The useful part of a commissioned comparison is not where you place. It is the frame: which products got considered, which attributes the decision came down to, and which of your advantages never came up.
What to put in the public brief
- The product category
- Whether they need to use the products or assess published information
- Roughly how many alternatives
- Expected length
- That the conclusion is theirs
Keep your identity out of it where possible. A writer who knows who commissioned the piece writes differently, however honest they intend to be.
What to put in the private instructions
Ask them to list the alternatives before researching
Off the top of their head. That list is your real competitive set, as opposed to the one in your deck.
Ask which two attributes decided it
Comparisons are usually settled on two, and knowing which two tells you where to compete.
Ask what they could not find out
Missing information is a finding. If pricing or a limit could not be established from public sources, that is a fixable gap on your own site.
State plainly that any conclusion is acceptable and paid
And mean it. Approving only favourable writeups teaches the marketplace what you want within a week.
Proof worth requiring
Ask for
The writeup, the unprompted alternatives list, the two deciding attributes, and what they could not determine.
Do not ask for
A score, a ranking table, or a recommendation you can quote. The moment you want quotable output you are commissioning marketing, and it needs disclosure and a different brief.
When this task type is the wrong tool
If you want to know whether your own page explains you well, pricing feedback or a first-impression test asks that more directly and costs less.
If you want published comparison content, commission it openly as sponsored content with disclosure. It is a legitimate thing to buy and a dishonest thing to disguise.