Marketing Research Ideas for Small Businesses
Aug 4 2011
Following is a guest post by Taylor Laurents, a twenty something freelance writer from Lincoln, NE. She was bitten early by the entrepreneurial bug, selling Girl Scout cookies like many young girls, and hopes one day to run her own business and be her own boss.
Those of us with big business ideas operating on small budgets don’t exactly have the bankroll it takes to recruit a talented market research team to help us. But then again, we don’t necessarily have to. Do-it-yourself research and inexpensive alternatives to highly-tuned studies can provide small businesses with all the market information they need. It can be the difference between continuing to run a company with limited connectivity to the customer and establishing an enterprise with an intimate relationship with its clients.
Soak Up Secondary Sources of Information
Market research isn’t strictly a matter of drawing data directly from public opinion. It can involve getting to know the competition, reading up on the history of the industry you find yourself in, and accessing available public data in the form of demographics. Many things that can help you boost market prowess can be found by merely visiting the local library or doing Internet research. The only thing you have to worry about is making sure the source of your information is correct, which so long as you don’t navigate too far from government agencies and academic institutions, shouldn’t be a problem.
Seek Out Cost-Effective Surveys
If you offer a product or service, then direct market research involving primary sources (i.e., regular opinion) is absolutely essential. But it’s typically not cheap. With that said, there are companies online that manage paid surveys, wherein the operational costs are greatly reduced. An example of such a survey site is Survey Head, which simply entices individuals to partake in surveys in exchange for payment. Small businesses interested in knowing how their particular market feels about their particular product or service can collaborate with these sites to create surveys that will be filled by those in the relative demographics.
Satisfy Your Thirst for Data
It’s neither glamorous nor the tactics of a noble enterprise, but if you’re serious about market research and have limited funds to outsource the effort, then self-driven data mining is the smartest way to go. Software like Microsoft Access, Lotus Approach, and the popular MyDatabase offer small businesses simple ways to keep track of customer data as it flows through their websites and payment systems. These programs are benign as far as the customer’s satisfaction is concerned because the customer is unlikely to be privy to their existence.
Advanced analysis of the market isn’t just for those who’ve already experienced their capitalistic windfall. Market research is a requirement for any small business to grow, so what are you waiting for?
Note: I was compensated to review, edit and post this article.
Author: Aruni | Filed under: entrepreneurship, marketing | Tags: data mining, lotus, market research, microsoft access, mydatabase, survey head, taylor laurents | 6 Comments »
Market research is a double edged sword really. If you fail to do any market research then there’s a good chance that your product launch will fail. Everyone tends to think that there is a massive market for their product even when they have’t done any research.
On the other hand market research can be misleading. For example, your market research could show that there is a lot of interest in your product, but that doesn’t mean that people will pay money for your product. They may have a low cost alternative already. The best market research you can do is to look at what your competitiors are doing, find out where they are advertising and at what price they are selling at. Give them a call yourself and tell them you are doing some market research!
Once you have a lot of information on your competitors you can decide how to promote your product and at what price. You may even find something in your product that distinguishes you from your competitiors and if so, you may be able to justify your price (whether you are higher or lower than your competitors price).
Market rearch is vital, but it needs to be done effectively!
[…] is Survey Head, which simply entices individuals to partake in surveys in exchange for payment. Small businesses interested in knowing how their particular market feels about their particular product […]
@Ian – thanks for the thuoghtful comment. Yes, market research is a good thing to do but in the end there’s nothing like getting your product out in the market to see how it reacts!
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Market research can bring opportunity. As a small business owner forced to shutdown because of pressures from larger big box stores, we had identified opportunity and markets to exploit. We just couldn’t do battle any longer with the larger stores with deeper pockets.
Finding the information was easy, how to use it was the challenge.
@Blogging for Success – I can relate to identifying and opportunity/market and not having the time/resources to really make a difference. Timing is everything and it’s always a fine line between getting a lot of data vs. taking action.