How to Get Quality Market Research on a Small Budget

The business landscape is full of myths and misnomers, such as that you need a huge infusion of capital to turn a great idea into a successful business (as billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban astutely points out: “in every business, sales cures all”). 

Another persistent misunderstanding is the belief that quality market research is significantly — or for many small businesses, prohibitively — expensive. Actually, given that 50% of businesses do not make it past the 5-year mark, the opposite is true: not exploiting quality market research is exceedingly costly, because quality market research is the foundation and gateway to more customers, more sales and more profits. Indeed, it is no coincidence that the world’s most profitable companies — and all of the Fortune 500 — invest substantially in quality market research.

Granted, big enterprises can easily justify millions of dollars on focus groups, in-depth interviews, online communities, surveys, and so on. But what about smaller or newer businesses that need quality market research, but have a much smaller budget to work with?

Fortunately, if this scenario is the one that your business is facing, you do not have to remain stuck in a Catch-22 (i.e. you need quality market research to generate sales, and yet you need sales to pay for quality market research). Instead, you can get started right now by activating some or all of the following affordable options:

• Interview customers — many of whom will be surprisingly and pleasantly forthcoming. Just remember that there is likely going to be bias (i.e. customers are likely to enhance the positive and eschew the negative).
• Interview employees who engage customers, such as account, support reps, sales teams, and so on. Often, these front-line employees have amassed a wealth of business intelligence from customers — both positive and negative.
• Run user testing on a website to get feedback on elements like design, content, layout, etc.
• Use industry events, such as trade shows and conferences, to generate feedback from target audiences, as well as peers and influencers.
• Use text analytics to capture and analyze what target audiences (including but not limited to customers) are saying about a brand/products on social media, during support calls/web chats, and so on.
• Use secondary research sources to glean marketplace insights and industries, such as credible industry websites, etc. Be careful before purchasing reports and white papers, however, as some sources may not be relevant/applicable. If that is the case, you cannot return them and get your money back.

Getting the Advice You Need 

Before exploring or implementing any of the above, the smartest — and also most cost-effective — thing you can do is work with an experienced market research consulting partner like Communications For Research. We will give you the advice that you need to focus on the most effective tactics and strategies. To learn more, contact our team today and schedule a call with our co-CEO Colson Steber. After learning more about your business and market research opportunities, Colson is always happy to walk you through a personalized market research plan.

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