# Niche Scout

> Structured market-scouting workflows: uncover promising niches, study keywords, confirm real buyer demand, and read trend signals so digital creators and service providers can pick markets on evidence instead of guesswork.

- Skill: `trongmkt89/niche-scout` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add trongmkt89/niche-scout`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/trongmkt89/niche-scout/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: trongmkt89 (https://skillmd.com/u/trongmkt89)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/trongmkt89/niche-scout

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# Niche Scout: Market Research Playbook

A start-to-finish research method for course creators, digital entrepreneurs, and service providers who want to find niches worth entering, prove that paying customers actually exist, and back every market-entry call with real data.

## When to Use

Reach for this skill whenever you need to:

- **Find Fresh Opportunities**: Spot markets in your domain that are underserved or still uncrowded
- **Pressure-Test an Idea**: Prove demand is real before you commit time or money
- **Study the Competition**: Read the competitive field and find room to position yourself
- **Watch Market Trends**: Catch shifts in buyer behavior and emerging patterns early
- **Estimate Market Size**: Gauge the revenue ceiling and the audience you can reach
- **Call Go or No-Go**: Decide whether a market deserves a yes, a pivot, or a pass

Run this skill before any product launch, content series, or move into a new service category.

## The Four-Phase Research Flow

### Phase 1: Discover (Exploration)
Build a pool of candidate niches by:
- Mining pain points from communities and forums
- Spotting holes in the solutions already on the market
- Watching trends across platforms
- Taking stock of your own expertise
- Brainstorming open opportunities

**Output**: List of 10-15 candidate niches

### Phase 2: Validate (Investigation)
Prove people actually want it by:
- Checking search volume
- Reading which way the trend is moving
- Confirming social proof
- Picking up marketplace buying signals
- Interviewing early audience members

**Output**: 3-5 validated niches with evidence

### Phase 3: Size (Quantification)
Put numbers on the opportunity through:
- Total addressable market estimation
- Serviceable market calculation
- Mapping how dense the competition is
- Forecasting revenue potential
- Charting the growth trajectory

**Output**: Market sizing report with financial projections

### Phase 4: Decide (Selection)
Lock in the final pick using:
- A multi-criteria scoring matrix
- A risk-versus-reward review
- A personal-fit gut check
- A look at the resources required
- An entry-strategy sketch

**Output**: Go/no-go decision with implementation roadmap

## Live Research Protocol

**IMPORTANT**: Pull actual data with real-time tools. If a search can answer the question, don't guess.

### Core Tools (Built-in, always available)

#### Step 1: Web Search (Always Do First)
For every niche research request, run this search set:
```
Search: "[niche] market size [current year]"           → Market sizing data
Search: "[niche] trends [country]"                        → Local trend signals
Search: "[niche keyword] site:reddit.com"               → Pain points + sentiment
Search: "[niche] facebook group [country] members"         → Community validation
Search: "[niche] etsy.com best seller"                  → Marketplace demand
Search: "[niche] course udemy students"                  → Education market signals
Search: "[niche keyword] google trends rising"           → Trend direction
```

#### Step 2: Web Fetch (For Deeper Data)
When search results surface a valuable source, fetch the page itself:
- Fetch competitor pricing pages → extract exact price points
- Fetch review aggregator pages → extract ratings + complaint patterns
- Fetch marketplace listings → extract sales volumes + price ranges
- Fetch Facebook Ad Library → extract active ad creatives + messaging

### Advanced Tools (requires MCP setup)

#### Step 3: Sequential Thinking (For Complex Analysis)
Lean on MCP sequential thinking when the reasoning has multiple steps:
- PESTEL analysis: work through each factor with supporting evidence
- TAM/SAM/SOM calculation: record the assumption behind every step
- Niche validation scoring: back each score with data collected in Steps 1-2
- Go/no-go decision: weigh every factor in a structured way

#### Step 4: Cross-Validate with Gemini (Optional) — requires Google AI API key
When the evidence is murky or the stakes are high:
- Have Gemini attack your market assumptions
- Get a second reading of the same data
- Surface blind spots your analysis may have missed

## Manual Tools Reference

When the live tools can't reach it, point the user to check by hand:
- **Google Trends**: trends.google.com → set region to your target country
- **Google Keyword Planner**: ads.google.com → free account
- **AnswerThePublic**: answerthepublic.com → question-based queries
- **Facebook Ad Library**: facebook.com/ads/library → competitor ads
- **Etsy**: etsy.com → search product category → sort by sales

## Reference Files

Detailed methodologies and templates:

1. **[Keyword and Demand Research Guide](./references/keyword-and-demand-research-guide.md)**
   - Keyword research workflow in five phases
   - How to read search volume numbers
   - Demand scoring matrix
   - Report template

2. **[Market Analysis Framework](./references/market-analysis-framework.md)**
   - Ways to calculate TAM/SAM/SOM
   - Competitive density analysis
   - Judging market maturity
   - Entry decision matrix

3. **[Niche Validation Checklist](./references/niche-validation-checklist.md)**
   - Validation criteria across 20 items
   - Scoring methodology
   - Fast validation protocol (2-hour sprint)
   - Pass/fail thresholds

## Best Practices

1. **Go Wide First, Then Cut Ruthlessly**
   - Open with 20+ candidate niches
   - Let each phase eliminate the weak ones
   - Save the deep dives for validated opportunities
   - Don't marry an idea before the data is in

2. **Trust Demand Signals, Not Opinions**
   - Measured search volume outranks assumptions
   - What people buy beats what they say in surveys
   - A rising trend matters more than today's size
   - Follow the money people are already spending

3. **Let Data and Intuition Share the Wheel**
   - Numbers reveal what's possible, never what's guaranteed
   - Existing expertise shortens the road to results
   - Passion keeps you going when things get hard
   - Good personal fit is burnout insurance

4. **Treat Competitors as Free Education**
   - A thriving competitor is proof the demand exists
   - Their weak spots point to your openings
   - Their messaging sharpens your positioning
   - Their pricing gives you benchmarks

5. **Refresh the Research Every Quarter**
   - Digital markets move fast
   - New rivals show up all the time
   - Buyer behavior keeps evolving
   - Regular check-ins keep you ahead

6. **Write It All Down**
   - Save search results and screenshots
   - Log data sources and dates
   - Track metrics over time
   - Build a knowledge base you can reuse

## Output Deliverables

A completed market research engagement should produce:

1. **Niche Research Report**: Full analysis covering demand evidence, the competitive picture, and an opportunity assessment
2. **Market Sizing Model**: Spreadsheet with TAM/SAM/SOM calculations and revenue projections
3. **Validation Scorecard**: Filled-in checklist with scores and a recommendation
4. **Entry Strategy Brief**: Go-to-market plan covering positioning, messaging, and tactics

## Success Metrics

Signs the research was done well:
- 3+ validated demand sources per niche
- A differentiation angle that's clearly distinct from competitors
- Market size quantified with every assumption written down
- Validation score 15+ on the checklist
- A confident go/no-go call within 2 weeks

## Common Pitfalls to Avoid

- **Endless Research**: Set a deadline; don't analyze forever
- **Confirmation Bias**: Hunt for evidence that says you're wrong
- **Dismissing Competitors**: They prove demand — and preview your obstacles
- **Vanity Metrics**: Chase revenue potential, not raw audience counts
- **Skipping Validation**: The demand-confirmation steps are never optional
- **Single-Source Conclusions**: Triangulate every finding across multiple evidence types

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**Next Steps**: Work through the reference files for the detailed workflows, then run the framework against your own opportunity.

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*Part of **Solo Launch OS** — © TRONGMKT · trongmkt.com*