Why do I need market research?
When properly done, market research provides you with valuable information to help drive the strategic direction of your company.

• Helps you uncover opportunities in the marketplace (e.g. additional sales, new markets, etc.)
• Can identify potential problems with your business model, product or service.
• Can help minimize your risk.
• Provides a way for you to measure your progress over time.
• Highlights how your product or service is differentiated from your competitors.
• Helps you understand who your customer views as your competition.
• Allows you to tailor offers to your customers and increase how much they buy from you.
• Helps in planning for future purchasing/commitments for inventory.

Good market research provides the foundation for understanding who your customers are, what they like or dislike, and how best to communicate with them.

Types of market research
There are two main types of market research: primary and econdary. Primary research involves the collection of new data such as a survey of your customers. Secondary research involves information that has already been collected such as census data, or industry studies.

• Surveys
• Focus groups
• One-on-one interviews

• Demographic information
• Prior surveys completed by others
• Industry trade information

Planning your market reserach project
Things to consider before you actually start your market research project:

Objective: What is your objective for conducting the research? This will determine the type and quantity of research you will need to conduct. Make sure you have a well defined objective before beginning your project.

Research method: Do you want primary or secondary research? How would you like the information to be collected and analyzed?

Audience: Who is the target audience that you will be gathering research on?

Timeline: How soon do you need this research?

Budget: How much do you want to spend? Primary research is more complex, time consuming and more expensive than using secondary research.

Information: Gather any information that you might currently have on your target audience or on the topics that you would like researched. This will help you define your research project.

Cost of completing a market research project
Typical costs for conducting a Market Research project start at around $400 for a simple research project using secondary research data, to several thousand dollars for more complex projects requiring in-depth primary research gathering techniques.

How to use Elance to complete your market research project
Follow these steps to get your market research project completed using Elance.

• A detailed description of what you need researched and how it will be used.
• The type of research method you would like, or you can have the service provider recommend the best approach.
• How you want the research results delivered, electronic or hard copy.

2. Once you start receiving bids, carefully review the provider's qualifications and portfolio.

• Information gathering on the part of the provider.
• Initial draft of the questionnaire or a plan describing how the research will be conducted.
• Information gathering.
• Compiling and analysis of the data.
• Final report on the results.
  

Key Terminology

Active Buyer: Customer who has made a purchase in the last year.
 
Ad Hoc Survey: Survey of a particular audience with no prior contact.
 
Applied Research: Research used to answer a specific question or address a particular problem.
 
Awareness: The level at which people are familiar with your product or brand.
 
Baby Boom: Large segment of the US population born between 1946-1964.
 
Benchmark: A point used to gauge where you are at a given moment in time.
 
Bias: Misrepresentation of a target audience due to some flaw in the implementation of the research.
 
Buying Intent: The likelihood that a respondent will purchase your product or service.
 
Demographics: Descriptor of a target audience including age, income level, family size, occupation etc.
 
Generation X: Generation born between 1965 and 1976.
 
Marketing Mix: A blend of a company's product, price, promotion and place of distribution.
 
Methodology: The procedures used to conduct the research including recruiting, question format, etc.
 
Panel: A type of research in which a group of people are interviewed over an extended period.
 
Positioning: How a customer views a given product or service compared to its competitors.
 
Primary Research: New data collected for a specific need.
 
Concept Testing: The testing of new products, services or ideas before moving forward.
 
Psychographics: Research that analyzes people's personality traits and values.
 
Qualitative Research: Focused on subjective evaluation of a particular product, service or problem.
 
Quantitative Research: Focused on gathering data to be used in compiling numerical projections.
 
Representative Sample: A sample that truly represents a subset of a specific target market.
 
Secondary Research: Information obtained from previously compiled information or research studies.
 
SIC Codes: Standard Industrial classification codes- four digit codes used by the US Dept. of Commerce to classify a business into a specific category.