ChatGPT for Research & Planning

Stop spending hours on Google piecing together research. ChatGPT can help you analyze markets, evaluate competitors, and draft business plans in a fraction of the time. In this lesson, you'll learn how to use AI as your personal research team.

Market Research with ChatGPT

Before you launch any business, product, or service, you need to understand your market. Who are your customers? What problems do they have? What are they already paying for? ChatGPT can help you answer all of these questions quickly.

The key to effective market research with ChatGPT is asking specific, layered questions rather than vague ones. Don't just ask "tell me about the fitness market." Instead, get surgical with your prompts.

Researching Target Audiences

Start by asking ChatGPT to help you build a detailed picture of your ideal customer. Here are some powerful prompts:

• "Describe the typical customer for [your product/service]. Include demographics, psychographics, pain points, and buying behavior." — This gives you a customer avatar you can use for all your marketing.
• "What are the top 10 frustrations that [target audience] experiences with [current solutions]?" — This reveals pain points you can address directly.
• "What trends are shaping the [industry] market in 2026? Focus on consumer behavior changes." — This helps you spot opportunities before competitors do.

Identifying Pain Points

Pain points are where the money is. When you solve real problems, people pay. Use ChatGPT to dig deep:

• Ask it to role-play as your target customer and describe their daily frustrations
• Have it analyze common complaints, forum discussions, or review patterns in your niche
• Request a list of "jobs to be done" that your target audience is trying to accomplish

The more specific your questions, the more useful the answers. Instead of "what problems do small business owners have?" try "what are the top 5 daily frustrations for a solo freelance graphic designer earning under $50K per year?"

Analyzing Trends

While ChatGPT's training data has a cutoff, it's still excellent at identifying macro trends, historical patterns, and logical projections. Pair it with current data from Google Trends or industry reports for the most complete picture. Ask ChatGPT to help you interpret the data you find — it's great at turning raw numbers into actionable insights.

Competitive Analysis

Understanding your competitors isn't about copying them — it's about finding gaps they've missed. ChatGPT is surprisingly effective at helping you analyze competitive landscapes, even if you're starting from zero knowledge of a market.

Analyzing Competitors' Strengths and Weaknesses

Use this prompt structure to get actionable competitive intelligence:

1. Identify the players: "Who are the top 5 competitors in [niche/industry]? For each, list their main product, pricing model, and unique selling proposition."
2. Analyze positioning: "Compare how [Competitor A] and [Competitor B] position themselves in the market. What audience does each target? Where do they overlap and where do they differ?"
3. Find weaknesses: "Based on common customer complaints about [competitor], what are the top 3 weaknesses in their offering that a new competitor could exploit?"

How to Structure Competitive Analysis Prompts

For a comprehensive view, ask ChatGPT to create a competitive analysis table:

"Create a competitive analysis table comparing [Competitor A], [Competitor B], and [Competitor C]. Include columns for: pricing, target audience, key features, strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning."

This gives you a side-by-side comparison you can use to find your unique angle. The output works great pasted into a spreadsheet or pitch deck. Follow up by asking: "Based on this comparison, where is the biggest gap in the market that a new entrant could fill?"

Business Plan Drafting

Writing a business plan from scratch is intimidating. But with ChatGPT, you can build one section by section, refining as you go. Think of it as having a business consultant on call 24/7.

Step-by-Step Process

Walk through these steps in order, using a new prompt for each section:

1. Executive Summary: "Write an executive summary for a business that [describe your idea in 1–2 sentences]. Include the problem we solve, our solution, target market, and revenue model."
2. Value Proposition: "What is the unique value proposition for [your business]? Why would someone choose us over existing alternatives? Write this in clear, compelling language."
3. Revenue Model: "Suggest 3 different revenue models for [your business idea]. For each, explain how it works, the pros and cons, and which type of business it works best for."
4. Marketing Strategy: "Create a marketing strategy for [your business] with a $500/month budget. Focus on the highest-ROI channels for reaching [target audience]."
5. Financial Projections: "Create a simple 12-month revenue projection for [business type] assuming [starting conditions]. Include monthly revenue, expenses, and profit."

The key is to iterate. Take ChatGPT's first draft, identify what feels off or generic, and ask it to go deeper on those sections. Each round of refinement gets you closer to a plan that's genuinely useful — not just filler text.

Content Research & Idea Generation

Whether you're building a blog, YouTube channel, or social media presence, content ideas are the lifeblood of your business. ChatGPT is an idea machine when you prompt it correctly.

Generating Blog Post Ideas

Instead of asking for generic ideas, give ChatGPT context about your audience and goals:

"I run a blog about [topic] targeting [audience]. Generate 20 blog post ideas that address their biggest pain points. For each idea, include a suggested title and a one-sentence description of the angle."

This gives you a content calendar's worth of ideas in seconds. The key is providing context — without it, you'll get generic suggestions that could apply to any blog.

Finding Content Gaps

Content gaps are topics your competitors haven't covered well. These are gold because they represent unmet demand. Ask ChatGPT:

• "What questions about [topic] are rarely answered well online?"
• "What subtopics within [niche] are underserved by existing content?"
• "If someone is researching [topic] for the first time, what information would they struggle to find?"

Validating Ideas

Before investing time in content, validate it. Ask ChatGPT to play devil's advocate:

"I'm thinking of writing about [topic]. Who would search for this? What would they hope to learn? Is this topic likely to have enough demand to be worth creating?"

This quick gut-check can save you from spending hours on content nobody is looking for.

SWOT Analysis with AI

A SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) is one of the most valuable strategic exercises for any business. ChatGPT makes it fast and thorough.

How to Run a SWOT Analysis with ChatGPT

Use this prompt as your starting point:

"Conduct a SWOT analysis for [business idea/company]. Context: [brief description of the business, target market, and current situation]. For each category (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), provide at least 4 specific, actionable points."

The more context you provide, the more tailored and useful the output will be. Don't just say "an online store" — say "an online store selling eco-friendly pet products to millennial dog owners in the US, launched 3 months ago with $2K/month revenue."

Example: SWOT for an AI Consulting Business

Here's what ChatGPT might produce for a solo AI consulting business:

• Strengths: Low overhead costs, high demand for AI expertise, ability to work remotely with global clients, scalable through digital products and courses
• Weaknesses: Single point of failure (just you), limited bandwidth for client work, no established brand recognition yet, technology changes rapidly requiring constant learning
• Opportunities: Most businesses haven't adopted AI yet, growing corporate training budgets for AI skills, partnership opportunities with marketing agencies, passive income through course creation
• Threats: Rapid commoditization of basic AI skills, big consulting firms entering the space, AI tools becoming so easy that consulting demand drops, economic downturns cutting consulting budgets first

From here, you can ask powerful follow-up questions: "Based on this SWOT, what should my top 3 strategic priorities be for the next 6 months?" or "How can I mitigate the biggest threats you identified while capitalizing on the opportunities?"