How to research your customers

Who will you be selling to? Selling to everyone is highly discouraged, since everyone has different wants and needs. Instead, it’s best to decide on target markets – groups of customers who share similar characteristics that you can market to more effectively. It’ll save you time and money, reduce headaches from trying to please large amounts of people with different needs, and it can make the difference between a successful business and falling flat right out of the gate.

Gathering market research data is a crucial step in the business planning process. Market research is used to determine consumer opinions, industry trends and competitor stats.  It’s used to gauge consumer interest in new products and service offerings and to establish a list of prospective customers. There are a number of ways to go about collecting this data, but we’ve developed a free, step-by-step guide on how to use one of them – CANSIM.

Check out GoForth’s free guide to navigating Statistics Canada’s CANSIM database, and start the process of understanding your ideal customers today!