Every agency pitch is a competition. You are not just selling your capabilities. You are selling them relative to whoever else is in the room. And yet most agencies walk into pitches with surface-level knowledge of the competitive landscape.
AI changes this. What used to take a junior account exec half a day to research can now be done in 15 minutes with the right prompts and approach.
What good competitive analysis looks like
Before any pitch, you should know:
- Who the prospect is currently working with (or has worked with recently), and what they likely delivered.
- Who else is probably pitching, based on the prospect’s industry, size, and the type of work.
- What the competitors’ positioning is: their case studies, their pricing signals, their strengths and weaknesses.
- Where you genuinely differentiate, not marketing fluff, but specific capabilities, experience, or approaches that the competitors do not have.
Most agencies skip this or do it superficially because the research takes too long. AI makes thoroughness practical.
The 15-minute process
Step 1: Prospect landscape (5 minutes)
Feed the prospect’s website URL and any brief information into AI. Ask:
“Analyse this company’s website. Identify their industry, size, target market, main services/products, and likely marketing challenges. Based on their current digital presence, what services would they most benefit from? What agencies are likely pitching for this type of work in [location/industry]?”
Step 2: Competitor analysis (5 minutes)
Take the likely competitors identified (or any you already know about) and ask:
“Compare these agencies: [list]. For each, summarise their positioning, key case studies, team size, notable clients, and pricing signals. Identify their likely strengths and weaknesses for a pitch to [prospect description].”
Step 3: Differentiation brief (5 minutes)
Feed your agency’s information alongside the competitor analysis:
“Based on this competitor analysis, here is our agency’s positioning: [your details]. Identify our three strongest differentiators for this pitch. For each, suggest how to position it in the proposal and what evidence to include.”
You now have a competitive brief that informs your proposal strategy, your pricing, and your presentation approach.
Where to use the output
In the proposal. Address the prospect’s specific challenges (from Step 1) rather than generic capabilities. This competitive intelligence feeds directly into writing better proposals. Reference the competitive landscape implicitly: “Unlike agencies that focus primarily on [common competitor approach], our methodology starts with…”
In the pitch meeting. You can speak with authority about the prospect’s market, their challenges, and why your approach is different. Use it alongside your AI-built pitch deck and this level of preparation is noticeable and memorable.
In your pricing. Understanding what competitors likely charge (based on their positioning, team size, and public pricing signals) helps you price competitively without undervaluing your work.
A word of caution
AI competitive analysis is a starting point, not the final product. The information should be verified, particularly claims about specific competitors. AI can infer and sometimes hallucinate. Cross-reference important claims with the competitor’s actual website, case studies, and public information.
The goal is not a perfectly accurate dossier. It is enough context to pitch smarter, position better, and win more. For the complete approach to AI-powered sales, see how agencies are building new business pipelines.
This is part of The Pitch Stack, a series on using AI to win more agency work. Subscribe to the newsletter to get new articles weekly.
