Market & Industry Research Strategies

Use Your Network

Often, people involved in your target industry are some of the best sources of information. This is especially true in new, niche, and disruptive industries.

Who do you know who you can contact? Who does your network know who they could connect you with?

Use Stand-in or Proxy Data

If you cannot get information on your target company or industry, you can use "stand in" or "proxy" that is similar, and extrapolate from that. Some options: 

• If you're researching a private company, are there similar public firms you can use to get a sense of relevant issues or that industry's expected financial ratios?
• For niche industries, are there broader ones you can use? For example, if you're researching AI in workplace training, try using information about traditional workplace training, AI, or education. They might not be exactly what you're after, but many of the influencing factors in these industries will be the same (i.e. AI advancements, research on learning, etc.)

Do Primary Research

Primary research involves collecting your own data, such as through surveys or obtaining an organization's operational data. This is different from secondary research (which is broadly any research you are using that was generated by others, and what you will find in libraries) in that it is much more specific, but also typically more time-intensive and costly.

You can learn how to conduct primary research with the following:

Ask Us for Recommendations

We're here to help. If you Ask Us and provide detailed information about what you're searching for, what you may have already tried, etc., we will try and recommend other approaches or point you to sources we know about.

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