Research
Research
Was thinking the other day about how many companies make their decisions based on personal experience and not research. After the numerous books, articles, and seminars, all talking about research over the past years, and companies still go with "what they feel is best". The numerous products, that have failed initially because "My daughter said that this is the way kids are thinking" or "My friend likes the taste of this jam and we will keep it that way", even after sales keep falling (or are non-existent), is amazing to me. I learned at an early age that research is important, even though you can get suckered into spending mass amounts of dollars on it. Over the years, after spending $10 or $10,000,000 on research, it all came down to "research in moderation". Gut instincts are important and lead to outstanding products, but, spending a little time (who has that?) and money (now, really, who has that??!!) on some basic research can help guide you and avoid some basic pitfalls.
What do you do if you don't have time or money? Try these simple, but effective, ways to gain insight into your market (from most time consuming and expenditure to least):
1) Duh - if you have any money to spend, hire a professional research firm
2) Call research firms and see if they information, already compiled, that you can buy
3) Go to your local college or university, speak with the dean in the School of Business, and have them do a Project for you on the research you need (you would be surprised how open they are to this)
4) Go to your high-school (if you are marketing to teens) and ask them if you can have a survey conducted - be upfront and honest on what you are doing, why you want to do this, etc. Of course, honey gets more then vinegar, so pledge that if the company starts making money, they will receive a $10,000 grant in three years because of their time - again, surprisingly, schools will do most anything to raise funds
5) Pick up the phone and call people - call lots of people. No, I'm not saying call 100's, but, call at least 25 people, acquaintances (not friends), tell them what you are going to market with, that they must be honest with you, and what they think of the idea, product, etc.
6) Search on the internet. To this day, people only do cursory research on the web - spend the time, spend at least 10 hours, reading every page you can on the market that you are going to sell your product in. Especially, look at your competition - what are they doing, what do they do, where did they get started, what mistakes did they make and what mistakes are they making now - look at old press releases, reviews in the newspaper, magazines, anything and everything you can about them.