# Brand monitoring Human Guide

## What This Is For
Guides ongoing brand monitoring—detecting impersonation, trademark infringement, counterfeit products, and brand abuse before they cause harm. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for brand and messaging: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Brand monitoring agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for brand monitoring.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Brand monitoring guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- **Scope**: Domain, social, marketplaces, paid search, dark web
- **Budget**: Manual vs automated; DIY vs vendor
- **Risk level**: High-value brand, prior incidents, or preventive
- **Monitoring plan** (channels, cadence, tools)
- **Search queries** (brand + variants for manual check)
- **Alert setup** (Google Alerts, social)
- **Escalation path** (when to use brand-protection for takedown)
- **brand-protection**: Report, takedown, evidence collection—use when infringement is found
- **domain-selection**: Defensive registration; brand variants
- **branding**: Brand asset consistency; what to protect

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Initial Assessment, What to Monitor, Manual Monitoring (Low Cost), Automated Tools (Scale), Monitoring Cadence, Output Format, Related Skills.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Starting without a clear audience or goal.
- Asking for a final artifact before sharing examples or constraints.
- Accepting a generic first draft without checking it against the intended use.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Brand monitoring human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the kostja94/marketing-skills skill entry for `brand-monitoring`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Strategies: Brand Monitoring

Guides ongoing brand monitoring—detecting impersonation, trademark infringement, counterfeit products, and brand abuse before they cause harm. Complements **brand-protection** (reactive: report, takedown); this skill covers proactive monitoring setup and tool selection.

**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.

## Initial Assessment

**Check for project context first:** If `.claude/project-context.md` or `.cursor/project-context.md` exists, read for brand name, official domain, and key assets.

Identify:
1. **Scope**: Domain, social, marketplaces, paid search, dark web
2. **Budget**: Manual vs automated; DIY vs vendor
3. **Risk level**: High-value brand, prior incidents, or preventive

## What to Monitor

| Channel | Threats |
|---------|---------|
| **Domains** | Typosquatting, brand+ai, brand+app, impersonation sites |
| **Social media** | Fake accounts, impersonation, unauthorized use |
| **Marketplaces** | Counterfeit products, unauthorized sellers (Amazon, eBay, Temu) |
| **Paid search** | Competitors bidding on brand terms; impersonator ads |
| **App stores** | Fake apps, trademark misuse |
| **Web** | Phishing sites, spoofed pages |

## Manual Monitoring (Low Cost)

| Method | Frequency |
|--------|-----------|
| **Search** | Brand name + variants (brand+ai, brand+app, brand+official) |
| **Google Alerts** | Brand name, product names |
| **Social search** | X, LinkedIn, Instagram for brand mentions |
| **Marketplace search** | Amazon, eBay for counterfeit listings |

**Tip**: Document findings; escalate to **brand-protection** for takedown when infringement is confirmed.

## Automated Tools (Scale)

| Capability | Description |
|------------|-------------|
| **AI detection** | Machine learning, image recognition, NLP to detect abuse across channels |
| **Multi-channel** | Domains, social, marketplaces, paid search, dark web |
| **Enforcement** | Case management, takedown workflows, platform integrations |
| **Trademark watch** | USPTO, trademark office monitoring; litigation insights |

**Vendor types**: BrandShield, Tracer Protect, CompuMark, CounterFind—evaluate by coverage, enforcement rate, and budget.

## Monitoring Cadence

| Level | Cadence | Use |
|-------|---------|-----|
| **Basic** | Weekly search; Google Alerts | Low-risk; preventive |
| **Standard** | Daily alerts; monthly marketplace check | Moderate risk |
| **Enterprise** | Real-time monitoring; dedicated vendor | High-value brand; prior incidents |

## Output Format

- **Monitoring plan** (channels, cadence, tools)
- **Search queries** (brand + variants for manual check)
- **Alert setup** (Google Alerts, social)
- **Escalation path** (when to use brand-protection for takedown)

## Related Skills

- **brand-protection**: Report, takedown, evidence collection—use when infringement is found
- **domain-selection**: Defensive registration; brand variants
- **branding**: Brand asset consistency; what to protect