B2B Breakthrough Podcast

Episode: Scale Your Business Using These (Free) Audience Research Strategies
Date: September 2, 2025
Host: Ciara Christo (Alibaba.com)
Guest: Sveta Kalinska, Founder of Rila Global Consulting

Episode Overview

This episode centers on practical, low-budget strategies for effective audience research aimed at small business owners and entrepreneurs. Host Ciara Christo is joined by data and research expert Sveta Kalinska, who shares actionable insights and step-by-step approaches for understanding and expanding your audience using free and accessible digital tools. Key themes include avoiding common research mistakes, leveraging AI, integrating qualitative and quantitative data, and translating findings into business growth strategies.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Sveta’s Approach to Audience Research and Storytelling

• Sveta’s journey from a numbers-focused education in Bulgaria to founding Rila Global Consulting in the U.S.
• The importance of data as a means to tell compelling business stories that drive action.
• Her multilingual abilities as a “superpower” that enables global research (04:01).

2. Why Audience Research Is Essential, Not a Luxury

• Audience research isn’t “nice to have”—it’s foundational for product ideation, marketing, and business strategy (05:20).

• Many small businesses mistakenly rely only on anecdotal evidence. Effective research requires a broader, data-driven view (07:43).

  "While reading five or 10 or 15 reviews online about your own product could give you a good idea directionally... that would not be sufficient." – Sveta Kalinska [07:52]

3. Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research & the ‘Numbers and Colors’ Framework

• Quantitative = numbers and metrics (how often, how many)

• Qualitative = “color” and context (what people are saying and why)

• Effective research blends these perspectives for richer insight (10:02).

  “One gives you the numbers behind the question... and then the other gives you, I call it the color or the actual information about the actual product.” – Sveta Kalinska [10:05]

4. Getting Started with Free Audience Research Tools

• Emphasis on social media platforms for hashtag/key term analysis—observe what’s trending, who’s talking, and in what context (12:06).

• Analyzing competitor activities and industry trends for inspiration and benchmarking.

• Plug for Alibaba’s own AI tool for market validation and competitive landscape research (15:03).

  “All it takes is for you to be able to just sit down, carve out the time and actually look at the data... you don't need to hire agencies, you don't need to spend money.” – Sveta Kalinska [15:46]

5. AI as a Research Multiplier for Small Businesses

• AI can manage repetitive tasks and synthesize large data sets, freeing up time for critical thinking and creative strategy (15:46).
• Caution: Always ‘trust but verify’—use human judgment alongside AI-generated insights to validate findings (18:40).
• Rila Global builds custom AI and language models for research, focusing on data blending (sales, demographics, social mentions) (18:40).

6. Practical Research Steps: The 1-2-3 Framework

• Brand: Identify your own brand and direct competitors; analyze their strengths and messaging.

• Product: Search for and analyze keywords and phrases related to your specific product and its attributes.

• Industry: Examine broader industry leaders and aspirational brands for trends and best practices.

• Use these three “buckets” to break research into manageable steps (21:52, 25:05).

  “I love 1, 2, 3—brand, product, industry.” – Sveta Kalinska [24:49]

7. The “Copy-Paste but Personalize” Growth Mentality

• Learn from established companies by following their models, then infuse your unique mission and creativity (25:43).

• Emphasis on not needing to reinvent every step—adapt rather than duplicate.

  “There is a formula for everything... just copy and paste it and you will be successful. Take one successful example... and just copy exactly what they've done and you'll get there.” – Sveta Kalinska [25:43]

8. Adapting Messaging for Audience Expansion

• Be flexible as your true audience reveals itself (example: toy company’s market widened unexpectedly) (27:49).

• Use social media to spot these shifts and adapt:

  • Start with niche messaging, but don’t be afraid to go broader and more generic to let the audience self-select (30:25).

  “Go bigger and go wider and the audience itself will attract itself to your product organically.” – Sveta Kalinska [28:49]

  “Have something punchy, something short, something generic, something wide, and the audience itself will come to you.” – Sveta Kalinska [31:47]

9. Blending and Actively Using All Available Data

• Integrate qualitative, quantitative, and anecdotal insights for a holistic market understanding (32:21).

• Continuous, side-by-side tracking is key—month over month, segment by segment (32:21).

• Surveys: Use direct outreach to your customer base as a valuable and free research tool (surveys, feedback forms) (34:55).

  “Survey data is ...another great free tool that I hope all of the owners are using out there.” – Sveta Kalinska [35:57]

10. Transforming Insights into Actionable Growth Strategies

• Download all data (review, survey, AI, social) into spreadsheets and identify recurring themes or keywords (36:43).

• Use AI to synthesize insights, but always contextualize with your business goals and narrative (36:43).

• Sveta provides a real-world example: Feminine care brand in South Africa scaled impact and revenue using social listening to identify new city markets and rectify in-store issues (38:43).

  “We started by literally implementing research strategies for the general category of feminine products and... narrowed it down to themes that we saw within key markets...” – Sveta Kalinska [39:20]

11. Entrepreneurial Pep Talk:

> “Just do it. ...Don’t listen to anyone. Follow your gut, follow your dreams. Everything's achievable.” – Sveta Kalinska [41:05]

12. Resources & Support

• Rila Global provides one annual pro bono audience research package to a mission-driven business (valued at $25,000). Visit rilaglobal.com to apply (42:49).

Notable Quotes and Moments

• On the value of research for small businesses:
  “You don't need to hire agencies, you don't need to spend money. All you need is your passion for your own product because you know your product best and the time to sit down and actually look at all those tools.” – Sveta Kalinska [00:00]

• On verifying AI data:
  “Trust but verify... you want to have that human touch after you're generating data...” – Ciara Christo [17:47]

• On blending data:
  “When you get to the medium size... you have to look at several data sets. ...Then it starts getting very quickly complicated into how you look at all of this data and how you make sense of the data.” – Sveta Kalinska [19:13]

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Topic/Segment | |-----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Opening—Audience research with free tools; AI as a multiplier | | 01:27 | Sveta’s introduction & background (math, data, multilingualism, Rila’s founding) | | 05:20 | Why audience research is essential for small businesses | | 07:43 | Common research mistakes: anecdotal vs. big picture | | 10:02 | Qualitative vs. quantitative research (“colors and numbers” framework) | | 12:06 | How to start: Using social media, hashtags, competitor analysis | | 15:46 | AI for small business research—how to use it efficiently | | 18:40 | Ensuring data accuracy; blending multiple data types | | 21:52 | Sveta’s 1-2-3 bucket system: brand, product, industry | | 25:43 | The value of learning from others (“copy-paste” mentality) | | 28:49 | Adapting messaging and discover new audience segments | | 32:21 | Integrating all data (qual, quant, anecdotes, surveys) for a complete picture | | 36:43 | Turning research into a growth strategy; practical example from client work | | 41:05 | Pep talk: “Just do it” | | 42:49 | Rila Global’s annual free research project for mission-driven small businesses |

Conclusion

Sveta Kalinska’s approach combines empathy for resource-strapped entrepreneurs with clear, actionable steps to make audience research accessible and impactful—no big budgets needed. From leveraging free social listening tools and AI, to using surveys and learning from successful competitors, any small business owner can build a strong foundation for data-driven growth. Her parting advice: trust your instincts, keep learning, and just start.

Further Resources:

• rilaglobal.com (annual pro bono research opportunity)
• Alibaba.com’s Axio AI Tool for competitive/market research

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