The importance of careful market research
A solid business plan requires going beyond intuition and experience, and backing up your idea with market-based research. in facts. Investors should be confident in your understanding of the market, so don't be disappointed in skimping on your research.
All business plans require careful attention to the following:
Industry Analysis - We help you identify how big your industry is in terms of revenue and number of players. Keeping up with trends (technology, cultural, demographic) is also important to this section of your business plan and we look to industry and news sources to identify those trends.
Competitive analysis: you know you have competitors, but what do you know about them? This section of your plan should include an analysis of your key competitors, how they market their services / products, how they differ in their marketing efforts, and what kind of market share they have. We can help you with competitive intelligence for both national and international companies.
Target Market Analysis - Identifying and prioritizing specific target markets is another key part of your business plan where research is crucial. You need to think about questions such as: What are the demographics and psychographics of your target audiences? What is the best way to reach them? What kinds of concerns do they have? How do they like to be marketed and sold?
Professional Market Research Resources
We have access to paid and subscriber-only resources, such as:
Dow Jones / Factiva - Research Articles and News
HighBeamBusiness - Business and Industry Research
Hoovers (a D&B company) - Business and Industry Research
IBISWorld - Industry Research
Lexis-Nexis : company, industry, market research and more
Plunkett - Industry Research
Deep (from MarketResearch.com) : Market Research Report "Portions"
Market research beyond the business plan
The research doesn't stop once you've written your plan and found interested investors. In addition to ongoing research on your industry, competitors, and customers / clients, we can also help in numerous areas, including:
Prospection customers: create a list of potential qualified leads for your service or product can be overwhelming when you are starting your business. However, this should be seen as a follow-up to your target market analysis so that you can get to work.
Website Research: Developing a company website where people will return to again and again often means providing your audience with information or resources that are useful to them. These resources must be carefully selected, licensed, and regularly maintained. We can help you identify robust and useful online resources for your specific target markets.
Funding and Grant Research - Many tech companies seek funding from a variety of sources. We can help search for government grants and government contracts, as well as help identify other potential sources.
Learn more about our market research services
For an assessment of your needs and an estimate of the fee, please let us know how to contact you: