3–5 competitors and, where possible, their identifiers (App Store IDs for mobile; company/product names and URLs for DevTools).
3. Ask for the review cadence (weekly is recommended for both).
4. Ask what the user is most concerned about: keywords, ratings, creative, pricing, features, positioning, or community sentiment.

## 2. Mobile App (ASO) Tracking
Use the Appeeky API or equivalent app-store data source.

### Metadata Changes (weekly)
- Fetch title, subtitle, description, and screenshots for each tracked app.
- Watch for title/subtitle changes (new keyword targeting or repositioning), description messaging shifts, and screenshot updates (new creative direction or A/B test winner).

### Keyword Ranking Changes (weekly)
- Fetch the competitor's ranking keywords and the rank for shared keywords.
- Watch for newly ranked keywords, dropped keywords (opportunity to capture), and competitors jumping above you for a shared keyword.

### Ratings and Reviews (weekly)
- Fetch current rating and recent reviews.
- Watch for rating drops, surges of 1-star reviews around a specific complaint, and new positive reviews praising a feature you lack.

### Chart Positions (weekly)
- Fetch category top charts and market movers.
- Watch for competitors entering or exiting the top 10 in your category and new entrants from chart rises.

### Pricing and Paywall (every 4–6 weeks)
- Manually check trial length, price changes, and new paywall formats or plans.

### Weekly Report Template
Produce a weekly report with: apps tracked, changes detected per competitor (metadata, keywords, rating, chart position, review themes), opportunities identified, threats, and action items.

### Monthly Deep-Dive Triggers
Run a full competitive analysis when a competitor jumps 10+ chart positions, changes their title, a new competitor enters the top 10, or your ranking drops on a keyword a competitor recently targeted.

## 3. Developer Tools Tracking
Use web, social, and community monitoring.

### Competitor Identification
- Classify competitors as direct, indirect, DIY alternatives, or platform alternatives.
- Create a competitive landscape document with competitor profiles, feature matrix, pricing comparison, strengths/weaknesses, and trajectory.

### Product and Features (weekly/monthly)
- Track changelogs, release notes, new feature announcements, pricing changes, integration announcements, API changes, and SDK updates.
- Subscribe to competitor newsletters, follow GitHub releases, monitor Twitter/blog, and set up alerts for launch/announcement keywords.

### Pricing and Packaging
- Track pricing page changes (use archive.org for history), new tier introductions, enterprise pricing signals, free tier changes, and usage-based vs seat-based shifts.
- Analyze what is included in the free tier, upgrade triggers, overage handling, and enterprise motion.

### Positioning and Messaging
- Track homepage headline/hero, target audience, primary use cases, comparison pages, and case studies.
- Analyze the problem they lead with, their unique angle, and how positioning has changed over time.

### Content Strategy
- Monitor blog frequency/topics, documentation quality, video/tutorial content, conference talks, and developer education initiatives.
- Look for SEO plays, content gaps you can exploit, and successful content formats.

### Community and Traction
- Track GitHub stars/forks growth, issue volume and response time, contributor growth, and release frequency.
- Track Discord/Slack member counts, forum activity, Stack Overflow tag activity, and Reddit mention frequency.

### Developer Sentiment Monitoring
- Set up social listening alerts for competitor brand mentions, negative sentiment, and comparison queries.
- Track churn signals ("migrating away from", "looking for alternative"), praise signals, and feature gaps ("wish [competitor] had").
- Analyze mention volume over 90 days, sentiment distribution, and co-mentions with your brand.

### Competitive Battlecards
Create battlecards for sales and marketing with: competitor overview, when you win, when they win, key differentiators, and recommended responses.

## 4. Automation
- Manual: set calendar reminders and run the relevant checks on schedule.
- Semi-automated: build a script that fetches data weekly and diffs results against the previous week.
- Agent-assisted: ask your agent to run the relevant checks and produce the report or battlecard update.

## 5. Response Playbook
- Competitor targets your top keyword/feature: defend your positioning and consider increasing investment.
- Competitor drops a shared keyword/feature: double down and capture the gap.
- Competitor upgrades creative/content: audit yours and update if needed.
- Competitor rating/sentiment drops: highlight your stability or strengths while the gap is visible.
- Competitor launches a feature you lack: note for roadmap and highlight your differentiating strengths.
- New competitor enters your space: run a full competitive analysis on them.