research-sources▌
kostja94/marketing-skills · updated Apr 8, 2026
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Guides selecting and organizing information sources for marketing research: content ideation, competitor monitoring, and industry tracking. Use this skill when planning where to gather signals for content, competitive intelligence, or market trends.
Strategies: Research Sources
Guides selecting and organizing information sources for marketing research: content ideation, competitor monitoring, and industry tracking. Use this skill when planning where to gather signals for content, competitive intelligence, or market trends.
When invoking: On first use, if helpful, open with 1–2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On subsequent use or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.
Use Cases
| Use case | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Content ideation | Topic ideas, trends, gaps for blog, newsletter, social |
| Competitor monitoring | Product updates, positioning, pricing, reviews |
| Industry tracking | Market shifts, funding, layoffs, regulatory changes |
Source Categories
| Category | Format | Use |
|---|---|---|
| News | Real-time, daily | Breaking news, announcements |
| Blogs | Company, analyst | Deep dives, product updates |
| Newsletters | Curated, weekly/daily | Trends, summaries; low effort |
| Events | Conferences, webinars | Industry pulse, networking |
| Data | Layoffs, market cap, funding | Quantitative signals |
| Community | Forums, Q&A | Real questions, pain points |
| Archives | Wayback, Internet Archive | Historical content, competitor changes |
Selection criteria: Authority, freshness, coverage, language/locale. Prefer 10–15 high-quality sources over 50+ low-signal ones.
Example Sources (Generic)
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| News | TechCrunch, VentureBeat, MIT Technology Review |
| Blogs | Google AI Blog, OpenAI Blog, company blogs |
| Newsletters | TLDR AI, Ben's Bites, The Batch (DeepLearning.AI) |
| Data | Layoffs.fyi, Crunchbase, Companies Market Cap |
| Archives | Internet Archive, Wayback Machine |
| Community | Reddit, Quora, Stack Overflow; regional (e.g. Qiita for Japan) |
Note: Add locale-specific sources via localization-strategy; avoid long URL lists.
By Use Case
| Use case | Source types |
|---|---|
| Content ideation | News, blogs, newsletters, community (Reddit, Quora, Stack Overflow) |
| Competitor monitoring | Competitor blogs, review sites, social, funding databases |
| Industry tracking | News, newsletters, events, layoff/funding data |
Avoid: Long URL lists that go stale. Use category framework + a few examples; update periodically.
Integration with Skills
| Skill | How research sources feed in |
|---|---|
| keyword-research | Newsletters, community for long-tail and question keywords |
| competitor-research | Competitor blogs, review platforms, funding data |
| content-marketing | News, blogs for topic ideas; events for timely content |
| content-strategy | Industry trends for pillar/cluster planning |
Output Format
- Use case (ideation, competitor, industry)
- Category selection (news, blogs, newsletters, etc.)
- Source shortlist (5–15; name + purpose)
- Cadence (daily scan, weekly digest, event calendar)
Related Skills
- keyword-research: Keyword discovery; research sources inform topics
- competitor-research: Competitor analysis; sources for monitoring
- content-marketing: Content planning; sources for ideation
- content-strategy: Topic clusters; industry signals for pillars
How to use research-sources on Cursor
AI-first code editor with Composer
Prerequisites
Before installing skills in Cursor, ensure your development environment meets these requirements:
- ›Cursor installed and configured on your development machine
- ›Node.js version 16.0+ with npm package manager (verify with
node --version) - ›Active project directory or workspace where you want to add research-sources
Execute installation command
Execute the skills CLI command in your project's root directory to begin installation:
The skills CLI fetches research-sources from GitHub repository kostja94/marketing-skills and configures it for Cursor.
Select Cursor when prompted
The CLI will show a list of available agents. Use arrow keys to navigate and space to select Cursor:
Verify installation
Confirm successful installation by checking the skill directory location:
Reload or restart Cursor to activate research-sources. Access the skill through slash commands (e.g., /research-sources) or your agent's skill management interface.
Security & Verification Notice
We perform automated surface-level scans (Gen AI Scanner, Socket, Snyk) during installation. These checks detect common vulnerabilities but do not guarantee complete security. Always review skill source code and verify the publisher's reputation before production use.
Skills execute code in your development environment. Always verify the publisher's identity, review recent commits, and test in isolated environments before production deployment.
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Use Cases▌
User Story & Requirements Generation
Create detailed user stories, acceptance criteria, and feature specs
Example
Generate user stories for 'password reset feature' with acceptance criteria, edge cases, and test scenarios
Reduce spec writing time by 50%, ensure comprehensive coverage
Competitive Analysis
Research competitors, compare features, identify gaps
Example
Analyze 5 competitor products, create feature comparison matrix, suggest differentiation opportunities
Complete competitive research in 2 hours instead of 2 days
Roadmap Prioritization
Evaluate features using frameworks (RICE, ICE, Kano) and create prioritized backlogs
Example
Score 20 feature ideas using RICE framework, generate prioritized roadmap with rationale
Make data-driven prioritization decisions faster
Stakeholder Communication
Draft PRDs, status updates, and stakeholder presentations
Example
Create executive summary of Q3 roadmap, monthly progress report, feature launch announcement
Save 3-5 hours/week on communication overhead
Implementation Guide▌
Prerequisites
- ›Claude Desktop or compatible AI client
- ›Access to product documentation and roadmap tools (Jira, Notion, etc.)
- ›Understanding of product management frameworks (RICE, Jobs-to-be-Done, etc.)
- ›Stakeholder contact information and communication channels
Time Estimate
30-60 minutes to see productivity improvements
Installation Steps
- 1.Install product management skill
- 2.Start with user story generation for known feature
- 3.Progress to competitive analysis: research 2-3 competitors
- 4.Use for roadmap prioritization: apply RICE/ICE scoring
- 5.Draft stakeholder communications and refine based on feedback
- 6.Build template library for recurring PM tasks
- 7.Share effective prompts with product team
Common Pitfalls
- ⚠Not validating competitive research—verify facts before sharing
- ⚠Accepting user stories without involving engineering team
- ⚠Over-relying on frameworks without qualitative judgment
- ⚠Not customizing outputs to company culture and communication style
- ⚠Skipping stakeholder validation of generated requirements
Best Practices▌
✓ Do
- +Validate research and competitive analysis with real data
- +Collaborate with engineering when generating technical requirements
- +Customize frameworks and templates to your company context
- +Use skill for first drafts, refine with stakeholder input
- +Document successful prompt patterns for PM tasks
- +Combine AI efficiency with human judgment and intuition
✗ Don't
- −Don't publish competitive analysis without fact-checking
- −Don't finalize user stories without engineering review
- −Don't make prioritization decisions solely on AI scoring
- −Don't skip customer validation of generated requirements
- −Don't ignore company-specific context and culture
💡 Pro Tips
- ★Provide context: company goals, constraints, customer feedback
- ★Ask for alternatives: 'Show 3 ways to prioritize this roadmap'
- ★Request stakeholder-specific formatting: 'Executive summary vs. engineering spec'
- ★Use skill for 70% generation + 30% customization to company needs
When to Use This▌
✓ Use When
Use for user story writing, competitive research, roadmap prioritization, stakeholder communication, and PRD drafting. Best for reducing repetitive documentation and research work.
✗ Avoid When
Avoid for strategic product vision (requires deep customer empathy), pricing decisions (needs market and financial expertise), or when face-to-face customer discovery is more valuable than speed.
Learning Path▌
- 1Basic: user stories, feature specs, status updates
- 2Intermediate: competitive analysis, prioritization frameworks, PRDs
- 3Advanced: product strategy, go-to-market planning, OKR setting
- 4Expert: product vision, market positioning, business model innovation
Discussion
Product Hunt–style comments (not star reviews)- No comments yet — start the thread.
Ratings
4.5★★★★★42 reviews- ★★★★★Chaitanya Patil· Dec 28, 2024
research-sources reduced setup friction for our internal harness; good balance of opinion and flexibility.
- ★★★★★Omar Diallo· Dec 28, 2024
research-sources reduced setup friction for our internal harness; good balance of opinion and flexibility.
- ★★★★★Noah Sharma· Dec 20, 2024
research-sources is among the better-maintained entries we tried; worth keeping pinned for repeat workflows.
- ★★★★★Mia Johnson· Dec 16, 2024
I recommend research-sources for anyone iterating fast on agent tooling; clear intent and a small, reviewable surface area.
- ★★★★★Pratham Ware· Dec 8, 2024
Keeps context tight: research-sources is the kind of skill you can hand to a new teammate without a long onboarding doc.
- ★★★★★Hana Khan· Dec 8, 2024
Keeps context tight: research-sources is the kind of skill you can hand to a new teammate without a long onboarding doc.
- ★★★★★Piyush G· Nov 19, 2024
I recommend research-sources for anyone iterating fast on agent tooling; clear intent and a small, reviewable surface area.
- ★★★★★Hana Huang· Nov 19, 2024
I recommend research-sources for anyone iterating fast on agent tooling; clear intent and a small, reviewable surface area.
- ★★★★★Henry Menon· Nov 7, 2024
research-sources reduced setup friction for our internal harness; good balance of opinion and flexibility.
- ★★★★★Mia Lopez· Oct 26, 2024
Registry listing for research-sources matched our evaluation — installs cleanly and behaves as described in the markdown.
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