Market Research. How? Why? When...

Sometimes people are amazed when they ask me where to start conducting market research, and I joke around and say, "Well, have you tried typing Market Research into Google?"

Yes of course someone has got a website called www.marketresearch.com, but it still amazes me why people don't take more advantage of online research tools.

Some basic ones to get you started at the birdseye view (A.K.A. macro) end of things:

• www.census.ie (where is your target market? what's the population count there?)
• Also Known As...
• www.cso.ie (other people have done lots of work on handy stats - no need to reinvent the wheel! It's not laziness, just efficient! If you do use this site - reference it, make sure people know where you're getting your stuff!)
• Market Research Dot Com - you can get some basic stuff there but the juice info - you have to pay for. It was someone's hard work!

When you are getting down to the more practical stuff, that's when it gets REALLY interesting!! And just try it...for example, you want to find out about hotel groups. You have a brilliant new service or product that would be perfect for every hotel owner out there - the receptionists, the bellhops, the general managers, the waitresses, the chamber maids. You want to target two markets in particular: Ireland, the UK.

Check these out:

• UK Hotel Research
• Irish Hotel Research

The list goes on.

You decide to target architects. Hairdressers. Anything. You name it, the information is out there. Remember - the more you know about your competitors the better a position you will be in to be better than them. The more you know about your customers & potentials, the better equipped you will be to make their experience with you better, and bring them back to you for repeat business.