In this episode of the Posture Podcast, Jason and Sarah discuss the essential tools for competitive analysis in product marketing, focusing on how to build and use the competitive heat map. We dive into why having a heat map is crucial for strategic decision-making and for communicating the market landscape to stakeholders. We answer a listener question about tailoring competitive materials for different audiences: sales teams and business decision-makers. Learn the difference between battle cards and tear sheets, and how each asset is designed for a specific user. The discussion covers: The Heat Map: This is the most useful yet time-consuming tool, helping you score your company against competitors and inform product roadmap and positioning. It is a central place to gather competitive intelligence and link out to source material. Player Breakdowns: This section provides foundational information about each competitor—like target audience, use case, revenue, monthly active users (MAUs), features, and messaging—and serves as a reference for the heat map. Capabilities Matrix (Heat Map Scoring): We explain the 1 to 5 scoring system (where 5 is "best-in-class" relative to the competitors being scored, not the overall market) and how to ensure your competitive scoring is accurate and honest. Battle Cards: These are "quick and dirty" assets designed for salespeople, focusing on succinct messaging (core messages/winning arguments) to use against a specific competitor in a sales cycle. Tear Sheets: These are "softer, gentler, and more investment focused," designed for business decision-makers (like product, pricing, or executive teams) and detail a competitor’s positioning, monetization, pricing, and momentum. Plus, we talk through a common misconception: believing you have "no competitors." As we explain, having competitors proves market demand and validates that a real pain point exists. You need competitors if you want to have a market. Learn how to leverage competitive analysis assets to arm your sales team for battle and provide strategic insights to your business stakeholders. Download the battle card and tear sheet template on our website posture.consulting. Subscribe @postureGTM! #productmarketing #competitiveanalysis #heatmaps #battlecards #tearsheets #go-to-market #GTMstrategy #productmanagement #competitoranalysis #GTM