Business Research and Advice

You have a great business idea but are you sure there’s a market for what you’re offering?

Or is business is good and you’re thinking of expanding, but you're unsure of the next steps?

We’re here to help with advice, mentoring and research to help start your business or grow your bottom line.

Business research Service

Market Research

Do you need help researching new markets?
Thinking about growing your business but don’t know where to start?
Maybe you want to collaborate with other businesses?

The Business Research Initiative was created to meet individual, specific needs of businesses within the borough to help improve performance, productivity, profitability, competitiveness and sustainability.

Market research is crucial to success. Our service is designed to help and guide businesses to build on their strengths and fill gaps in understanding to allow them to prosper.

So do you:

need help with market research?
want to know what finance and funding is available for your business?

The Business Research service will assist you with all of these issues and this service is completely free. If you would like to discuss your business research needs, please contact our Business Research Officer, Rowena Moore, by email or telephone 0300 013 3333 (ext. 40959), or you can fill in our online Research Request form linked below.

Click here to complete the business research request form online

In compiling information on your behalf, our research team has access to some of the most detailed and current data sources for information covering market research and funding. These include:

Market research

The Economic Development Team can undertake bespoke research as requested by local businesses. We gather market intelligence and insight from a range of sources, including:

Cobra is ideal for business start-up as it provides business opportunity profiles, area profiles and sector research. This information is invaluable to those starting up or branching out into new markets.
IBIS World is a source of UK industry based research, the in-depth reports offer insight into most sectors and the content provided can give an insight into market and consumer trends.

Sources of funding / grants

Grantfinder is a database of available grants and funding across the UK. It can be searched and filtered specifically to find any grants that would be applicable to individual SMEs, Social Enterprises or Charities.

To find out more about Grantfinder, please email Rowena Moore, Business Researcher.

One-to-one advice

As a local business you can meet with an experienced Business Adviser for free support. Our officers have business backgrounds, so they understand the challenges that local start-ups face. This means that when you meet us, you’ll benefit from practical one-to-one business advice that’s all about starting or developing your business. The advice can be tailored to meet requirements relevant to your business type and industry. Common topics include marketing, financial forecasting, funding, strategy, general management, growth strategies and more.

If you would like to discuss how to move your idea forward, email Maura Bettes, Economic Development Officer or call 0300 013 3333 (ext. 40914).

Mentoring

Bespoke mentoring connects you with local industry specialists on the topics that you need help with. Like our advice service, common topics include marketing, general management, going digital, growth strategies and more.

Get started with research

For further information on how research can help you develop your business, email Rowena Moore our Business Research Officer, call 0300 013 3333 ext 40959 or complete our Business Request Form online.

Get help with your market research