AI Research Process for Market Understanding

A step-by-step guide to leveraging AI tools for comprehensive market research

Step 1: Start Learning About Your Market

Begin by gathering general information about your target market before diving into specific tools.

Key Actions:

  • Define your market scope clearly (Is it a niche or broader market?)
  • Identify initial questions you need answers to
  • Prepare to use AI as a learning assistant rather than just a content creator

Recommended Tools:

Notebook LM Gemini Chat GPT

Step 2: Deep Research with AI

Use AI tools to actively gather information about customer needs, pain points, and market trends.

Research Prompts:

"Please research the top [specific market] and the requirements/problems people have."
"Scan all the sites about [topic] and make a list of what I need, the struggles people have, and how to do this for a living."

Tool Spotlight: Gemini Deep Research

Gemini's deep research capability scans multiple sources across the web, including Reddit, forums, and content sites to compile comprehensive information about your market.

Step 3: Analyzing Competition

Research competing businesses, their approaches, pricing models, and unique selling propositions.

Key Questions to Ask:

  • Who are the major players in this market?
  • What business models are they using?
  • What are their pricing strategies?
  • How are they positioning their products/services?
  • What content are they creating that performs well?

AI Analysis Process:

  1. Collect competitor website URLs
  2. Input URLs into AI tools for content analysis
  3. Ask for gaps and opportunities in their approach
  4. Identify what successful competitors have in common

Step 4: Finding Keywords & Commercial Intent

Identify high-value keywords people are searching for and assess their commercial intent.

Keyword Research Steps:

  1. Start with general market terms
  2. Use AI to expand with related terms
  3. Check search volume for each term
  4. Analyze keyword difficulty
  5. Identify buyer-intent keywords

Commercial Intent Signals:

  • "Buy," "price," "cost" modifiers
  • Brand + product searches
  • Comparison searches
  • "Best" + product searches
  • Problem-specific searches

Tools & Techniques:

Have AI analyze search data with specific prompts:

"Categorize these keywords by search intent (informational, navigational, commercial, transactional)"
"Which of these keywords indicate someone ready to buy vs. just researching?"

Step 5: Understanding What Customers Want to Buy

Analyze customer preferences, pain points, and purchasing triggers to identify monetization opportunities.

Customer Analysis Techniques:

  • Have AI analyze comments and feedback from related forums and social media
  • Extract common questions and frustrations from Q&A sites
  • Identify what customers are willing to pay for based on existing products
  • Understand the language customers use to describe their needs

Market Value Assessment:

Analyze pricing models in your niche

Identify perceived value factors

Determine market size and potential

Value Discovery Approach:

As mentioned in the video: "Spend more time learning about your market than making content, and you will do good. Most people focus on pumping out content and SEO without understanding who's reading it."

Step 6: Synthesizing Your Research

Combine all your findings into actionable insights that guide your business strategy.

Final Analysis Process:

  1. Consolidate all research into a central document
  2. Have AI organize information by categories: Market Size, Customer Needs, Competition, Keywords, Product Opportunities
  3. Ask AI to identify patterns and connections between different data points
  4. Generate a summary SWOT analysis of your potential market entry

Actionable Output:

Use AI to generate these critical business planning documents:

Market Entry Strategy
Content Structure Plan
Monetization Model
Action Plan with Timelines