Market Research is the first step in creating a Marketing Plan. It will identify customers based on a combination of consumer behavior and economic trends. Understanding your customer base from the beginning will help to solidify your business idea. Gathering demographic information before you launch your business will help you to make sound business decision. Demographic information can include age, income, and geographic location just to name a few, and can aid in understanding where your customers are located and where to place a brick and mortar if you chose to do that.
Ask the following questions:
Reading articles about business trends will also help to guide you as you begin structuring your business. Following trends in your industry will help you to make business decisions based on what is happening now and what is predicted to happen in the future. Having this information enables you to do what is best for your business.
A competitive analysis gives you an idea of what others are doing with similar businesses and how their businesses are doing.
Gathering this information before you start your business will assist you in writing a business plan, creating a market plan, and finding optimal conditions for starting your business.
PPLD has several databases and links to other resources to help you find the information you need to conduct your research.
Primary research is conducted by going directly to the source, your potential customer. Gathering information from the people you wish to sell your services and products to will produce valuable information for your marketing strategy. You can gather information by conducting surveys or focus groups, or other strategies.
Focus Groups are groups of people you have gathered to question about your product or service. Questions can include if they would buy your product or service, why or why not? How much would you be wiling to pay? Where would you shop for this? The goal is to gather as much information as you can to get the information you need to make informed marketing decisions.
Other ways to gather this information are with telephone interviews, mail surveys, email interviews, and social media interviews.
Secondary research is important in gathering information from statistics, industry reports, studies, and other information from data gathering organizations, such as government agencies, trade associations, and chambers of commerce.
If you are trying to market a product or service, or find out more information on your target market, the tools that you need are very different from researching your industry. Once you have identified your market, you can gather information on your potential customers. An understanding of your potential customers will help direct your marketing to the market segment most likely to buy your product or service.
Some questions to ask:
How to Do Market Research with effective market research, you can determine the need for your service, a product's likelihood to sell, target-market demographics, and desirable store locations. There are numerous ways to uncover this information"”from online research to focus groups to counting customers. To help you meet your target market's needs, we've put together a collection of our best market-research articles and resources
Consumer research is conducted to help you understand the motivation and purchase behaviors of the people who you want to buy your product or service. Using this information can aid in you making the best decisions for your business. An in-depth understanding about your customer's interests and spending habits will help you to succeed.
Delivers the data you need to make sound business decisions. With Demographics Now you can analyze the demographic and market potential of any geography in the U.S. Includes mapping.
Video Tutorials for DemographicsNow:
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Data Axle (formerly Reference USA) contains information on 63 million businesses, 2.4 million new businesses, and 310 million consumers.
Additionally, this resource includes lifestyle and consumer data on many market segments to help identify new market opportunities.
Data Axle also includes 2.5 million job and internship postings.
Step by step instructions for Data Axle.
The CS Chamber provides demographics for the city of Colorado Springs in an easy to use format.
The Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CE) program provides data on expenditures, income, and demographic characteristics of consumers in the United States. The CE program provides these data in tables, LABSTAT database, news releases, reports, and public use microdata files.
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. We do not take policy positions.
The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) measures the amount of time people spend doing various activities, such as paid work, childcare, volunteering, and socializing.
The Census Business Builder (CBB) is a suite of services that provide selected demographic and economic data from the Census Bureau tailored to specific types of users in a simple to access and use format.
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Before you start your business, it is important to understand the trends emerging, or waning, in your industry. Research your industry through articles and resources provided below. Think about how technology, environmental impact, social impact, and other factors are driving your industry and how your business will fit in overall. If you see declining trends in an industry, think about your product and service and whether it will be sustainable in that market.
PPLD Databases require a library card that starts with four (4) and your pin number.
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US Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy
Link to research page to find reports on Small Business.
The EDGAR database provides free public access to corporate information, allowing you to research a public company’s financial information and operations by reviewing the filings the company makes with the SEC. You can also research information provided by mutual funds (including money market funds), exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and variable annuities.
Finding your competition important part of your marketing research. You can analyze their strengths and weaknesses, review financials as a benchmark, look at how they are pricing their product/service, their marketing strategies, and more.
Part of your strategy could be to visit one of your competitors and look at how they operate, their strengths and weaknesses, and opportunities for growth. Based on that information, you can begin building a marketing plan that evaluates the competition and how your product or service will shine in that industry.
Delivers the data you need to make sound business decisions. With Demographics Now you can analyze the demographic and market potential of any geography in the U.S. Includes mapping.
Video Tutorials for DemographicsNow:
Video Tutorial
Video Tutorial
Video Tutorial
Video Tutorial
Video Tutorial
Data Axle (formerly Reference USA) contains information on 63 million businesses, 2.4 million new businesses, and 310 million consumers.
Additionally, this resource includes lifestyle and consumer data on many market segments to help identify new market opportunities.
Data Axle also includes 2.5 million job and internship postings.
Step by step instructions for Data Axle.
The EDGAR database provides free public access to corporate information, allowing you to research a public company’s financial information and operations by reviewing the filings the company makes with the SEC. You can also research information provided by mutual funds (including money market funds), exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and variable annuities.