Free Market Research Customized To Your Market

Posted by Chris Kauza on April 20, 2009 under Marketing Monday | Be the First to Comment

“You have to know your market…and the more specific, the better.”

But how do you get access to the market research you need, at a low cost or (better yet) for free?

Ask.

Ask your network.  Post a poll on a social networking site like LinkedIn, Plaxo or Facebook.  Twitter is a great application to get a quick “pulse” on a particular topic.  For example, last July I wrote an article for The National Networker, discussing the results of a poll I posted on Plaxo and LinkedIn.  As Social Media tools evolve, we will see even more specialized functionality being deployed; Twitpoll is a great example of one application that is specifically designed for polling the Twitter community on various topics.

But don’t neglect the power of face-to-face interaction.  Here are several offline methods that can give you real results; depending your product or service, these may or may not work for you:

• Susan Smith (name changed) built a $5 Million weight loss business, with 10 locations and over 100 employees.  She started by going to shopping centers, talking to people to find out what they needed, and convincing them to come to one of her centers for a trial.

• Is your gadget still in the prototype phase?  Do a low-cost launch and get feedback from people online or demonstrate it at a local swap meet.  People will be able to experience your product and give you direct feedback – without the expensive overhead of going to a trade show or hiring high-priced marketing consultants and focus groups.

• Not your style?  A little more courageous?  Check out Meetup.com and find local entrepreneurial groups in your area.  Very often they will have an “open mic nite” where you can present you business and get feedback.  And if there isn’t one in your local area, you just may be able to find someone who is “local” to you on the Internet; if not, you can always start a Meetup group in your area.

A strong favorite of ours, though, is to collaborate with local universities.  Students get the opportunity to work with a real-world business, and you get the opportunity for new perspectives on your product or service.  And you don’t have to just work with institutions close to you – virtually any school with business disciplines are candidates to help you.  And they don’t need to be MBAs; many local community colleges are great sources of talented students who are eager for an opportunity.

Action Step:

Take one of your current products or services (or even a new one you might be working on) and write down 7 things you’d like to know about your market before launching it – color? pricing? branding? content? etc.    Pick one online and one offline method of market research, implement within the next 24 hours and ask your questions.  Give yourself at least 5 days to get a “quick reaction” from the people you are asking.  Let us know your results and how it goes!