Playbook
Turn a competitor move into a published response.
A rival ships something and it becomes a message in a channel that nobody acts on. This routine turns it into something your buyers actually read, and it is equally clear about when the right response is to do nothing.
Most competitor moves deserve no response.
Start here, because the failure mode of competitor tracking is not missing a move. It is reacting to all of them, in public, and sounding rattled.
A competitor’s feature launch is news to them. It is only news to your buyer if it changes what your buyer should do. Most do not.
So the first step of this playbook is a filter, and on most weeks the filter is where it ends.
Step 1 — Radar flags the move.
Radar watches your named competitors and delivers a briefing rather than a firehose of alerts. Radar starts on the Growth plan and covers 20 sources, or 30 on Business.
Read the finding and follow the link to the original. Vendor announcements are written to sound larger than they are, and the gap between the headline and the actual shipped thing is often the story.
Step 2 — Apply the so what test.
Ask one question: does this change what a buyer of ours should do in the next quarter?
If yes, you have something to say. If it only changes what a competitor’s roadmap looks like, you have gossip. Publishing gossip about competitors makes you look like you watch them more closely than you watch your customers, which is exactly the impression to avoid.
Step 3 — Pick the angle that is about you.
The strongest response never mentions the competitor. It explains what you believe about the problem they just made noise about, and lets the reader connect it.
There is also a legal reason to work this way. Comparative claims about a named competitor have to be objective and verifiable, and a claim sourced from a marketing page you skimmed this morning is neither. Write about your own position and you never have that problem.
Step 4 — Draft, edit, schedule.
Send the angle to Voice, which drafts in your voice and can pull in facts you have already taught the platform so the numbers in the post are ones you approved.
Then edit it properly and put it in the Reach queue. Same discipline as the weekly routine: the edit is what makes it sound like a person with a view rather than a company with a press release.
When to respond, and when not to
| The move | Respond? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A competitor launches a feature you already have | Usually not | Responding validates their announcement and reads as defensive |
| A competitor enters your category from another market | Yes | Your buyers are about to hear a new definition of the category. Get yours in first |
| A competitor raises a large round | No | Funding is not a buyer concern. It is a competitor concern, which is a different thing |
| A competitor changes pricing model | Often | This does change what a buyer should evaluate, so it is genuinely useful to address |
| A competitor has an outage or a breach | No | It will read as opportunism, and next quarter it could be you |
Questions worth asking
How fast do I need to respond?
Slower than you think. A considered post a week later beats a rushed one the same afternoon, because you are not competing for the news cycle. Your buyer is not refreshing anything.
Can I name the competitor?
You can, and it raises the bar. Any specific claim about them needs to be objective, verifiable and dated, because comparative advertising is regulated in the EU. Naming them and then being vague is the worst of both.
What if they respond to my response?
Then you are in an argument in public that your buyers did not ask to watch. Say your piece once and go back to talking about your customers.
Do I need Radar for this?
For the automatic part, yes, and it starts on Growth. The routine still works if you spot the move yourself. Radar mainly removes the chance of finding out from a customer.
Last reviewed: August 2026