Market research is the effort to answer one essential question: is there a need, and therefore a potential demand, for the product I want to sell?

While there are many ways to go about answering that question, we will focus on two fundamentally different approaches to market research.

1. Secondary Market Research

Secondary market research is research done by others in the same market in which you intend to field your product.  The information generated by this type of research can be purchased.  While the amount of data may be vast in secondary market research, the price tag can be equally large.  Also, the data may not answer some of you very particular questions.  However, if you have the budget, secondary market research can be a good starting point to gathering data for key decisions.  If you are interested in this option, the following article will give you more information.

2. Primary Market Research

Unlike secondary market research, primary market research is not for sale, because you are the one doing the research.  One benefit to primary market research is that it can be performed on a relatively small budget.  However, since the data has to be collected, it's likely that you will be spending a good deal of time identifying, developing and utilizing research tools like surveys, focus groups, or questionnaires.  How you go about the research will depend largely upon your product.  If primary market research interests you, this article provides more detailed information and tips.