market research for the rest of us
TRANSCRIPT
Market Research…For the Rest of Us!
David R. LindquistJune 23, 2015
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We All Need To Do Market Research. Why?• Know what the market/customers look like (demographics)• Know how customers might find us • Know what customers need• Know who our competitors are (and to find leads, sometimes)• Know what customers are saying about us and competitors• Know what our competitors are doing and planning• Know where our industry is going
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Four Demographics Solutions
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Demographics for Free
By Zip Code? Claritas MyBestSegments provides map, basic demographics, and “psycho-demographics.”
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Demographics for Free
• ZipWho, a good alternative with top 10% indicators, can also filter for zip codes that meet certain criteria.
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Demographics for Free
• Alteryx shows demographics from the Census in 1, 3, 5 mile circles around a location
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Demographics for Free
• MelissaDATA … lots of zip code-based and other information• For data junkies:
• FDIC• FRED2• American Factfinder• Bureau of Labor
Statistics• Small Business
Association• County Quickfacts
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Easy ways to see what competition is up to• Visit their website, especially their jobs board if they have one• Sign up for Google Alerts• Look them up on review sites (Yelp, Citysearch, Google, Foursquare, Angie’s List)• Keep an eye on Living Social, Groupon• “Like” or “follow” them on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter; read comments• Create Facebook Interest Lists and Pages to Watch (if likes>=100)
• Also try pages liked by people who like (your page)
• Sign up to receive their email or newsletter or promotions*• Find and follow blogs• Scrapbook their advertising, handouts, brochures; observe themes• Visit their trade show booth and pick up their materials• Go secret shopping or “big sitting”
*=you may want to create a “nondescript” email/social media account for this purpose!
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Seven online competitor solutions
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Tools to Scope Out Competition
• Dun & Bradstreet Power Profiles can help generate leads, monitor how many competitors are in your space
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Tools to Scope Out Competition
• Manta identifies businesses in a category, then shows key details of businesses you select
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Tools to Scope Out Competition
• Google – not just search but also Google Trends: useful to watch trends in search terms
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• Topsy can provide a good picture of social media activity for a business. How well do they engage customers?
Tools to Scope Out Competition
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Tools to Scope Out Competition
• SharedCount examines social media metrics for a specified web site. Quickly access comparative engagement.
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Tools to Scope Out Competition
• Socialmention.com looks at mentions, sentiment in social media, keywords across web sites, blogs, social media• Can greatly help
with SEO!
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Tools to Scope Out Competition
• Open Site Explorer’s free page shows some backlink data and can help assess a competitor’s website influence.
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Absolutely free at Wake County Libraries!• ABI/Inform – business trends,
Economist, Trade & Industry, and more• Hoover’s Company Profiles – in-depth
for publicly owned companies• Morningstar Library Edition –
detailed financials• ReferenceUSA –Credit, Sales,
Employees, etc. for 24 million businesses!!• Snapshots – Market Research
Overviews (industry-based)
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Absolutely free at Wake County Libraries!• ReferenceUSA –
Credit, Sales, Employees, etc. for 24 million businesses!!
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Lesson: There are low-cost tools to help you!• Caveats• Not all of your competitors may be “out there”• Data can be out of date• Information must be used with thought and care
• But…• Some information is better than no information• Your competitors are in the same position!
Happy hunting!
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