Online Market Research
Is there demand for my product or service? Are my customers satisfied with our service? How can I generate more sales volume from my existing customers? How can I improve the quality of my product or service? If there is something that you would like to know about your business and industry marketing research is the way to start researching for some answers. Marketing research comprises one of the most important and fascinating facets of marketing. We are going to focus on sharing some Internet resources that can help you to conduct online marketing research. Marketing research is defined as the systematic and objective identification collection analysis dissemination and use of information for the purpose of assisting management in decision making related to the identification and solution of problems and opportunities in marketing.Malhotra 2004
There are many ways in which the Internet can be useful to marketing researchers. It can be used as a source of marketing research providers a source of secondary data a source for marketing research software and a source for data gathering via focus groups surveys etc.Malhotra 2004
Why do Market Research?
It helps to understand current industry and market trends.
Provides information about target customers.
Identifies market and sales potential.
Keeps researchers objectives.
Becomes a framework for creating a marketing strategy.
Helps business owners to examine customer satisfaction.
Gives a close look at their competitors strengths and weaknesses.
Helps marketing managers create benchmarks for future improvement.
There is perhaps no single best way to search the Web but we recommend the following steps:
1. PreSearching Analysis: Think about the topic or subject you want to explore on the Web. Ask yourself some of the following questions what unique keywords are associated with the topic or subject? Are there any organizations or associations that might have information on the subject through their web sites?
In order to identify trends for your topic or subject you are going to have to put together a key word set to run in the search engines.
2. Run your key word set in any of the search engines.
Recommended Search Engines
Google: http://www.google.com
Yahoo: http://www.yahoo.com
MSN: http://www.msn.com
Ask: http://www.ask.com
For example lets supposed that you are searching for a Hispanic Business Directory where you can promote your business. Hispanic Business Directory is your key word set. You are going to open any of the search engines available in the market to find what you are researching for. Use the following variations to get better results:
Hispanic Business Directory Specific search for what you are researching for.
Hispanic Business Directory* Add the star symbol to research for every variation of the word.
Hispanic Small Business Directory You can be as specific as you need to.
Hispanic Business Directory* and result* Helps to find case studies if there are available in your topic or subject.
Recommended Keyword Search Tools
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/
3. Learn as you go and be open to vary your approach with everything that you are learning from your earlier findings. Follow leads that can take to what exactly you are researching for. If you need official data we recommend you to visit the official web site of the USA government.
Government Sources
Visit http://www.firstgov.gov. This USA official site provides a gateway to all government sites. You can also visit the official sites for your county or city. They provide very relevant information especially when you are trying to find demographic data.
4. Usually the most relevant information is within the first three to five pages of Google or any of the other Search Engines. If you cant find anything interesting within the first 35 pages of results you need to improve the quality of your key word set in order to get more relevant results.
The following are a list of Online tools that you can use during your online marketing research:
Online Market Research Sites Services and Tools
Questionpro: Offers survey great design templates and hosting visit http://www.questionpro.com.
Zoomerang: A great site to develop your own online survey http://www.zoomerang.com.
Vovici: Create professionalquality surveys with a comprehensive wizarddriven process http://www.vovici.com.
Surveybuilder: Customizes online surveys and respondent retrieval http://www.surveybuilder.com.
Surveysystem: Sells the research tools or will host your online survey http://www.surveysystem.com.
AddAForm: Create a survey form or use an existing form http://www.addaform.com.
Quantcast: Its a new media measurement service that enables advertisers to view audience reports for millions of sites and services to build their brands with confidence http://www.quantcast.com.
Busreslab: Online employee and customer satisfaction surveys http://www.busreslab.com.
Frost and Sullivan: Excellent industry specific market research reports http://www.frost.com.
GuideStar Research: Freebees and assistance with online surveys http://www.guidestarco.com.
ResearchInfo: Great source of information for market researchers http://www.researchinfo.com.
Email list sources
Emailresults: Permission based email providers http://www.emailresults.com.
LIST: L.I.S.T. Inc. is a leading provider of B2B email lists B2B mailing lists and B2B telemarketing lists http://www.list.com.
If you need help from experts in the topic we recommend you to visit:
Marketing Research Associations Online
AAPOR: American Association for Public Opinion Research www.aapor.org
AMA: American Marketing Association www.marketingpower.com
ARF: The Advertising Research Foundation www.arfsite.org
CASRO: The Council of American Survey Research Organizations www.casro.org
MRA: Marketing Research Association www.mranet.org
QRCA: Qualitative Research Consultants Association www.qrca.org
RIC: Research Industry Coalition www.researchindustry.org
CMOR: Council for Marketing and Opinion Research www.cmor.org
Developing your Internet research skills is one of the skills that a lot of business owners should develop due to the important role that plays to understand your competitors and the market in general.
I hope you find some of these information useful.
Cheers to your success
Jose Aburto
About the writer: Bachelors Degree in Economics from the University of Michoacn San Nicolas de Hidalgo in Morelia Mexico in 2000. Currently completing a Masters in Marketing at the Tec de Monterrey and an MBA from the University of San Diego. Jose has past experience in both the public and private sectors. Joses areas of specialty are in electronic business online marketing market research international business and projects focused on community growth and development. You can contact him at http://www.hiscec.com
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