Planet Small Business
  • Home
  • Start
    StartShow More
    3 Marketing Strategies to Keep in Mind While Scaling Your Small Business
    May 10, 2023
    Happy Small Business Month, everyone! Here’s your chance to win $5,000!
    May 10, 2023
    4 Steps to Leverage Your Imposter Syndrome Into an Opportunity
    April 20, 2023
    Business name
    How Jiffy Lube Won the Business Name Game
    April 14, 2023
    Small business basics
    Need funding for your small business?
    March 26, 2023
  • Run
    RunShow More
    How Any Small Businesses Can Turbocharge Their SEO Easily and Quickly (Yes, We Mean You!)
    How Any Small Businesses Can Turbocharge Their SEO Easily and Quickly (Yes, We Mean You!)
    February 23, 2023
    Using Your iPhone to Make Rockstar Quality Small Business Videos (Yes, Even You Can Do It!)
    Using Your iPhone to Make Rockstar Quality Small Business Videos (Yes, Even You Can Do It!)
    February 9, 2023
    4 Ways to Handle That Difficult Client
    4 Ways to Handle That Difficult Client
    December 28, 2022
    Top 10 signs you are a good boss
    December 21, 2022
    Ideas
    How to legally protect your intellectual property
    December 17, 2022
  • Grow
    GrowShow More
    Make More Money This Summer
    Make More Money This Summer
    June 1, 2023
    5 ways retailers can break through the clutter on Amazon and make it into a customer’s cart
    5 ways retailers can break through the clutter on Amazon and make it into a customer’s cart
    March 6, 2023
    Sectors With The Most Opportunity to Scale a Business in 2023
    February 28, 2023
    How Any Small Businesses Can Turbocharge Their SEO Easily and Quickly (Yes, We Mean You!)
    How Any Small Businesses Can Turbocharge Their SEO Easily and Quickly (Yes, We Mean You!)
    February 23, 2023
    10-Digital-Marketing-Tips-for-Small-Businesses
    The Best Digital Marketing Tricks for Small Business
    February 7, 2023
  • Learn
    LearnShow More
    ChatGPT Says it is not going to destroy copywriters or the copywriting profession
    ChatGPT Says it is not going to destroy copywriters or the copywriting profession
    February 3, 2023
    ChatGPT Gives 4 Reasons Why It’s “Not Going to Kill Off Freelance Writers”
    ChatGPT Gives 4 Reasons Why It’s “Not Going to Kill Off Freelance Writers”
    February 2, 2023
    The Importance of a Good Bio
    The Importance of a Good Bio
    July 29, 2022
    Market Research on the Cheap
    Market Research on the Cheap
    May 11, 2022
    Intellectual property
    How to Legally Protect Your Intellectual Property
    May 11, 2022
0

No products in the cart.

Planet Small Business
  • Home
  • Start
  • Run
  • Grow
  • Learn
Search
  • Home
  • Start
  • Run
  • Grow
  • Learn
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
Grow

Market Research on the Cheap

Steve Strauss
Steve Strauss  - Editor December 14, 2022
Share
6 Min Read
Market research
SHARE

Is your big new idea a winner or a loser, and how do you know? Oh sure, you have good instincts, and maybe your husband has told you that you better run with this one, but the smart entrepreneur knows that gut instincts and a small sample are not the kind of research you can, literally or figuratively, take to the bank.

Your idea may be a winner, but it might not. The important thing is that you carefully analyze your idea, and the market, and make sure you are not the only one who thinks that it will work. A hunch simply will not do. You need hard facts.

Now, back in the day, it used to cost a fortune to research a business idea. Typically, a business would hire a firm to do market research. The research company might do a telephone poll, conduct some live panels, or even do a bigger survey. But whatever the deal, it was not inexpensive.

Fortunately, as with everything else it has touched, the Internet has also changed business research and market surveys, and for the better. Of course Google makes looking anything up no more difficult than a few well-thought-out key phrases and a couple of clicks. But comeon, that is the low hanging fruit when it comes to business research.

Beyond a Google search, there are many different ways to get business and market research done these days that won’t break the bank. Here are your best bets:

How to Do Market Research on the Cheap

LinkedIn: There are a few ways to used LinkedIn for your research:

  • Groups: Some of LinkedIn groups can be very active, and if you participate in them regularly, you are opening your business up to a lot of new potential advisors. By posting your query to your group, you are likely to get a swarm of sharp people who are willing to give you their take and how valuable is that?
  • Create a poll: The LinkedIn polls application is a great tool for asking questions and getting answers.

Twitter and Facebook: The same idea is true for Twitter and Facebook. You can post a post or ask a question to your followers or fans and get their instant feedback. If you make it a contest (e.g., someone wins a $25 gift card) you will definitely get a lot of answers.

Beyond social media, here are some other good ideas:

Trade Associations: Your industry’s trade association probably has a lot of market research that it has conducted in support of its membership. By contacting your trade association and explaining what you are doing and looking for, you likely can access a lot of that already-completed research, and for free (if you are a member.) You should also check out their publications and see what other sort of free resources they have available.

Trade shows: Trade shows are great in this regard for two reasons:

  1. You are able, in one place, top gather a lot of general information from the different booths. That may prove useful
  2. More importantly, under one roof are a lot of the major players in your industry. By finding the right ones and spending some time with them, you will be obtaining a plethora of intellectual capital

Example: When the two out of work journalists had an idea for a new board game, they took two expired press passes to the Toronto Toy Show and pretended to interview toy manufacturers. They later said they learned more about the toy industry in those four hours than anything else they did, and it led directly to the game they invented – Trivial Pursuit.

Go to school: Business school that is. Business school students need projects and internships. By giving them a good research project you can help them help you.

Ask: Find a business in a nearby town that does what you want to do and ask the owner out for lunch. Because you don’t live nearby you likely won’t be seen as a competitor, and because people love to talk about themselves, you should get some very valuable, real-word information.

So the idea is to learn what you need to learn so that you too can live the words of Laura Ashley: “We don’t want to push our ideas on to customers, we simply want to make what they want.”

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Get the latest updates, tips, and tools via email from Planet Small Business.
Steve Strauss December 14, 2022
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Email Print
Avatar photo
Posted by Steve Strauss Editor
Follow:
Senior small business columnist at USA TODAY and author of 15 books, including The Small Business Bible, Steve is your host here at PlanetSmallBusiness.com.
Previous Article Business mentor A small business mentor will make you rich – in more ways than one!
Next Article Workplace laws 5 Workplace Laws Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know
Leave a comment Leave a comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You Might Also Like

Make More Money This Summer
Grow

Make More Money This Summer

June 1, 2023
5 ways retailers can break through the clutter on Amazon and make it into a customer’s cart
Featured

5 ways retailers can break through the clutter on Amazon and make it into a customer’s cart

March 6, 2023
Featured

Sectors With The Most Opportunity to Scale a Business in 2023

February 28, 2023
How Any Small Businesses Can Turbocharge Their SEO Easily and Quickly (Yes, We Mean You!)
Grow

How Any Small Businesses Can Turbocharge Their SEO Easily and Quickly (Yes, We Mean You!)

February 23, 2023
Follow US

© 2023 PlanetSmallBusiness.com

  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?