Research for Your Marketing

3. Desk Research

Where it is appropriate, desk research is the cheapest and quickest research of all. It can be very useful for broad-brush exploratory work.

Much of the data will be available to you at little or no cost, from internal or public sources.

3.1 Internal sources are free, reliable and usually instantly available.

They can yield valuable data about sales volumes, buying patterns, customer size and location and causes of dissatisfaction.

• The key sources are account records, sales reports, customer records and records of queries and complaints. Do not ignore informal feedback from your employees.
• Your internal sources may not be set up to make access to this kind of data easy.You may need to change your methods of recording information. (See Filing and records management.)

3.2 There is a wealth of external sources to investigate, especially the Internet. See Finding information on the Internet. External data will be especially important when you are launching new products, entering new markets or starting a business.

• Major sources include government statistics (UK and foreign), trade associations, trade press, business magazines and the business pages of the national (especially broadsheet) newspapers.
• Universities and research organisations can often provide specialised technical data.
• Your local Business Link can give useful local, regional and UK survey information.
• A wide range of data is available commercially on a syndicated basis, with detailed, highly specialised reports costing a few hundred pounds each. Always check survey dates, as old data can be dangerously misleading.