Market Research Matrix V

Marketing Research Tools Power Your Industry Analysis

Amazon (www.amazon.com) can be used to find books on your niche and as a means to finding out if there is a demand for your product. Fortunately for you Amazon will also be a tool you will use again to find content as well and what is referred to as expert verbiage content. This data is very useful in learning about a marketplace in great detail. You can even flip through some pages of these publications. Use Amazon to see what else the buyers of a related book to your niche have purchased. This may give you new niche and product ideas.

Bookstores and Magazines (look at the ads) try and find at least 1-2 magazines on your niche area. Magazines are one of the best barometers to tell you if there is profit in a market to be made for sure. Remember lack of anything doesn’t absolutely mean there is no money there. This is why we look at multiple sources.

You can also try to tap into a new area if you have an idea in that area. We are just trying to show you ways to know if your chance of success is much higher. If you do try a new market you will want to run a survey to see what to sell them and use forums as well to find out. I will explain how to use surveys to research different areas of your industry soon.

The SRDS (www.srds.com) for off line data is free to access at some University libraries. This service normally runs $500 or more a year to access as an individual. Not a realistic resource for most. Try and find at least 2 magazines in your niche in the SRDS to make it worth while.

This service is a compilation of data showing where and how much money is being spent to advertise in different periodicals and magazines. It would be a truly great way to know your market before advertising there since they have this advertising information.

One other thing to look for using SRDS are “hot lines” of 10,000 or more in a magazine. Also look for markets where people spend $$$ on products similar to the one you end up promoting. You can also advertise through the SRDS which is the best targeting method around for off line advertising.

Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media is accessible at most local libraries with a free library card. This is just a directory of magazines and can also be accessed online.

Standard Periodical Directory is accessible freely through local libraries. Once more another magazine directory.

Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory is accessible freely through local libraries. Yet another periodical directory.

Academic Search Premier is accessible online with a local library card. Full-text of more than 3,430 scholarly publications and general periodicals.

Article First is accessible online with a local library card. Index of articles from 12,000+ journals and magazines.

Google Zeitgeist (www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html) checks for the latest trends and hot happenings online today. This is a good place to find niche ideas. If you are passionate about any go ahead and use them.

Trendwatching (www.trendwatching.com) is another trend website, but this one is really well managed and actually has a paid service which lists all the major trends for the year. It is a good place to find niche ideas and has monthly free information.

Yahoo Buzz (buzz.yahoo.com) is Yahoo’s trend watcher. Forums related to your niche should be checked to see what is being talked about and what problems people are looking for solutions for as well as what products they are looking to buy.

Make sure to check out user groups on the big three search engines for forum groups in your market analysis as well. These can be found at:

• Google Groups (groups.google.com)
• Yahoo Groups (groups.yahoo.com)
• MSN Groups (groups.msn.com)

A Market Research Matrix Can Make Sense

Author: Scott Holden – TrafficEraBlog