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CONDUCT YOUR OWN MARKET RESEARCH

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview:

CONDUCT YOUR OWN MARKET RESEARCH

Whether you are a manufacturer, distributor, retailer, Internet dotcom firm or service provider, thorough research is essential to your survival in today's competitive market.
Market research is any planned effort that provides you
with new facts and information to improve your marketing
decisions. Research can be conducted for a variety of reasons,
from determining whether you should make or carry a specific
product line, to where you should locate your store, to the type of Web presence you want to develop.
Without calling it marketing research, you've been doing
it for some time. Whether you sell to individuals, dealers or businesses, you
try to get as much information as possible out of your customers.
You learn as much as you can about their attitudes, buying
habits, long-term wants, needs and other pertinent information.
In today’s market, you cannot afford not to do research.

Reasons for Saying No
But if market research is so important, why do so many
companies put it off for so long? Some of the most common
attitudes we've encountered are: "We know our market area
because:

1) we've lived in this community for years."

2) we've performed product manufacturing/marketing for others."

3) we were working in our target market before we became an
integrator."

4) the Internet is the new brave frontier and we’re breaking new ground”

Entrepreneurs are risk-takers. They risk their savings,
their futures and their business reputations with supreme
confidence in their technical and marketing knowledge--they don't
need research. Four manufacturers may have failed last month,
two distributors may have gone under, 10 portal and 50 dotcoms may have disappeared before they started and 40 stores could have
closed their doors in the State last quarter ... but they're
certain they won't go under because they're different.
"Market research is too scientific." If you've ever read
the articles in The Harvard Business Review, or any other
professional publication, it's easy to see how market research
can put most people off. Don't be intimidated by the research
specialist. We're referring to research in areas that are small
problems from their point of view, but major for you and your
business.

"Research is a big waste of time." It's your business,
your financial success, your future. It can't be a waste of
time. You may be impatient and you may feel that you have to hit
the market immediately in order to keep up with the competition,
but the competition may be making some serious mistakes. It's
easier, and less costly, to learn from the mistakes of others.

"Research costs too much." Insurance costs too, but you
would never run your business without it. This is exactly what
market research is for you ... insurance. It can help you make
decisions and recommendations more confidently. It can also
point out areas where changes can or should be made to improve
your success.

Problem Identification
If you're a dealer, you need to know the geographic and
economic areas you draw customers from or the types of businesses
you attract for your system sales. Distributors need to forecast
end-user/dealer needs so they can add new lines and stimulate
more dealers in their market area. Manufacturers often wonder if
their product is on the down side of the sales curve, or if their
salespeople are simply tired of selling it and are focusing most
of their attention on new products instead of your most
profitable products.
Dotcoms need to understand the total Internet landscape
including “what if” solutions and competitors that can emerge
overnight. On the Web there is a potential competitor or category
killer behind every server. Heed Andy Grove’s (Intel’s chairman)
advice, “Only the paranoid survive.”
Regardless of your position in the selling cycle, you
don't have the luxury of research that takes weeks and months
to complete. It has to be done in concert with your regular
business.
To begin your marketing research, put your questions and
problems down on paper. Don't worry about how you will get the
information, just list those areas where you want or need more
facts.

Problem Evaluation
Ask yourself what alternatives are available to you,
depending upon the results of the research. If there are
alternatives, determine who in your organization supports the
options.
Estimate how much a bad decision will cost your
organization, and from that you can determine how much time,
effort and money can be used to carry out the research. There
are times when a problem simply can't be researched because of
the number of variables that are involved.
Before you launch into the research project, get the
opinions of others, including engineering, marketing and sales,
packaging and advertising, manufacturing, key customers,
publications and bankers. They may have to act on your findings,
so you need agreement at the outset.

Plan of Action
By now, you are convinced that there are some marketing
problems that you can solve for your organization using very
basic, simple research. Put your plan of action in writing.
Committing your actions to paper crystallizes and focuses your
thinking. It also keeps others informed.
First, spell out why the research is needed. This
includes statements on: what you want to consider (new product,
new market area, new store location, new product line mix, new
advertising alternatives, etc.); what you don't know (what
information you need to help you make a better decision); what
your alternatives are (and how the research will help you select
the right alternative); and how much you are going to spend on
the project.

Information Sources
Now that you have determined what you want to find out,
you've arrived at the part of the project that is most fun and
challenging ... getting the facts. There are literally thousands
of sources available to you. With 10,000 new Web sites being
opened every day the list of sources is growing exponentially.
Your research approaches are divided into two categories--
primary or original resources and secondary or printed resources.
If you intend to use primary sources, you must pinpoint
exactly who you need to contact, whether it is specific buyers in
companies, heads of certain companies, heads of certain types of
households or certain types of users.
The use of these sources usually involves more expensive,
more time-consuming research. It takes time to get the
information, tabulate it and analyze the results.
Secondary resources are materials that are already
available, such as those on the Internet. They have been produced by your trade association, publications or the government. It's surprising how much useful
information is available. You need only know who to ask and what
to ask for.
Every year you "contribute" a great deal of money to our
local, state, regional and national bureaucracy. Here is a
chance for you to get a return on your investment. There are
literally thousands of research reports of all sizes, on every
subject imaginable. You have paid for that research. Use it.
Most of the larger banks and financial institutions have conducted original research,
and every bank has a study of your area available. Ask your own
bank manager what their market research department has available
nationally, regionally and locally. They have probably already
studied and analyzed many of the other secondary reports you
would research, making your work even easier. Don't reinvent the
wheel. If they have done the work and developed the answers, use
them.
The media is one of your best sources of research results,
and can also suggest other sources for further research data.
National, regional, state and local magazines have studied their
markets to determine how they can best serve them. They should
be able to provide you with a breakdown of their circulation as
well as industry/market area trends and statistics.
The same is true of newspapers, radio and television.
Local media spends hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to
determine what their market area is doing, what its make-up is
and how it is changing. This is how they "prove" to you that
they can deliver in your market.
There is also a growing list of on-line databases avail-
able as close as your telephone and terminal. These include
Dialog, Dun & Bradstreet, Dow Jones and hundreds of other natio-
nal, international and regional databases that are cropping up to
meet the needs of information-hungry businesses such as yours.

Time Limits
As you can see from the list of available resources, there
is a world of data available to you if you only ask. In fact,
there may be more information available than you have time to
study. Before you launch into your research, determine exactly
when the results have to be presented. This will help put
limits on the extent of your research. Time limits are important
because the longer the research drags on, the better the chances
are of your information becoming outdated.
You've determined that there is a need for the study,
spelled out the possible actions that can be taken, determined
your primary and secondary sources of information and are ready
to present your findings, alternatives and recommendations.
Your market research could take a few days or a few weeks.
But the results will help you and your organization chart a safer
course.

#######


Secondary Resources Available to You

If you're in or near a major city, contact the Department
of Commerce's field office to discuss what you want and ask for
the publications that they have available. Resources include

o Population Census - Detailed census data is available for
states, counties, standard consolidated statistical areas
(SCAs), standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMAs),
urbanized areas, incorporated areas and other categories.
They have been studied by age, sex, race, marital status and
standard industrial codes (SICs).

o Household Census - Almost every city, town and village has
been studied by the census bureau. Information is available
for all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Globally this data is also available
in most industrialized countries.

o Economic Census - The Department of Commerce's economic census
will help you determine the potential market areas, product/
business mixes and status/trends. This will help you develop
accurate sales projections and determine the location of
offices/stores as well as budget allocations. Information is
available nationally, by state, SBSAs and by major cities, and
is further broken down by types of trade or industry as well
as types of business ownerships.

o County Studies - There are published reports for every state
and county as well as a national summary on employment and
trends. If you're a retailer in Minneapolis, you can use the
studies of your area to determine how large your overall
market potential is, the spread of that potential and its
trends. If you're selling legal systems in California, you
can determine your areas of greatest concentration to pinpoint
where you need to locate sales personnel or carry out targeted
marketing efforts. If you're a manufacturer, this information
is helpful in establishing sales territories and sales quotas.

o Census Tracts - The real estate industry uses this data almost
daily. It will tell you how long people have lived in their
homes, how many rooms they have, when the buildings were
built, value of the property and the markup of selected
neighborhoods.

o Business Surveys - Every month, the Department of Commerce
publishes statistics on the gross national product (GNP),
national income and the international balance of payments.
You've heard this information reported on the news, but
probably never realized that there are major reports available
for you to study in detail. These reports allow you to study
personal income, employment, prices and other pertinent
business statistics.

########

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Related Forum Posts
Re: Traffic! How do you get it? - I agree, [i:1z2pskgt]"The solution before getting traffic, is RESEARCH"[/i:1z2pskgt]. "Keywords" are the source of traffic and its completely true that we should do a bit of research before crafting an article. Now a days, i see like its quite easy to rank well for long tail keywords esp. on Google because of the "freshness" in serp. The newly indexed articles are placed above the older articles to show fresh content to the user. Its advantage too but the question is, how long you stay in top position ?
Re: Traffic! How do you get it? - [quote="MrVen":nd7xmoiu]I agree, [i:nd7xmoiu]"The solution before getting traffic, is RESEARCH"[/i:nd7xmoiu]. "Keywords" are the source of traffic and its completely true that we should do a bit of research before crafting an article. Now a days, i see like its quite easy to rank well for long tail keywords esp. on Google because of the "freshness" in serp. The newly indexed articles are placed above the older articles to show fresh content to the user. Its advantage too but the question is, how long you stay in top position ?[/quote:nd7xmoiu] It depends on your competition, but to ensure you stay there, simply build backlinks to your site, post, etc. This can be done through article marketing (including web 2.0 sites) as David suggested, blog commenting, forum posting and social bookmarking.
Re: Traffic! How do you get it? - [quote="Alan Mater":20du3h6t][quote="MrVen":20du3h6t]I agree, [i:20du3h6t]"The solution before getting traffic, is RESEARCH"[/i:20du3h6t]. "Keywords" are the source of traffic and its completely true that we should do a bit of research before crafting an article. Now a days, i see like its quite easy to rank well for long tail keywords esp. on Google because of the "freshness" in serp. The newly indexed articles are placed above the older articles to show fresh content to the user. Its advantage too but the question is, how long you stay in top position ?[/quote:20du3h6t] It depends on your competition, but to ensure you stay there, simply build backlinks to your site, post, etc. This can be done through article marketing (including web 2.0 sites) as David suggested, blog commenting, forum posting and social bookmarking.[/quote:20du3h6t] I'm really bad at just sitting down to write without doing keyword research! Thanks all for the reminder of how important it is to do. I'll work on making it part of my article-writing routine!
Re: Traffic! How do you get it? - [quote="terriz":1neald8i][quote="Alan Mater":1neald8i][quote="MrVen":1neald8i]I agree, [i:1neald8i]"The solution before getting traffic, is RESEARCH"[/i:1neald8i]. "Keywords" are the source of traffic and its completely true that we should do a bit of research before crafting an article. Now a days, i see like its quite easy to rank well for long tail keywords esp. on Google because of the "freshness" in serp. The newly indexed articles are placed above the older articles to show fresh content to the user. Its advantage too but the question is, how long you stay in top position ?[/quote:1neald8i] It depends on your competition, but to ensure you stay there, simply build backlinks to your site, post, etc. This can be done through article marketing (including web 2.0 sites) as David suggested, blog commenting, forum posting and social bookmarking.[/quote:1neald8i] I'm really bad at just sitting down to write without doing keyword research! Thanks all for the reminder of how important it is to do. I'll work on making it part of my article-writing routine![/quote:1neald8i] Keyword research is a very good habit to get into. It's so easy not to and to just start writing, but it really only takes an extra five to ten minutes to find a keyword or two relevant to your article.


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