Ever heard of Carlos Alvarez? Well, his claim to fame is that of a CEO who had overconfidence in his brand's ability to sell without market research. Any guesses what happened to his brand? Yes, he regrets it till date and now highly recommends market research to all new entrepreneurs and the old ones too. If you're hitting a new market, or even if you are introducing a new product, or if both of the above mentioned are applicable to you, then my friend, market research before actually marketing your product/ service, is a topic that you definitely do need to be aware of in great detail. Here’s a quick snapshot of Market Research.

What does Market Research do?

Market research is the process of gathering as much information as possible about your customers and how they view your company and products. This will enable you to determine the best marketing strategy for your business.

The Big Five of Market Research

Want to do market research for your business? These steps would help you get started:

Determine the goal of your market research.

Determine the demographics of your market for your market research. You can take the help of marketing magazines, journals, marketing reviews available, government reports and other such publications, which can also highlight the buying habits of your business’ target market.

For those of you who already have an established set of customers who have patronized your previous line of business, you can collect information from them. Questionnaires, personal interviews, focus groups and also chat rooms or message boards are good market research tools to get feedback on your products and services (and other business related info).

Analyze your sales records. Graphing your most valuable customers and most profitable products can help you in concentrating on a particular marketing strategy.

Finally, collate & organize the research data you've collected. Subsequently, determine or reevaluate your marketing strategy based on the results of the market research.