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Marketing

Market Research Overview

Market research entails investigating the characteristics, preferences, and needs of consumers -- whether people or entities.  The scope of this research may vary based on geography and other characteristics.

Outline of a gear inside of a shining light bulbIn business-to-consumer (B2C) market research, you must determine the appropriate target population(s) for products or services. The characteristics of the target population(s) may include demographics, psychographics, and lifestyle data.

Demographic characteristic content may include age, ethnicity, gender, occupation, and income. More detailed content about target populations, particularly about their psychographics and lifestyle characteristics, as well as preferences and needs, is often only available through specialized vendors (some listed on this page). When content about target populations is unavailable, you must determine the characteristics, preferences, and needs by conducting primary research.

In business-to-business (B2B) market research, you must determine the appropriate target entitles for the products or services you’re offering. The availability of data on the company you’re researching will be influence by its key aspects (private, public, non-profit, etc.), see the company research page for more information.

Market Research Resources

Other Online Resources

While you will find a lot of data for market research through the libraries' databases, you may need to look to other resources online for additional information. The following resources will help you with this research: