Marketing & Brand Growth
Many businesses discover their market only after they have paid for stock, a shop or a campaign
Market research is often imagined as expensive reports. For a small business, it is mostly a habit of asking a clear question, checking free sources, talking to a few people and testing cheaply before committing. This session shows how to do it in days, not months.
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A clear question and a few honest checks can prevent an expensive mistake.
Owners often rely on their own belief that “people will want this” or on a few friendly opinions. Friends and family are polite. Real demand shows in what strangers do: search, ask, pay.
Market research does not remove risk, but it can reduce it for very little money, and it can show where the opportunity is smaller or larger than expected.
What the session covers
36 topics across 7 areas. Seven parts, from the question to the decision.
Start With the DecisionResearch serves a choice.5
- What decision are you trying to make: open, launch, price, expand, stop?
- What would you do differently depending on the answer?
- What do you already know, and what are you assuming?
- Setting a time and money limit for the research
- Writing the question in one sentence
If no answer could change your decision, the research is not needed.
Free Desk ResearchWhat is already out there.6
Check the date and source of everything you use. Old or unclear figures should be treated as hints, not facts.
- Search results and suggestions, for what people ask and how they phrase it
- Free search trend tools, for interest over time and by region
- Government open data and published statistics, for population, businesses and sectors
- Industry and trade association material
- Map searches, to see what is already in the area
- Marketplace and directory listings, for range and price
A Rough Sizing of the MarketAn estimate you can explain.5
Hypothetical example, with round made-up numbers: if a neighbourhood has about 5,000 households, perhaps 10 per cent might ever use a service like yours, and each might spend ₹2,000 a year, the whole local market is about ₹10 lakh a year. The point is to see whether it could support your costs, not to be exact.
- Who could buy, in your area or niche
- What share might realistically buy from you
- How often and how much they spend
- Multiplying carefully and writing every assumption
- Showing a low, middle and high case
Talking to a Few Real PeopleNot friends and family.5
- Ten short conversations with people who could buy
- Asking about what they do now, not about your idea
- Asking what they pay for it today and what bothers them
- Noting exact words they use
- Stopping when answers start repeating
The customer research session goes deeper into how to run these conversations well.
Short Surveys, Used CarefullyEasy to run, easy to get wrong.5
- Five to seven questions, simple and neutral
- Not leading people towards the answer you want
- Who actually replies, and who does not
- Why a small survey is a clue, not proof
- Never collecting personal details you do not need, and saying how answers will be used
Test Before You CommitLet behaviour answer.5
- Pre-orders, waiting lists or advance bookings
- A small trial run or a stall for a weekend
- A simple page or post describing the offer, and counting real responses
- A modest paid test with a fixed cap
- Deciding in advance what counts as encouraging
Be honest in any test. Do not advertise something you cannot deliver, and refund people if you do not proceed.
Writing Down What You LearnedOne page and a decision.5
- The question and the decision it served
- What you did, what you found and where it came from
- What you are still unsure about
- What you will do now, and what you will check again later
- Keeping the page to compare with what happens
Exercises owners can do the same week
- Write the research question and the decision it supports
- Spend one hour on free sources and note what you found, with dates
- Do a rough market size on one page, with a low, middle and high case
- Have three short conversations with potential customers
- Plan one small test with a time limit and cap
What this session is not
- A statistics course
- A substitute for professional research where it is needed, such as for large investments
- A forecast of sales
- A promise that research will show your idea is good
How the session runs
A workshop of about two to three hours. Participants bring one real decision they are facing, such as a new product, a new location or a price change. The practitioner shows each step using a hypothetical example, and participants carry out the first pass on their own question: a research question, a short list of sources and a rough sizing. Nobody is required to disclose confidential plans to the group.
What your students leave with
- A research question tied to a real decision
- A shortlist of free and low-cost sources to check
- A rough estimate of the size of their local or niche market
- A short survey or set of questions they can use immediately
- A cheap test for an idea or offer before committing money
- A one-page summary of findings and the decision that follows
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Check before you commit.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.