Important Of Market Research

Internet Marketing is not difer than traditional marketing, they have a same thing: research. On Internet marketing, we can make a research easily, tehre are many tool resourcess on internet to know about market trends, most wanted key word, world economiccondition. They all can be done by sit at home. Yes this is the good of internet marketing.

Large corporations spend millions on sophisticated surveys and focus groups from established researchers such as Harris Interactive (HPOL) and Survey Sampling to determine whether their products or services will appeal to customers at a price they're willing to pay. But for entrepreneurs operating on a shoestring budget, there are ways to gather key information about your customers and prospects without hiring an outside firm. Here are five practical suggestions to keep in mind.

Research the same way you sell. While "market research" may bring to mind spreadsheets and pie charts, your first step before introducing a new product or launching a business should be to interview your potential customers the same way you plan to sell to them, according to Rob Adams, director of the Moot Corp Business Plan Competition at the University of Texas, Austin and author of A Good Hard Kick in the Ass: Basic Training for Entrepreneurs.

"If you sell in person, survey in person. If you sell over the phone, survey over the phone," he says. And for entrepreneurs who plan to sell primarily online, a Web survey can gauge interest. "If you get no results, that should tell you something," says Adams. If you're not sure who to talk to, he says, take a clipboard to the mall (BusinessWeek.com, 11/19/07) on Saturday morning.

Above all, you must have a direct interaction with the people you imagine will buy your product, marketing experts say. John Hauser, a marketing professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management, says his students are astonished when they actually talk to members of their target market, because reality can be so different from their expectations. "I force them to go out and talk to customers. They come back and say, 'Wow, what an experience.' They're just overwhelmed," says Hauser.

src:http://www.businessweek.com