Market Research on a Shoestring
Get a reality check on your big idea for under $100
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About The Book
Get a Reality Check Before You Leap!
Does Your Big Idea Even Have a Chance to Make it?
Market reserach doesn’t have to be expensive and time-consuming
Entrepreneurs don’t like to do market research. Whether they find it unnecessary, think it takes too much time and money, or are simply terrified by the idea, they often start up their businesses without the necessary preparation or understanding of exactly what they are getting into. But market research doesn’t have to be an expensive, unbearably time-consuming nightmare. It is an essential aspect of starting a new business that can be conducted quickly and easily if you know what to look for and where to look.
This eBook shows you techniques, tricks and secrets that help you learn what customers want, determine your target market, and test your company’s viability all on a shoestring budget.
Few entrepreneurs love to do market research, but they need to have a basic understanding of who their customers are, why those customers buy what they do, and how their companies will make money. These questions formulate the bulk of the business plan that you will need if you want to raise funds for or attract talent to your startup.
With Market Research on a Shoestring, you will know how to:
- Identify your customers as you begin your business and areas in which you can expand later.
- Get your customers to tell you exactly what they want and need in your product or service.
- Determine what kind of information will be most valuable for you to gather during your research.
- Discover how big the market really is for your product.
- Learn ways that you can get an edge on your competition
- See how other companies in your industry have solved some of the same problems you are likely to face.
- Use social networking sites such as Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, and Twitter to find potential customers, connect with knowledgeable people in your industry, and discover what people are thinking about your product or service.
- Plus, there’s much more information, all written in an easy-to-understand, easy-to-follow way
None of these misconceptions should stop you from doing effective market research. With this book, you will know why market research is so important, and you will know how to go about it!
Your Guide to Getting the Information You Need
In about 128 pages, I teach you exactly how to conduct this research. (And most of it can be done for little or no cost.) Here are some of the things you’ll learn:
What do my customers really want?
Why don’t all entrepreneurs do market research?
Clarifying some myths and misconceptions entrepreneurs have
Market research is vital-but entrepreneurs often overlook it. They may have any one of a number of reasons why they decide not to do an adequate amount of research. Some entrepreneurs may believe one of these myths:
| Myths | Facts |
| Market research is too time-consuming. The time wasted talking to people is time that could be better spent developing a product. | Actually, you need to research the market before you even put your product or service together! |
| Market research is unnecessary. After all, if an entrepreneur has a great product, all kinds of people will come around to buy it, right? | Many failed entrepreneurs will tell you how untrue this is! Many great products have failed simply because the people behind the products didn’t understand who they were selling to. |
| Market research is too expensive. Most entrepreneurs don’t have thousands of dollars to spend hiring marketing pros. |
You can do the vast majority of your research yourself, for less than $100!
|
I find that even some of the brightest entrepreneurs I talk to have misconceptions about market research. In Market Research on a Shoestring, I debunk those misconceptions. I tell you why they are wrong, and I tell you the truth about these subjects!
Here are some of the common misconceptions I tackle:
| Misconceptions | Corrections |
|---|---|
| I need to have a product before I can do market research. | Many entrepreneurs believe that, but it’s not true! The fact is that you need to find out what your customers want before you design your product or service. I teach you exactly how to find out what those customers want, so you can design your product with your customers in mind! |
| If I talk to my customers about my ideas, one of them will steal the idea and take it to market. | This is a common fear, but it’s almost totally unfounded. I explain why you usually don’t need to worry about having your ideas stolen, and the few cases where you do need to protect yourself. |
| I know my industry, so I don’t need to do the kind of research others do. | Big mistake! You may think you know your customers, your competition, and even your product. But what you don’t know may surprise you. It may even mean you losing money! I’ll show you how to find out what you may be missing |
| Market research is for big, well-funded companies. A small startup like mine can’t afford to do any meaningful research. | That may have been true many years ago. But with the online resources I show you, even entrepreneurs with almost no money can do amazing amounts of profitable research! |
| I’m just going to hire someone to do my research for me. All I need are the results. | It’s true that there are some things you can hire someone to do for you. But there are essential parts of your market research that can only be done correctly by you. I explain to you what you can have someone else handle, and what you must do yourself. |
A lifetime of knowledge, packed into 128 powerful pages
Yes, there’s a lot of information in Market Research on a Shoestring. But I have stripped the information down to its most practical, basic form, so that you can use it easily. I explain what you need to do in order to do effective market research. Plus, I provide screen shots, precise instructions and examples and tell you what questions to ask in order to ascertain the information that you need. I even tell you how to put all this information into four compelling diagrams that will make your Business Plan look solid.
This is the information that will make your investor believe that you are investment-worthy and fundable.
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Market Research on a Shoestring!
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