Business Research: Finding Marketing Information

Often, when looking for market information in search engines like Google, you will find all sorts of reports. However, you'll also find that most of the reports cost hundreds-thousands of dollars to access. We typically do not have access to these types of reports; however, it can be helpful to read the table of contents or preview the information provided to steer you in the right direction for additional information.

Here are some tips: 

When you do a Google search, make sure you retrieve only the most recent data (unless you are looking for historical information) by narrowing down the results to "past year" or a custom range. You can also add the year to the search, e.g., market share digital camera 2014.

Information might come from many different sources, such as newspapers, trade publications, industry associations, and even blogs, which are a great source of current information, especially in the technology field. However, before you use the information, find out where the data is sourced.  Responsible bloggers cite their sources. If there is no source, try another Google search to see if the information has been mentioned elsewhere. Be wary of numbers without a credible source.