Market and audience research
It runs inside every partnership, it is never sold separately, and the file leaves with you.
The short version
What you get. A market and audience map you keep, with evidence, estimates and open questions distinguished.
Is this for you? For the audience described from memory and the persona copied off a template. If research is all you are after, the Free Audit is the place to start.
What leaves your plate. Competitor research, audience mapping and topic opportunities, documented for use by your team and other suppliers.
Start with the Free Audit.
Research you keep
The dossier is yours to keep
The competitor file, audience map and topic list go into your drive in the same format we use ourselves. They are yours to keep and use when briefing a photographer, copywriter or your own team.
Being asked is often the first time it gets answered
Which archetype, expressed in which colours and which type. Which cultural register, global or specifically British. Where you sit on price and on quality, how wide the niche is meant to be, and who stands nearest to you. Expert-led brands usually carry all of this somewhere behind the eyes and none of it on paper. The pause after the first question is not an embarrassment; it is the most useful minute of the fortnight.
Define who the work is for
We distinguish ideal, neutral, low-fit and deliberately excluded audiences. The last group helps clarify which needs the offer will not serve and which subjects or styles would draw the wrong enquiries. The categories describe fit with the offer.
The same template gets run on this studio
BUBI has its own archetype file, its own competitor set graded on price and quality, its own list of subjects that are already saturated. Running the process on ourselves is how the template got sharp. It is also why a partner's version takes days rather than a quarter, and why every question on the list is one we have had to sit down and answer, which changes the way it gets asked.
The file's contents
| Competitor set | primary, secondary, entry level, and the ones who could take your share |
|---|---|
| Read for each | archetype, price and quality level, main markets, headline offer, the solution in one sentence |
| Also read for each | search keywords, likely audience behaviours, the pain points they answer, a mini SWOT |
| Reviews, both directions | the most detailed positive one and the most critical one |
| Your audience, split four ways | ideal, neutral, low fit, anti |
| Awareness | five stages, unaware through to most aware, with a likely share for each |
Mapping a niche somebody has already worked
Where the room is, and where it has gone
Subjects your near competitors have covered to exhaustion get marked as such, and so do the ones nobody in the niche has taken seriously. Red ocean and blue ocean are useful words for about a minute; the deliverable is a list of subjects with a note beside each on how crowded it is and what would have to be different. Every claim in the map carries its evidence type beside it, what was observed, what is sourced, what is our estimate, and what is still a hypothesis to test, so a behavioural claim about your audience is never mistaken for a measured fact.
When it happens
Research begins with the Free Audit and develops to the depth agreed for the paid work. We revisit the map when the market changes or the channel outgrows it.
At the bench
The work, demonstrated
Try a decision from the craft: drag, tap or toggle, then read the trade-off.
These are illustrative models; no partner’s results are shown.
More demonstrations at the bench →The file is yours at the end of it, because a partner who cannot brief anybody but us has been made dependent, which is not the same as helped.
Dependence is easy to sell and dishonest to build, so the map leaves in your name.
What changes for you
A shared map gives content discussions a clearer starting point. You can see the evidence behind each opportunity and use the document whether or not we make the next piece.
Related: Channel strategy and DNA · The Free Audit · Defining the goal · Content systems and planning
Send your channel. We will review recent work and suggest what to address first.
Request your Free Audit.
Three fields, and a written reading back.
Your audit usually arrives within three working days. We use your details only to reply to your enquiry.
What you will get
What is working, what could improve and whether we can help.
Two or three priorities, with the reason for each.
A recommended next step, even if that step is not us.
There is no obligation to continue. We only arrange a call if you ask for one.
The work, written up
The case studies keep their dates, sources and limits visible.
See the casework →