Whether you want to set up a new business or simply want to update yourself about an industry, it is imperative that you research the firms in that industry to understand past trends, future prospects and the prevalent norms.Our last post discussed social research, industry research is something else you do need to have a look at.

Here’s a step by step guide to understanding any industry.
1.    Identify the Industry:
This may sound very obvious, but before researching an industry it is important to know exactly which industry you are searching for. This can get a little complicated owing to the overlap between industries in modern times. For instance, banks overlap with financial firms, the computers industry overlaps with electronics, and gaming overlaps with computers and so on. First, define which industry you want to find and use keywords specific to that industry when searching industry databases.

2.    Use Surveys and Reports for Industry Statistics:
There are multiple resources for industry research available on the internet alone. In addition, there are various publications of industry surveys and statistics purely for the purpose of research. For instance, Hoover’s Online publishes profiles of more than 200 different industries. Standard & Poor’s Industry Surveys are detailed surveys of more than 50 US industries.

3.    Search for News Reports and Magazine Articles About the Industry:
These are excellent resources for gaining a deeper understanding of the industry and the trends related to it. While statistics can be misinterpreted, or not give you the true picture, articles and expert opinions will generally show you the industry as it is. Plus, hearing lots of different opinions can help you decide whether or not to set up a business in the industry, and your chances of success.

4.    Visit Industry Websites:
Websites of individual firms as well as searchable online databases and there websites belonging to the industry as a whole can be an excellent resource for information about the industry. For instance, IndustryLink.com has lots of links to industry websites. Business.com can also help you search and identify helpful industry websites.

5.    Learn About Leading Firms in the Industry:
Identify the leaders in the industry and study their financial position, their customer base, market share etc. to understand fully exactly what it is that makes them successful, and if you are thinking of setting up a business, this would help you see exactly what kind of competition you are up against.

6.    Use Business-to-Business Marketplaces:
Finally, use this one great resource that has recently come into being. B2B market places are basically online business communities that keep their members and visitors updated on all aspects of their industry, with the purpose of facilitating e-commerce. These will usually give you basic, understandable and relevant information about the industry.

So as you can tell, industry research is a must for anyone contemplating a serious move towards owning their own business.

What is social research?
In the context of businesses and the internet, social research is a method of learning about your target market. Social research uses social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg, or a blog to ask questions, to find out customer preferences, and to generally learn your target customers’ opinions about any aspect of your current or future business.

Benefits of Social Research:
Why go for social research as opposed to more conventional forms of research? Here are its advantages:
•    It is easier, quicker and hardly costs you a cent: Most blogs and social media sites are free to join, and once you join them, you can search the groups or fan pages where your target market is most likely to be found. As a member, you will be allowed to post your own content free of cost. This is infinitely easier and much cheaper than designing and printing out questionnaires or forms and going out in the marketplace or door to door to get them filled.
•    It helps you identify the target market and build a reputation before even launching your business: This is why carrying out social research before launching a business is a great idea. The people on social networking sites get to know your idea, and if you present it in the right way, you can make it appear intriguing enough that they will want to buy from you when you actually do start. You get to know which people are most interested in your ideas, and you can with their permission use them as leads in marketing later on.

How to Carry Out Social Research:
There are several ways to do this. Here are some of the quickest and easiest ones:
•    Use your Blog:
Simply post your questions on your blog, if you have one, and let people answer. If you don’t already have a business blog, this is a great reason to create one. This way your business can develop an online following, popularizing you among your target customers.
•    LinkedIn:
LinkedIn has a separate section where you can ask questions and get responses. Sometimes the number of responses can go up in hundreds. Thus you learn a lot from different people’s opinions.
•    Yahoo Answers:
As this is a website dedicating to posting and answering questions, you can not only ask people questions about upcoming business ventures, but also reply to existing questions by introducing your business idea or existing business websites.

Database Development refers to building your customer database – essentially, a list of records or profiles of your customers. For any business one of the primary aims is to build a growing, useful, well organized customer database.

A successful business is one that knows exactly who its customers are, where they live and what they do, so that it is possible to focus your marketing, product launches and business expansion on their demographics. Therefore, an updated detailed and organized customer database is, among other things, the basic requirement from your marketing team.
How do you go about developing your database?
Decide What Data You Need:
First, you decide exactly why you need data about your customers and what it is you actually need. This is important because this would affect the type of data you need and the method of collection.
•    If you were aiming to keep your existing customers you would need qualitative data more than quantitative. The database needs to be linked to forms containing detailed opinions expressed by customers regarding what they like and dislike about your products, their opinions about competing products, and other information to judge their level of loyalty to your business.
•   If you want to attract new customers you would need existing customers’ opinions about your products and services as well as how they came to know about your business, and any other information that would help you decide how to attract new customers to your database.
•    If you want to inform customers about any aspect of your business you would need customers’ addresses, phone number and email ID’s, as well as data about their preferred mode of communication.
•    If you want to increase sales to existing customers you could need information about the total quantity of goods that the customer has purchased from you, exactly what he/she likes about your products and what does not satisfy him/her.
Deciding your Database Technology:
Decide which database software to use and what kind of PC to store your data on. Base your decision on the following factors:
•    Size of your business and number of records you need to store
•    How great a security level your data needs
•    Whether it is online or offline
•    The search capability and presentation of data that you need
•    User-friendliness or technical capability
Collection of Data:
Finally, go about gathering data. Data can be gathered from the following sources:
•    Sales invoices
•    Firms specializing in customer databases
•    Customers’ enquiries over the phone or by email/post
•    Market research forms filled by customers
•    Mailing lists generated by opt-in forms on your websites (where customers leave their addresses and express interest in future offers)
Now that you have your database, you can analyze it carefully to understand your customers’ needs, and take the right decisions at the right time.

Database development can be as simple or as complicated as you need it to be. If you research and analyse exactly what you need at the beginning it will make life alot easier for you further down the line.