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How To Carry Out Market Research
Have you been developing a groundbreaking niche product, or have you discovered a unique new service that nobody else offers? If so, you’re probably feeling pretty confident that you’re on to a good thing. But wait: before you start marketing it furiously or setting mass production in train, you have to find out whether there really is an audience for it. One of the most important steps in this process is to do your market research properly. Many companies side-step this and come to regret it. Not only will it tell you whether the customer base exists, it could also give you some valuable tips on how to improve your product or service to better meet demand.
But how does market research work? The first thing to note is that it is usually divided into primary and secondary research, as follows:
Primary research
Primary research is that which comes directly from the source – i.e. the customers. There are plenty of ways you can go about this. Focus groups are always an effective method as participants can often come up with some useful suggestions. Questionnaires can be distributed either physically or online through relevant websites. Or of course there is the old-fashioned method of stopping people in the street to ask their opinion. The method you choose will really depend upon how much time you have and what the product would be best suited to.
Secondary research
This refers to all the information you can gather about your target market from gathering statistics, reports, studies and other data from various sources. There are plenty of these sources at your disposal. For example, there are plenty of trade associations out there offering information such as statistics, books and other reference materials. Have a look for associations which are relevant to your sector and then contact them or check out their websites.
Government agencies can also be a useful source of market information. They can, for example, give you information about population density, distribution figure or population trends – all of which may help you when it comes to identifying where your core customers are likely to be. Ideally, you would want to target an area with an expanding population, rather than one which is in decline.
You may also find that local colleges and universities can be helpful in your secondary research. Local business schools, for example, as well as being a good source of experts, may also provide students who are happy to help you with your market research for little or no cost as a chance to get some work experience in the ‘real world’. It’s worth looking into.
Of course, if you aren’t confident that you can be thorough enough in your market research or your time is simply too stretched to enable you to do it properly, you can always bring in an expert. Many marketing companies will offer a market research service whereby they will take charge of both primary and secondary processes and provide you with a detailed analysis at the end. The advantage of doing this is that you can be sure you are getting a thorough overview of the market, and it frees up your time to concentrate on other areas of business development.