Competitor Research for Marketing Agencies
The Competitor Research Your Strategist Never Has Time To Do.
When you onboard a client, somebody on your team has to work out the competitors, usually between other jobs. I do that piece for agencies. One competitor or the whole set, everything public: how they get customers, what they charge, what their reviews say, and where they are beatable. Every fact sourced and rated, delivered as findings your team presents under your own name.
If a report doesn't show your team at least three verified things about the competitor they didn't already know, you don't pay.
Most agencies do competitor research in house, and it lands on someone who already has a full plate. So it stops at the website and the Google rating, and the strategy gets built on that.
What You Get
Raw research, not a client deck. You get the findings on the competitors you name; your team builds the presentation and the plan. Here's what the research covers.
How they get customers
The channels doing their selling: what shows up when the client's buyers search, the ads they run and what the public signals say about spend, and the offers that pull in a first purchase.
How they price and present it
How their pricing is framed to a buyer, what their site and listings say, and what is conspicuously left unsaid.
The machinery they run
The systems working for them around the clock: how they collect reviews, reward referrals, capture emails, and bring customers back a second time.
What their reviews reveal
Patterns across more than one review platform, where the praise clusters and the complaints repeat.
Where they are beatable
Where their story outruns their verifiable record, and which moves they have left on the table for your client.
Scoped to what your plan needs
Some strategists want the advertising picture. Others want pricing, or the review story. Scope is set with you per client, so nobody pays for research the plan won't use.
See a full one: a social and ads teardown of Dave's Hot Chicken (PDF) and the workbook behind it (Excel). Nothing is masked, because nothing needs to be: it was built on a national chain from pages anyone can open, not on a client. The business is not a customer of mine and was not contacted.
What a Finding Actually Looks Like
Every line your team gets looks like this: a fact, a source, and how sure I am.
Their own site banner claims “500+ Google Reviews.” A live, signed-out Google pull the same day showed 198.(their site header, checked against a dated Google pull)
HIGHSells the same product at $14.99 in person while their website lists no price at all. A buyer comparing online never sees their strongest number.(direct read, their own site against an in-person check)
MEDNo confirmed current ad spend on the major social ad archives. Treat this as "not confirmed," not "not running."
COULDN'T FINDHow It Works With Your Agency
You send the brief
The client, the competitor names or "you pick," what the strategist needs to know, and the deadline. Five minutes.
I research it
All public sources, checked by hand, every fact rated. Anything I can't confirm is marked COULDN'T FIND instead of guessed.
You present it as yours
You get the findings file with its source index. It goes out under your agency's name. I never contact your client.
Priced per competitor, quoted on a short call once I know what your team needs. No retainer. Order when a client comes on.
How the Research Holds Up
Collect
Everything public: their website, listings, reviews, ads, offers, and archived pages.
Analyze
Nothing counts until it checks out against an independent record.
Verify
Every fact gets a source and a confidence rating, checked by hand.
A trained person checks every finding: one practice, one set of eyes, every time.
The Person Behind the Research
Fieldstone Intelligence is Alberto Rivas. I spent ten years in law enforcement doing complex investigations and report writing, and I've taken that into competitor research for businesses. I'm based in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, and work with agencies anywhere in the US, because the sources are public and online. Every report is researched, verified, and written by one set of trained eyes: mine. No outsourcing, no guesswork. If you call, you get me.
The Research Held Up With the Businesses It Was Written For
5.0 on Google reviews. These are the owners the research was done for. Your clients are the same people.
What impressed me most was how Alberto handled every request I had. Instead of simply telling me something couldn’t be done, his response was always, “Let me see what I can do.” And he followed through. He would come back with a solution, and in many cases, an even better program or option than what I originally requested. Alberto made me feel like my business and my needs actually mattered, rather than making me feel like just another customer.
★★★★★
Carlos · The Tap Lab · Google review
He genuinely took the time to understand our company and look beyond the surface to identify flaws and opportunities that we may have overlooked ourselves. I would highly recommend Fieldstone Intelligence to any business owner looking for an honest, detailed, and actionable company evaluation.
★★★★★
Donald Staires · Google review
His research was thorough, easy to understand, and gave me a fresh perspective on how to better position my agency in a competitive market. I came away with practical ideas that I can implement right away. If you're looking for detailed market intelligence and recommendations that can help grow your business, I highly recommend Alberto and Fieldstone Intelligence.
★★★★★
Claire Larsen · Travel Agency Owner · Google review
Every fact had a source listed and it was written in plain English, not analyst talk. He flagged the things he couldn't verify instead of padding the report, which is exactly why I trust the things he did find. I recommend him to any contractor tired of guessing why they lost a bid.
★★★★★
Owner, PUP Paver and Turf · Palm Beach County
Three Things I Don't Do
So there is no question about where the line is.
I don't market.
No websites, no ads, no campaigns, no strategy decks. I'm not an agency and I don't want to be one. Your service stays yours.
I don't contact your clients.
Ever. The research goes to you, it's presented under your name, and the client relationship never touches me.
I don't guess.
If a fact can't be verified against a real source, the report says COULDN'T FIND. A marked blank beats a confident wrong answer.
Questions
Will you ever contact my client?
No. You send the brief, you get the findings, and you present them under your agency's name. I never reach out to your client, and nothing I produce carries my name unless you want it to.
Do you do any of the marketing work?
No. I research. You build the strategy and run it. I have no interest in competing with the agencies I work for.
Is this private investigation?
No. Everything in a report comes from public, published sources, the same pages anyone could read themselves. I just check them properly and verify them before they reach you.
Where does the information come from?
Public sources: review platforms, advertising archives, business registry filings, the competitor's own website and listings, archived versions of their pages, and, for licensed trades, license and permit records. Every report ends with a source index so your team can verify it.
What if you can't verify something?
The report says COULDN'T FIND. A marked blank beats a confident wrong answer, and your strategist knows exactly where the picture is incomplete.
What areas do you cover?
Anywhere in the US. The sources are public and online, so a competitor in Denver is researched the same way as one down the road.
How is it priced?
Per competitor, quoted on a short call once I know what your team needs. No retainer and no minimum. Order it when a client comes on.
How do I get started?
Book the 15-minute call. Tell me how your team handles competitor research today and what you wish you had before the strategy meeting. If it's a fit, the first brief takes five minutes.