12 min · Advanced
Market Research, Personas, and Competitors
Use Gemini to structure desk research you supply, build personas from observed jobs rather than stereotypes, and keep a SWOT tied to evidence.
Learning objectives
- Separate facts you provide from blanks the model must not fill.
- Build a persona from a job-to-be-done, quotes you collected, and disconfirming evidence.
- Compare competitors from pages you paste and add an evidence column to every SWOT row.
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Why this matters
Strategy built on numbers the model invented will embarrass you in front of a partner. Personas built from stereotypes waste product and ad decisions. Public pages are usable evidence only when you paste them and date them. A SWOT without an evidence column is a mood.
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Concept
Gemini can structure desk research — work from documents and public pages, not from a visit you have not made. It cannot know your street, your margins, or last month's sales unless you provide them. Paste numbers you are allowed to share. Ask it to file each input as fact from you, public page, or unknown. If a cell is unknown, it stays unknown. Invented sales in a tidy table are worse than blanks.
A persona — a working portrait of a buyer — built only from stereotypes is harmful. Build it from jobs-to-be-done — the progress a person is trying to make in a real situation — plus quotes you collected and disconfirming evidence — a fact that argues against the neat story. If you have no quotes yet, label the persona a hypothesis. Do not invent a name, an income, or a mood and call it research.
Competitor analysis starts from public pages you paste, not from the model's memory of a brand. Copy the offer, the price if it is visible, the audience they seem to address, and the proof they show. Ask what is absent. Note the date you copied the page, because offers change. Do not guess their margins or their private sales. Comparison is a reading of what they published, plus your notes on what you can and cannot match.
Build a SWOT — strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats — with an evidence column on every row. A strength without a source is a compliment. A threat without a source is a worry. Evidence can be your sales note, a pasted page, or a blank that says needs a source. Keep an opportunity, a change you might use, separate from a plan with an owner. The table briefs your judgment. It is not a verdict.
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Real-world example
Lantern Cycle, with the blanks left blank
Samir Adeyemi runs Lantern Cycle Repair with one other mechanic, near a commuter rail stop. He pasted last month's tally from his book: 40 tire repairs and 6 tune-ups, and he wrote that he does not repair carbon frames. He also pasted two public pages from nearby shops, dated the day he copied them. Gemini sorted weekday commuters and weekend riders only as hypotheses until his quotes were attached. One quote from a commuter said she needs the bike before the 7:40 train. A hobby rider's quote said he can wait a week. A SWOT row for strength cited the tire tally. A row for rival prices said needs a source when the page hid the number.
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Gemini demonstration
A realistic exchange. Open Gemini beside this page and try a version with your own facts.
You
Desk research only. Facts from me: I am Samir. Lantern Cycle Repair, me plus one mechanic, near the rail stop. Last month's book: 40 tire repairs and 6 tune-ups. We do not repair carbon frames. I pasted two public pages and the date I copied them. Do not estimate margins, rent, or market size. File each point as fact from me, public page, or unknown.
Gemini
Desk sort of what you pasted, not of the city I cannot see. Fact from you: Lantern Cycle Repair, you plus one mechanic, near the rail stop, 40 tire repairs and 6 tune-ups in your last month tally, no carbon frame work. Public pages: two shops, copied on the date you wrote. I will not estimate their margins or your profit. Unknown stays blank: rent, wage, how many commuters miss the train, and any market size. Hypothesis, labeled as such: weekday riders may care more about the morning than weekend riders do. That becomes a persona only after quotes. A SWOT strength can cite the tire tally. A threat about a rival's cheap tune is needs a source, because the page you pasted hid the price.
You
Persona next. Do not invent a name, income, or mood. Commuter quote I collected: she needs the bike before the 7:40 train. Weekend quote: he can wait a week. Use jobs-to-be-done. Include one piece of disconfirming evidence from my tally. If a quote is only my memory, say so.
Gemini
Persona, not a cartoon. I will not invent a name, an income, or a mood. Commuter job-to-be-done: have a safe tire before the 7:40 train. Quote you collected: she needs the bike before that train. Disconfirming evidence: your book shows only 6 tune-ups, so a persona built on long weekend overhauls fights the tally. Weekend rider job-to-be-done: get a careful tune without missing a club ride that can move. Quote: he can wait a week. If that quote is your memory and not his words, tag it hypothesis until you write it down as said. Competitor notes stay inside the two pages. Next outside step: stand at the shop for one morning or ask five riders. I cannot do that visit from here.
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Prompt breakdown
The prompt
Role: research clerk who cannot visit my street. Task: build a SWOT with columns item, type, and evidence. Types are strength, weakness, opportunity, threat. Constraints: evidence must quote my notes or a public page I pasted, including the date I copied it. If you cannot point to that evidence, write needs a source and do not guess margins, sales, or motives. Keep opportunities separate from plans. Output the table only, then a list of unknowns I must measure myself.
- The clerk role blocks a visit the model cannot make and a story about your street.
- The evidence column stops compliments and worries from looking like findings.
- Needs a source is an allowed cell, which is how you refuse invented sales.
- Separating opportunities from plans keeps a maybe from becoming a fake decision.
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Common mistakes
Usually
Tell me my margins and how big the bike market is in my city.
Better
Use only the tally and pages I paste. If a number is missing, write unknown.
Usually
Create a persona of a busy professional mom who loves cycling culture.
Better
Use a job-to-be-done, a quote I collected, and one fact that argues against the neat story.
Usually
Summarize my competitors from what you remember about famous shops.
Better
Read only the public pages I paste, note the date, and do not guess their private sales.
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Practice exercise
A SWOT with an evidence column
Done when: No cell states a margin, rent, or market size you did not provide, and the persona is not a stereotype with an invented income.
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Challenge
Blanks are allowed to stay blank
Build a SWOT for Lantern Cycle Repair or for a real shop you know, with an evidence column on every row. Strengths may cite only numbers you paste. Threats with no source must say needs a source. Add one persona using a job-to-be-done, a quote you collected or an explicit missing-quote blank, and one piece of disconfirming evidence. You are done when a stereotype name, income, or mood is gone and the unknown cells are still blank.
Hint: If a sentence would still sound true after you swapped in a different city, it is not evidence yet.
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Key takeaways
- Gemini can structure desk research. It cannot know your street, margins, or last month's sales unless you provide them.
- A persona needs a job-to-be-done, quotes you collected, and disconfirming evidence.
- Competitor notes come from public pages you paste, dated, not from model memory.
- Every SWOT row needs an evidence column, and needs a source is a valid entry.
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