This archived newsletter issue covering the importance of first-party data in content strategy and writing was originally sent to subscribers on July 29, 2026.
Content often starts with public information. That could be existing published material found in search results, industry studies, or publicly-available data.
There’s nothing wrong with these sources. But everyone has access to them. AI tools make this an even bigger issue because they can be trained on, and can easily assemble, research from these public sources.
The thing is, whether we’re talking about you as a freelance professional, or your clients, you can never really stand out if all you do is talk about the same data everyone else does.
So, how do you stand out and publish things, or help clients publish things, that aren’t easy to replicate?
Focus on First-Party Data
First-party data is information that can only come from the person sharing it… ideally you or your clients.
It can include:
- direct experiences and case studies;
- survey responses;
- statistics only available to you (tied to your own site, services, or products);
- customer questions that come directly to your clients;
- transaction trends you or your clients notice in your own businesses;
- results from tests or experiments you run.
Unlike public data, this information isn’t available for others to share (yet). They can’t find it via search for an article they’re writing. They won’t learn about it in an AI chat session.
No one will see this first-party data until you share it.
Why This Matters for Freelance Writers
You can put together excellent articles using public sources. But that same data, especially if it’s on a trendy topic, can also be shared by anyone else.
Unless you or your client has a particularly unique take on it, there’s nothing special to make your piece stand out.
First-party data gives you something more substantial to work with.
Better yet, you could be the one cited by all of those other articles, videos, and social media posts if that first-party data you share is genuinely interesting.
So keep your eye out for opportunities to solicit or source first-party data, either for your own work or for client projects. Don’t just mine analytics and hope something sticks.
Ask good questions. Identify meaningful patterns others might miss. Seek out the stories in the noise.
In an age where information is easier than ever to find, the real competitive advantage in content of all kinds comes from being able to offer something new.
And as a freelancer who’s often involved in research design, analysis, and writing up the results for clients (reports, press releases, blog posts, etc.), I can tell you learning to develop and work with first-party data is incredibly lucrative too.
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