Guide · 6 min read
How to Do Content Market Research Without Copying Competitors
Research the landscape so you can find what's missing, not copy what's there.
Research is for gaps, not inspiration
The right reason to study what other creators and competitors publish is to find what's missing - the angle nobody is taking, the question nobody is answering directly, the audience nobody is writing for specifically. Using competitor content as inspiration is how you end up making a slightly different version of what already exists.
Map the conversation, then look for the white space
Start by mapping: what are the top five or ten creators in your space saying consistently? What formats do they favor? What questions do they never really answer? What does the audience keep asking in comments and community posts? The map is not your content strategy; the white space on the map is your content strategy.
Listen to the audience's actual words
The best content market research is reading what your audience actually writes when they describe their problems - in community posts, in comment sections, in the language they use when replying to your posts. The words they use are the words to use. Not a paraphrase, not a professional translation: their exact phrases in your content is what makes a reader feel like you read their mind.
Create content in your voice - at scale
SelfScale learns how you write from your own posts, so every draft sounds like you, not a generic chatbot.