Internet Marketing Basics

Market Research

Marketing starts like any other venture: first you must “reconnoiter,” or become informed about your target. No matter your advertising investment, you'll want to know if the dollars you're spending are being spent well or being thrown away.

To begin researching your market, you should first find a “target” – the people or “niche” you're aiming for. This can be a general outline of the type of people you're targeting (likes/dislikes, age group, income, etc.) and their motivations. This will tell you how to “target” them with your advertising to make a “hit” (sale).

For instance, you might be marketing a product that is best geared towards males ages 18-30 with an interest in technology. Your research might further show that your most likely group has an average income of $20,000/year with a discretionary income of around $4,000/year.

Maybe your service is geared towards young women between the ages of 12 and 16 who love animals. This market group would have an average income of less than $1,000/year, which is entirely discretionary, and could be supplemented by double that with parental income.

No matter who your target is, your goal is to focus on them and find out how to reach those people (where to advertise) and how to approach them with the highest chance of making the sale. These two things combined are called “targeting.”

Once you have the basic information to target your prospects, then you can get into the nitty-gritty of market research. There are five basic ideas in market research: “Primary,” “Secondary,” “Combined,” and “Qualitative” and “Quantitative.”

Primary research is research conducted by the primary user of the information (you or your company). Secondary research is gathered elsewhere and then used by you (the data is usually purchased or leased). Most small businesses do both of these types of research (conducting surveys of current customers, for instance, for Primary Research and purchasing Secondary Research as an additive to this information). When both forms of research are used, it is called “Combined Research.”

Qualitative and Quantitative are both ways that information is gathered. Qualitative research is usually exploratory and has a direction or goal. In general, it will aim at specific issues in the subject matter and gives an idea in which direction you should proceed. This type of research is “loose” and is geared towards finding a market or narrowing the market to a “niche” that can be exploited.

Quantitative research is much more rigid and gets much more accurate statistical results and information. This is best used after Qualitative research has narrowed your target market to a specific niche and you are ready to find ways to reach that market.

Businesses generally conduct qualitative research during the exploratory research and development stage to see if a product idea is viable on the market. Quantitative research then steps in to find ways to market the new product to specific niches in the market.

Conducting your own market research is very time-consuming, but can be extremely rewarding in the long run. If you have a need for information or are spending a considerable amount of money on marketing your products or services, it will be well worth your time and expenditure to do proper market research first.

section 1: Market Research
section 2: Search Engine Marketing
section 3: E-Zine Advertising & Email Marketing
section 4: Local Promotion & Offline Marketing