Source-First IntelligenceTrack who, not what.

Source-First Intelligence

Track who, not what.

Anyone who wants to understand a market and its competitors should follow the sources that matter: companies, people and associations, and what they publish on their own channels. Tracking keywords and mentions shows where a topic appears. It does not show what a specific market player says or plans.

Source-First Intelligence is market and competitor monitoring that starts with the sources: you decide whose publications you follow and work with their own content, instead of searching the open web for keywords.

Monitoring by keyword compared with monitoring by sourceBy keyword: “what”By source: “who”Search termHits without a known senderCompetitorAssociationThought leaderChannels
Keywords collect hits without a known sender. Sources bring their own channels with them.

Where to start

Topics

  1. What is Source-First Intelligence?

    The basic idea, the core principles, a definition.

  2. Approaches compared

    Topic-First, Source-First and Platform-First: what each approach is good for, and how they work together.

  3. Source-First in practice

    Selecting, following and assessing sources, and drawing conclusions.

  4. Source-First in the field of market monitoring

    How it relates to competitive intelligence, market intelligence, OSINT and media monitoring.

  5. Cases and scenarios

    Situations in which following sources makes the difference.

  6. Video explanations

    Short videos, each explaining one question about following sources.

All topics →