If you don’t do your research first, you’ll be talking to yourself when you promote your product.

Before you begin to build your website, write your brochure or create a mailing list, you need to understand your target market.

I know. You think research is a costly expense. It isn’t. Research is an investment.

What is the cost to you of NOT researching:  EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE.  It could mean business failure.

Why? Because you’ll  finish your product development, prepare all your marketing, and then hit a brick wall with your sales efforts.  You won’t understand what the market wanted.. or maybe how to talk with them.  Or maybe you got the first two right, but what about when to talk to them or what they are  thinking as you are talking. 

Okay. Maybe I convinced you.  So how can you find out more about your market?

One inexpensive tool I like to recommend is Reference USA. They updated their interface last month and now it is even easier for the novice to use. Access to a user is available free through many libraries.  Go to your local library website and check out databases.  Often you just enter your library card number and you can access all these wonderful records!

Here is how they create their databases taken their own descriptions:

US Business information:
Our database of 14 Million U.S. Businesses is the most accurate and comprehensive in the industry. The lists include business name and phone number, complete address, key executive name, SIC Codes, employee size, sales volume, business expenditures and much more. In addition to basic business names and addresses, we add valuable details, including: geo-codes for mapping, fax and toll-free numbers, website addresses, franchise and brand information, headline news, liens, judgments and bankruptcies, email addresses, number of computers, work-at-home businesses, and business credit rating scores.

Residential Information:
ReferenceUSA’s residential information is compiled from more than 5,200 White Page telephone directories. Each listing appears in the database exactly as it appears in the phone book. ReferenceUSA does not include unlisted phone numbers, Direct Marketing Association and Canadian Marketing Association suppression files, or state-regulated mail and telephone suppression files (U.S. data only). Information is available eight to twelve weeks after it appears in the phone book, and the file is processed through U.S. and Canadian National Change of Address records on a monthly basis.  Each U.S. residential listing also contains information from the most recent U.S. census, including median household income, median home value, latitude/longitude and percentage of owner-occupied housing.

If you are trying to research a market by SIC codes, gather a mailing list based on geographic information, or you’d like to just find a handful of businesses in your target market to learn more about what your potential customers need, you may want to consider Reference USA. 

Getting the list is just one of the steps.  NEXT: the survey.

Other Marketintg, Market Research or New Product Development articles of interest:
Research first. Promote later.
Why Use the Yellow Pages for Your Marketing? Here are 3 Good Reasons
Don’t Overlook the Impact of this Key Element on your Branding and Marketing