Frequently Asked Questions About PMA 7-Step Competitive Analysis Framework
21 answers covering everything from basics to advanced usage.
// Basics
What is the goal of a competitive analysis according to the PMA framework?
The ultimate goal is to learn where unmet customer needs exist in the market, because those gaps create opportunities for you to exploit. Every stage ties findings back to customer needs as the north star. The framework treats competitors not as the subject of study for its own sake, but as a lens for revealing where the market is underserved.
What are the seven steps in the PMA competitive analysis framework?
The seven steps are: (1) align with business goals and stakeholders, (2) align with the needs of your target market, (3) identify and tier your competitors, (4) gather competitive intelligence starting with top-tier competitors, (5) determine how well each competitor meets customer needs, (6) relate findings back to your business, and (7) create a plan of action with concrete recommendations.
What are the three anchor questions that guide the whole process?
The three anchor questions are: What is the business trying to achieve? Which stakeholder groups am I responsible for serving? How can I deliver what I've learned in a way that drives those larger business goals? You establish them in Step 1 and return to them in Step 7 to ensure your final plan of action stays oriented toward business goals.
Who are the stakeholder groups I should consider?
Stakeholder groups are the internal audiences you're responsible for serving with your findings — typically sales, leadership, and product. Identifying them early shapes both your research questions and your deliverables. Sales might need battle cards, leadership might need a strategic plan. Matching the output format to each stakeholder's needs is what makes the analysis actionable rather than a report nobody uses.
// How To
How do I gather competitive intelligence on a specific competitor?
For each competitor, learn the benefits of their product, how they position themselves against various customer needs, which problems they prioritize solving, and what they believe their strengths are. Then check these self-perceptions against your customer research to detect positioning gaps. Also investigate their pricing and marketing strategies. Start with your Tier 1 competitors to maximize impact per hour of research.
How do I identify unmet customer needs during the analysis?
Return to your Step 2 interviewees and survey participants at Step 5 with sharper, competitor-specific questions now that you understand competitor products and positioning. Ask whether specific positioning claims resonate or fall flat. Where no current competitor adequately solves a customer problem, you've found an unmet need — and an opportunity to exploit. If re-engaging respondents isn't feasible, rigorously reexamine earlier findings through this lens.
How do I translate competitive findings into business recommendations?
At Step 6, translate each significant finding into business implications by asking: Does it make sense for us to act on this? Do we have the budget? Does it fit our existing UX and positioning? Could we improve on it to differentiate further? Identify which opportunities align most closely with your Step 1 business goals, and explicitly flag any competitor that threatens a goal.
How do I build battle cards from this analysis?
Battle cards emerge in Step 7 as an operational deliverable for your sales stakeholders. Build them around the specific objections and competitor positioning you uncovered — for example, a card addressing a competitor's 'no-setup' claim. Keep them concise and sales-facing so reps can handle competitor objections and win head-to-heads in Tier 1 matchups where you were previously losing deals.
// Troubleshooting
What should I do if I can't re-interview customers at Step 5?
If re-engaging respondents isn't feasible, rigorously reexamine your earlier Step 2 findings through the lens of what you learned about competitors. Look at whether existing customer comments implicitly confirm or contradict competitor positioning claims. It's a weaker substitute for fresh, competitor-specific questions, so prioritize re-engaging even a small subset of interviewees if you possibly can.
Why do my competitive analysis recommendations feel generic and get ignored?
The most common cause is starting research before aligning with leadership. Without knowing what the business is trying to achieve and which stakeholders you serve, you produce generic recommendations that lack impact no matter how thorough the research. Fix this by returning to Step 1: establish the three anchor questions, then re-frame every finding against those goals in Step 6.
What if my competitor list keeps growing and feels unmanageable?
Stop building a flat list and start tiering. Group competitors into at least three tiers by strategic importance and focus your intelligence gathering on Tier 1 first — typically the competitors you narrowly lose deals to. Tiering makes an overwhelming landscape manageable and ensures your limited research time targets the competitors that most affect revenue and business goals.
What if a competitor's positioning contradicts what my customers say about them?
That contradiction is a positioning gap — and it's valuable data, not a problem. It means the competitor occupies one position in their own mind and another in the customer's, revealing an ineffective strategy you can exploit. For example, an incumbent claiming 'speed' while customers see them as slow gives you an opening to position against their real weakness.
// Comparisons
How does this framework compare to Porter's Five Forces?
Porter's Five Forces analyzes industry-level structural forces like supplier power and barriers to entry — it's macro and strategic. The PMA framework is operational and customer-centered, mapping specific tiered competitors against real customer needs to produce actionable deliverables. Use Porter's to understand industry attractiveness; use the PMA framework to build battle cards and win specific competitive deals.
How is this different from a generic 'spy on your competitors' approach?
Generic competitor-watching collects features, prices, and screenshots with no strategic anchor. The PMA framework starts with business goals, tiers competitors by importance, validates competitor positioning against actual customer perception, and translates every finding into business implications before recommending action. The difference is impact: intelligence that drives decisions versus a data dump nobody acts on.
Should I use this framework or a simple feature comparison spreadsheet?
Use the framework when you need strategy; use a spreadsheet as one input within it. A feature comparison alone ignores positioning gaps, product alternatives, unmet customer needs, and business alignment. The PMA framework can incorporate a feature matrix at Step 4, but wraps it in customer research and business context so the comparison actually informs recommendations rather than sitting idle.
How does the PMA framework handle competitors I don't lose to directly?
It places them in lower tiers and includes product alternatives — solutions that look different but solve the same customer problem, like spreadsheets versus your software. These may not appear in direct deal comparisons but can still steal market share. The tiered structure ensures you monitor them without over-investing research time compared to your Tier 1 direct competitors.
// Advanced
How do I keep competitive intelligence current after the initial analysis?
Set up recurring deliverables like an internal competitive newsletter to keep stakeholders continuously updated on the landscape, and maintain up-to-date battle cards for sales. Competitive analysis isn't a one-time project — positioning, pricing, and market perception shift. Lightweight recurring communications keep your Tier 1 intelligence fresh without repeating the full seven-step process each time.
How do I prioritize which unmet needs to act on?
At Step 6, cross-reference each opportunity against your Step 1 business goals and feasibility filters: budget, fit with existing UX and positioning, and potential to differentiate further. Prioritize opportunities that align most closely with company goals and are achievable given your roadmap. An unmet need that doesn't advance a business goal or exceeds your budget shouldn't top your action plan.
How do I use customer-facing teams as an intelligence source?
Interview sales and customer success reps, who speak to customers daily and have their finger on the pulse of what the audience wants. They surface real objections, competitor mentions in lost deals, and emerging needs faster than surveys alone. This customer-facing team pulse is a primary intelligence source in Step 2 and a key channel for validating competitor positioning claims.
What deliverable formats work best for different stakeholders?
Match format to stakeholder need. Sales benefits from concise battle cards addressing specific competitor objections. Leadership needs a board-ready strategic recommendation with supporting rationale. Broad organizational awareness is served by a recurring internal competitive newsletter. The framework deliberately leaves format open at Step 7 so you can tailor output to whichever stakeholder groups you identified in Step 1.
How do I flag a competitive threat to leadership without causing panic?
Be explicit but contextual. At Step 6, if a competitor poses a direct threat to a business goal, don't bury it — flag it clearly and tie it to the specific goal at risk. Then pair the threat with a recommended response in Step 7 so leadership sees both the danger and a path forward, framed against the goals they already care about.