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Home › Articles › Getting Started with Your Home Based Business › Finding the Right Home Based Business › Research the Market

Research the Market

Every good home based business has a marketing plan setting out the marketing strategy of the business. A marketing plan forms part of the all important business plan. One of the first steps in constructing a marketing plan is to research the market that you have identified as the target market. The results of the market research will often determine the strategy to employ in penetrating that market. Market research is especially important in the home business startup phase.

Market research is made up of two types:

Primary Market Research

Primary market research is gathered by deploying your own resources to gather relevant information. Most of the information is gathered by questioning samples of the group you have set as your target market. There are a few methods that can be used to gather primary information and they vary in effectiveness and cost depending on the application.

1. Personal Interviews. A home based business would conduct a survey based on a questionnaire presented to a group of people or based on a one on one interview. This type of survey will give insights into the customer preferences and buying patterns pertinent to your product.
2. Phone surveys. Information can be gathered via telephone canvassing. This can be effective in certain circumstances but is not always ideal.
3. Direct mail. Questionnaires can be mailed to recipients together with a return envelope. Email is even a more efficient form of information gathering.

All these methods have their pros and cons and different cost structures. The information gleaned from these surveys can be invaluable for the home based business. A well constructed survey can tell the entrepreneur a fortune about the target market he is hoping to capture.

Secondary Market Research

Secondary data is outside information gathered by third parties. A good source of secondary information would be government agencies, industry and trade associations, labor unions, media sources, chambers of commerce. Information is found in newspapers and government publications, and trade publications amongst many other sources. The internet is also becoming a fantastic source of information. The main benefit of using secondary market research especially for the home based business is the low cost of this information.

Look for this free information in

• Public libraries.
• University studies and thesis including student research projects.
• Statistical surveys undertaken by government institutions.
• Government business and trade departments.
• Small business development centers are a great source.
• Trade associations.
• Networking forums.
• The internet forums and blogs.
• Competitor web sites.

The list of sources is endless.

Information is possibly the strongest weapon you will have in building a product in your home based business. Market research is fundamental in obtaining that information.

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