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We all need a little more insight.<\/b> We monitor our Google alerts, scan the social stream, lurk on forums, click through social profiles, but sometimes it feels like we’re just skimming the surface. Sometimes we think we know everything about our customers, our target audience, and our competition, but we really don’t. Our insight goes a mile wide and an inch deep.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Deep insights lead to:<\/p>\n The question is, where do you go looking for deeper customer and industry insights?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Tim Ferriss: “What tools were you using to query and find this 60 page transcript of the would-be school shooter?”<\/p>\n Malcolm Gladwell: “I honestly don’t remember, I was screwing around on the internet…”<\/p>\n (from: The Tim Ferriss Show: Dissecting the Success of Malcolm Gladwell<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n If you’re need more formal data but don’t have the time or budget to hire a market research agency or run statistically significant surveys, some quick<\/span> secondary market research<\/b> will do. This is research that other organizations have published, so it won\u2019t be of the same quality as research done specifically with your existing clients or target market in mind, but it\u2019s a <\/span>lot easier to get \u00a0your hands on<\/b>. It can give you great insight if used correctly.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s true, secondary market research can be a crapshoot. But someone else has put the time into running the studies and compiling the data – and there are ways to take advantage of it. The easiest way to source market research on the fly is to go to Google and search:<\/span><\/p>\n Depending on the size of your industry, you should find some good data. There are generally<\/span> two categories of data<\/b> you’ll come across when doing basic secondary market research – f<\/span>ederal government data<\/b> and research done by <\/span>industry-specific commercial organizations<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Government Data<\/b>: As you may guess, the government moves slowly. The data you find here won’t be the latest. It will likely be more than a year old , and the best stuff could be five or 10 years old. That might be okay, if you’re using the data directionally. Since it’s public, there’s a lot of it, and it’s surprisingly accessible.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Commercial Research Studies<\/b>: This data is often available by paying for one-off access, or by subscription. You’ll pay anywhere from $12 to thousands per report. <\/span>This is the best data you’ll find and you’ll pay if you want all of it.<\/b> Read the Abstracts of the studies first. You may find more than a dozen different studies with detailed abstracts that give away a lot of actionable data. Maybe that’s all you need. At the end of the day, you may pay more for a commercial study than you would conducting your own.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This research will give you data on the facts and trends in your industry, but if you’re looking for more specific customer data, you’ll have to dig even further.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The following resources will put both industry data and customer data at your fingertips. Here are my favorite websites for going “Malcolm Gladwell” on publicly available data:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Industry Insight<\/b>:<\/span><\/p>\n Market Research World: <\/span>http:\/\/www.marketresearchworld.net\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Forrester Advanced Search: <\/span>http:\/\/www.forrester.com\/reg\/advancedsearch.xhtml<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Bureau of Labor Statistics by Industry: <\/span>http:\/\/www.bls.gov\/bls\/industry.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n SBA Small Business Data & Statistics: <\/span>https:\/\/www.sba.gov\/starting-business\/how-start-business\/business-data-statistics<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n U.S. Census Bureau Advanced Search (For Topic\/Industry): <\/span>http:\/\/factfinder.census.gov\/faces\/nav\/jsf\/pages\/searchresults.xhtml<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Google Public Data:<\/span> http:\/\/www.google.com\/publicdata\/directory<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n U.S. Government Public Datasets:<\/span> https:\/\/www.data.gov\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Science Direct: <\/span>http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Google Scholar: <\/span>https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Social & Consumer Data<\/b>:<\/span><\/p>\n Pew Social Trend Topic Search: <\/span>http:\/\/www.pewsocialtrends.org\/topics\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure: <\/span>http:\/\/www.bls.gov\/cex\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Bureau of Labor Statistics Demographic Data: http:\/\/www.bls.gov\/bls\/demographics.htm<\/span><\/p>\n U.S. Census Bureau Guided People Search: <\/span>http:\/\/factfinder2.census.gov\/faces\/nav\/jsf\/pages\/guided_search.xhtml<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n USA Government Census + Surveys: <\/span>https:\/\/www.usa.gov\/statistics<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n YouGov Profiles Lite: <\/span>https:\/\/today.yougov.com\/opi\/profileslite\/#\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Job Data<\/b>:<\/span><\/p>\n Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupation: <\/span>http:\/\/www.bls.gov\/bls\/occupation.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Indeed Job Trends: <\/span>http:\/\/www.indeed.com\/jobtrends<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Glassdoor Research Studies: <\/span>https:\/\/www.glassdoor.com\/research\/studies\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n O-Net Online Job Occupation Search: <\/span>http:\/\/www.onetonline.org\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Reference For Business – Encyclopedia of American Industry: <\/span>http:\/\/www.referenceforbusiness.com\/industries\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Market Research Reports<\/b> (Read the abstracts):<\/span><\/p>\n NDP\u00a0Market Research: <\/span>https:\/\/www.npd.com\/wps\/portal\/npd\/us\/industry-expertise\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n First Research: <\/span>http:\/\/www.firstresearch.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Report Buyer:<\/span> http:\/\/www.reportbuyer.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Frost: <\/span>http:\/\/www.frost.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Global Industry Analysis: <\/span>http:\/\/www.strategyr.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nMore Insight = More Effective Marketing<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Be Like Malcolm Gladwell<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Quick Secondary Market Research<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Sources for Deep Secondary Research<\/span><\/h3>\n