If you are targeting an adjacent or unfamiliar market, these market research sources can help.
If your new product development project targets an existing, familiar market segment, you may not need to do any secondary market research. But if you’re trying to innovate for an adjacent or unfamiliar market, it’s best to learn what you can from others (secondary research) before beginning your customer interviews (primary research).
You can find many sources of secondary research at www.blueprintingcenter.com > BlueTools > Market Research/Segmentation > Market Research Tips Sheet.
This BlueTools website is loaded full of links to helpful resources covering three types of secondary research:
- Internet Searches: Many of these website links are free resources. Use them to explore NAICS or SIC markets, background on markets, companies participating in these markets, and more.
- Market Studies: Here you’ll find links to respected publishers of multi-client market studies. Most of these are fee-based and will provide you with more in-depth information on your target market than the internet searches mentioned above.
- Industry Experts: This section contains links to fee-based sources of industry experts. Some of these services maintain a network of experts—often recently retired from specific industries—and others conduct custom searches to find the best experts for you. You’ll also find suggestions on ways to use LinkedIn and trade associations to locate industry experts. If you are pursuing an unfamiliar market, these industry experts can not only give you great market background, they can also “open doors” to key market players you’d like to interview. For more on this, see How to engage industry experts.
You’ll probably find it helps to pursue the three types of research listed above in the order presented. At any point, be prepared to drop this market segment if you learn information that makes it unattractive. As you move from internet searches to market studies to industry experts, you’ll typically find your costs increasing… with your depth of insight also improving.
Keywords: secondary market research, market research tips sheet, internet searches, multi-client market studies, industry expert consultations, customer interviews