4 Fast & Free Ways to get Industry Research

Once you really know your customers, you also need to really understand the external trends that impact them day to day. I’m continually amazed at companies that don’t know what is going on in their industry, especially when this information is available- only a few keyboard clicks away!

The internet is an amazing place to get market research- Free! People often think they need to pay for big research projects to learn information that is available on the internet, if you know how to find it.

Try General Search terms: You may want to know if a particular market is growing and how quickly. Use search terms like “trends” “statistics” and “industry” in conjunction with some key words for your product or service. Try a couple of different ways and you will find relevant sites that have already summed up the market for you.

Go to your competitor’s websites or sites that sell to related industries. Most public companies have investor relations pages with this market data readily available in their financial reports.

Find on line “experts” in the industry (bloggers, consultants) who will have relevant information free on their websites. They do this to prove to customers and prospects that they are knowledgeable.

Government and associations: The US government has a ton of information on industries. Places like the Bureau of labor statistics has a wealth of information on different jobs and growth trends in those positions. Also, many key markets have associations that list free information on their market.

~ by Shannon Group on April 11, 2009.