Updating Your Research
Market Research
June / July 2009
Volume 7 Number 3
When you started your technology business, you probably spent hours doing market research. (Please tell me you did!) The research helped you determine the best market, define it, develop go-to-market strategies and position your product against your competition. And now you're successfully in the market, enjoying the fruits of your labor. What's next?
Obviously, you want to continue your success. Once you are in the market, things will change: competitors react to your product, customers become more discriminating or the economy changes. The best way to maintain and increase your sales is to continue doing market research, which ideally should be done throughout your company and product life cycles. The good news is that you should already have a basis for the information from your previous work, and you should primarily be updating that information unless you have a new technology or product.
There are some major categories of information that you will need to continue to keep tabs on. These include the overall industry, competitors, customers and technology. These, incidentally, are the same ones you did your earlier research on; they just need to be updated.
Most technology industries change over time. There are new regulations and certifications, issues driven by the economy and customers, and collaborations that could impact your company. With revenue coming in, you should join one or more of your industry associations. These groups are the best method for keeping abreast of happenings in your industry. You will be able to talk with other members, which is the most effective way to find out about issues and topics that may not be published elsewhere. Many associations undertake limited market research and you should avail yourself of the information. In many cases, this research includes sales and economic trends. Industry associations are also excellent ways of finding partners for various product and marketing efforts, and will give you credibility that will help in your overall marketing efforts.
The next thing you should do is to try to source web sites, journals and other sources of information. Many journal subscriptions are now available online. You need to group these by the topics to stay current. Journals often publish special issues on a range of topics, from technology to economic concerns. You may want to look at www.specialissues.com/lol for a lisiting of these in your industry. You may also wish to look at industry blogs, often sponsored by trade associations, journals analysts.
Technology innovation sources are relatively easy, at least for those that are published. There are two main sources: the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office ( http://uspto.gov/) and Google www.google.com/patents). Make sure you use appropriate key words or company names for your searches. Make notes of assignees; some of these may be emerging competitors. Trade journals will often have articles on new and promising technologies.
For competitors, you need to keep tabs on who they are, how many they are, how they are perceived, their marketing practices, product prices and their customers. Again, industry associations may be able to help with identifying and keeping tabs on your competitors. Trade shows are a great source of information on competitors, pricing and products and features. Sales people generally man the booths and are willing to talk! Industry blogs, not only from experts, but also from customers or user groups, can provide all kinds of information on your competitors, their technology, products and features, and opinions on those topics from the users or customers. You may also want to look into their financial situations, buy going to http://sec.gov/ or looking at database such as Reference USA or the Dun & Bradstreet's Million Dollar Database in your public library. You will also need to review your competitors' web sites and marketing materials.
Customer information is even more critical once you are in the market. Their numbers, financial situations, needs and market positions will impact your ability to make sales. All of the above mentioned web site types and tactics will be useful, but you may also want to look at industry directories to ensure that you identify all of them. Sometimes you can get these on industry association web sites, but you may need to go to a library to source those.
Since you now have sales, also rely on your sales force to give you information that they glean from their customer calls.
To organize your efforts, you may want to bookmark any useful web sites by category, and make a list of other sources of information that require library or other efforts outside the office. A checklist can be developed, with sites to check, activities to look into, and time frames associated with each one.
As with your earlier research, don't stop at the gathering of information. You need to do something with it. Ask some questions based on the information. Is the new technology you uncovered likely to present a threat to your product? Will you need to change your product or partner with another company to counteract it? Are your competitors' sales slipping, and why? Will that hurt or help your company? Are customers complaining about your competitors' service? Is that something you can capitalize on? Is there anything negative about your company in industry blogs? What will you do to minimize that?
Without continuing to do market research, you could very well get blindsided in the market. Updating your research—€”and acting on it—€”will help you make the necessary tweaks in your product and marketing efforts to continue to grow your business.
Betsy Gillette is director of market research for Technology Ventures Corp.
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