How To Do Market Research For A Startup: A Guide

How to do market research for a startup?

1. Purpose
2. Data Gathering
3. Budget

In the world of business, being well-informed is a very powerful weapon to have. You’ll find that the most successful businesses are the ones with the most information in their hands. Not only that, they put all of that information into good use. As a startup, this is also how you can find your edge. Knowing how to do market research for a startup is then a crucial skill to have.

If you want to know how to break through the market, we have some tips for you. Keep reading to learn more!

Purpose

Before starting the research, you first need to determine your purpose for doing so. Some companies do market research to investigate past problems, potential future risks, and find possible ventures. For startups, your purpose might be a bit different.

It’s important because the purpose will shape how you conduct your market research and what information you need to get. Market research for a startup could be done to search for an idea, to test an idea, to attract investors, or to learn more about their competitors and target market.

Which of these would fit your needs the most? What information is most important to you? Determine your purpose before starting the market research.

Data Gathering

Once you’ve figured out your purpose, it’s time to gather data for your research. There are several ways to gather data when doing your market research — you can gather from primary sources or secondary sources.

Primary data (gathered from primary sources) are direct pieces of information that come from respondents, customers, the public, and any other results that come from your direct efforts. In other words, this is information that you gathered on your own. For this, you can employ methods such as interviews, focus groups, experiments, and direct observations.

On the other hand, secondary data is information that you get from the research of others. This could include government surveys and censuses or peer-reviewed research. The best way to utilize these data sources is by combining them and consolidating all the information.

Budget

Even as a startup, you need to set aside a dedicated budget to conduct this research, especially if the data would have a lasting impact on the success of your company.

Most of the time, you need to pay focus groups to get relevant and crucial information about the market. Other times, you need to pay for manpower, permissions, and many other miscellaneous costs. Take the time to produce a detailed budget before proceeding with your market research.

Key Takeaway

This is a broad outline on learning how to do market research for a startup. With these basics, you should be able to jumpstart your market research efforts and figure out how to do everything else as well.

Of course, the help we can offer does not stop here. Benito T. Keh, Ferrotech owner, is a well-established entrepreneur who has decided to dedicate his time to helping starting businessmen such as yourself. If you need more help with your market research, just contact him here anytime!