Market Research Resources
Information is the key to good business decisions. There is a great deal of good information freely available on the Web. The following websites provide a starting point for your business research activities. They are arranged in categories to help you expedite your search. Note that the opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed are those of the websites’ producer(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBTDC.
Associations - Directories
ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership | www.asaecenter.org
This page allows you to search for an association by name, interest area, or geographic location. You also can search using a combination of fields.
Weddles | www.weddles.com
Free listing of associations arranged by industry
Internet Public Library | www.ipl.org/div/aon/
A collection of over 1100 Internet sites providing information about a wide variety of professional and trade associations
Associations - Business
American Marketing Association |
www.marketingpower.com
The world's largest and most comprehensive professional society of marketers
National Retail Federation |
www.nrf.org
The world's largest retail trade association
Biotechnology Industry Organization | www.bio.org
The mission of BIO is to be the champion of biotechnology and the advocate for its member organizations –both large and small
National Restaurant Association | www.restaurant.org
The leading business association for the restaurant industry
Software & Information Industry Association |
www.siia.com
The principal trade association for the software and digital content industry
Benchmarking
Fintel Scorecard |
www.fintel.us/products/BusinessScorecard.html
Compare your company to others in the industry based on 9 core ratios
Biz Stats |
www.bizstats.com
Compare your company performance to others in the same industry
Business Plans
BizPlanit | www.bizplanit.com/free.html
BizPlanIt's Virtual Business Plan is an online business plan resource based on real-world business planning advice.
Entrepreneur Magazine | www.entrepreneur.com/businessplan
Articles and resources for creating your business plan
SCORE Business Plan Template | www.score.org/downloads/Business Plan for an Established Business_Dec.doc
Easy to follow template for creating a business plan, preferred by counselors
American Express |
www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/the-world/article/how-to-write-a-business-plan-guy-kawasaki
How to write a business plan
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | www.clpgh.org/subject/business/bplansindex.html
Guide to business plans by type of business
SBA Business Plan Basics |
www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner
nessplanner/plan/writeabusinessplan/index.htmlstep by step instructions for creating a business plan from the SBA
Competitive Intelligence
Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals | www.scip.org
Provides education and networking opportunities to business and competitive intelligence professionals (including marketing, market research, strategy, and information.
Fuld & Company | www.fuld.com/HomePage.html
Specialist in competitive intelligence
Investigators Toolbox | www.virtuallibrarian.com/research/ci.html
Tools for performing a competitor search
Law & Tech. Resources for Legal Professionals | www.llrx.com/category/793
Articles on competitive intelligence
Zapdata | www.zapdata.com
D&B Sales & Marketing Solutions' online source for B2B sales leads, mailing lists and business information
Securities & Exchange Commission | www.sec.gov
Search for required filings of publicly traded corporations
Demographics / Psychographics
American Fact Finder | factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
Ongoing data collected by the Census Bureau
Melissa Data | www.melissadata.com
Free address information for businesses and individuals
Websaras |
eslmi40.esc.state.nc.us/websaras
Electronic information dissemination tool that displays statistics for the states and areas therein, in the Bureau of Labor Statistics regions. This system gives geographic based access to a variety of census, economic, labor market, and local information.
NC Rural Databank |
www.ncruralcenter.org/databank/index.html
Statistical information on North Carolina's rural counties
My Best Segments-Claritas |
www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp
MyBestSegments features information about Claritas' segmentation system PRIZM NE and is the only source for detailed segment descriptions for all of Claritas' market segmentation products.
EASI Demographics | www.easidemographics.com
Free reports based on the 2000 Census
FreeDemographics |
www.freedemographics.com
Free demographic market analysis reports
Economic Development
EconData |
www.econdata.net
Regional Economic Data
NC Commerce Site Selectors' toolkit |
www.nccommerce.com/en/BusinessServices/
LocateYourBusiness/SiteSelectorsToolkit
Information for site selectors considering NC as a business location
Entrepreneurship
Council for Entrepreneurial Development | www.cednc.org
A private, non-profit organization formed to identify, enable and promote high growth, high impact entrepreneurial companies and to accelerate the entrepreneurial culture of the Research Triangle and NC
Kauffman Foundation | www.kauffman.org
Focuses its grant making and operations on advancing entrepreneurship and improving the education of children and youth.
Edward Lowe Foundation |
www.lowe.org
To champion the entrepreneurial spirit by providing information, research and educational experiences that support entrepreneurship and the free enterprise system
Inc Magazine | www.inc.com
Provides small-business information, Web-based tools, products, and services
Entrepreneur Magazine | www.entrepreneur.com
Small business tools; business plan guide; entrepreneur’s databases for business opportunities and franchise information
Entrepreneurial Connections | www.entrepreneurialconnection.com/About.asp
Provides tools, tips and training for the self-employed and small business owners
Financing Resources
Capital Opportunities for Small Business | www.sbtdc.org/publications/cap_opps.asp
SBTDC's online publication for finding capital resources for NC businesses
SBA-Financing your resources |
www.sba.gov/services/financialassistance
Describes loan availability, eligibility, sources of grants
Franchising
Entrepreneur Magazine-Franchise Opportunities | www.entrepreneur.com/franchises
Franchising opportunities plus tips on buying/running a franchise
Franchising.com | www.franchising.com
Resource for On-line Franchise Information
The Franchise Registry | www.franchiseregistry.com
Listing of companies registered with the SBA available for franchising
Franchise Direct | www.franchisedirect.com
Listing of franchises for sale
Government Resources - Federal
Code of Federal Regulations | www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr
US Small Business Administration website | www.sba.gov
An independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns
US Patent & Trademark Office | www.uspto.gov
Search for patents and trademarks
Internal Revenue Service | www.irs.gov/businesses/small
Tax information for small businesses
Laws & regulations by industry | www.business.gov
Provides a single access point to government services and information to help the nation's businesses with their operations.
FedBizOpps | www.fbo.gov
Federal government procurement opportunities above $25,000.
Government Resources - North Carolina
NC Department of Commerce | www.nccommerce.com/en
Websaras |
http://eslmi40.esc.state.nc.us/websaras
Electronic information dissemination tool that displays statistics for the states and areas therein, in the Bureau of Labor Statistics regions. This system gives geographic based access to a variety of census, economic, labor market, and local information.
NC State University Industrial Extension Service | www.ies.ncsu.edu
Supports North Carolina business in the workplace – in the office, on the factory floor or in the hospital
NC Biotechnology Center | www.ncbiotech.org
Supports biotechnology research, business and education statewide
Defense Logistics Agency | www.dla.mil/db/
The Defense Logistics Agency is DOD's largest combat support agency, providing worldwide logistics support in both peacetime and wartime to the military services as well as several civilian agencies and foreign countries. Find info on selling to the military.
NC Secretary of State - Corporations Division | www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations
Responsible for the examination, custody and maintenance of the legal documents filed by corporations, limited partnerships and limited liability companies in NC
Human Resources
Employee Benefit Research Institute | www.ebri.org
Contributes to, encourages, ands enhances the development of sound employee benefit programs and sound public policy through objective research and education.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | www.eeoc.gov
Commission which enforces laws protecting against discrimination in employment
Society for Human Resource Management | www.shrm.org
World’s largest professional association devoted to human resource management whose mission is to serve the needs of HR professionals by providing current and comprehensive resources, and to advance the profession by promoting HR’s role.
Salary.com | www.salary.com
Benchmark salaries
Industry Research
NAICS Classification System | www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
New classification system for industries. Replaces SIC codes.
Valuation Resources | www.valuationresources.com
A directory of resources which address subjects such as industry overview, issues, trends, and outlook, industry financial information and financial ratios, and compensation and salary surveys for a wide variety of industries.
ZapData | www.zapdata.com
Free industry reports from Dun & Bradstreet
Alacra Industry Spotlights | www.alacrawiki.com/index.php?title=Alacra_Industry_Spotlights
Detailed proprietary reviews and commentary on the best web-based sources of industry specific content previously available only to Alacra subscription customers
International Trade
Country Briefings | www.Economist.com/country briefings
Socio-economic information about individual countries
World Fact Book | www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook
Detailed information about countries of the world including political and economic aspects
Ex-IM bank | www.exim.gov
Assists in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets.
Overseas Private Investment Corp. | www.opic.gov
OPIC helps U.S. businesses invest overseas, fosters economic development in new and emerging markets, complements the private sector in managing risks associated with foreign direct investment, and supports U.S. foreign policy.
US Trade & Development Agency | www.ustda.gov
Advances economic development and U.S. commercial interests in developing and middle income countries. The agency funds various forms of technical assistance, early investment analysis, training, orientation visits and business workshops that support the development of a modern infrastructure and a fair and open trading environment.
Legal
FindLaw | www.findlaw.com
Legal information for lawyers and general public, including case law, statutes, lawyer search
Martindale | www.martindale.com
Directory of lawyers
MegaLaw | www.megalaw.com/forms/nc/ncforms.php
NC Legal forms
The Red Book (NC Licenses and Permits) | www.nccommerce.com/en/BusinessServices/StartYourBusiness/BusinessLicensesPermits/
Lists the licenses and permits needed for businesses in NC
Market Research
Quirks | www.quirks.com
Magazine for market researchers
Hoovers | www.hoovers.com
Company descriptions and industry info.
Annual Reports | www.annualreports.com
Online access to annual reports
Securities and Exchange Commission | www.sec.gov
Corporate filings
Marketresearch.com | www.marketresearch.com
Reports to purchase
Valuation Resources | www.valuationresources.com/IndustryReport.htm
Free industry reports
Marketing
ListFinder | listfinder.directmag.com/market
Searchable database of more than 50,000 direct mail lists.
Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS) | www.srds.com/portal/servlet/LoginServlet
Database of media rates and information
American Marketing Association | www.marketingpower.com
Resources for marketers and advertisers
M Plans | www.mplans.com
Choose from several free marketing plans or purchase others
Publications
CEO Express |
www.ceoexpress.com
Gateway to online business magazines
BusinessWeek | www.businessweek.com
Weekly magazine containing information useful to entrepreneurs
Harvard Business Review | www.hbr.org
Online version of HBR which provides summaries of articles in print edition
Wall Street Journal | www.wsj.com
Daily News Voyager | www.Newspaperlinks.com/voyager.cfm
Gateway to many online newspapers
USA Today - Money | www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness
Online magazine with articles of interest to small business owners
Science and Technology
National Technical Information Service | www.ntis.gov
Has science, technology and business information.
American National Standards Institute | www.ansi.org
Has standards information and links to standards sites.
Department of Defense Single Stock Point | dodssp.daps.dla.mil
US Patent and Trademark Office | www.uspto.gov
Protect intellectual property by patenting
Association of University Technology Managers | www.autm.org
Promotes, supports and improves academic technology transfer worldwide and demonstrate its benefits globally through education, advocacy, networking and communication.
Social Media
Social Media for Small Business Guide | www.ducttapemarketing.com/socialmediaforbusiness.pdf
This eBook breaks social media down into easy-to-understand pieces to help make sense of and make use of social media as a tool to help grow a business.
10 Small Business Social Media Marketing Tips | mashable.com/2009/10/28/small-business-marketing
Twitter 101 for Business | business.twitter.com/twitter101
Has standards information and links to standards sites.
Mashable.com’s Twitter Guide Book | mashable.com/guidebook/twitter
Statistics on Small Business Social Media Usage | mashable.com/2010/03/02/small-business-stats/ OR http://www.briansolis.com/2010/05/social-media-in-small-business-is-anything-but-small/
Statistics
U.S. Census | www.census.gov
Main census website
County Business Patterns |
www.census.gov/econ/cbp/index.html
An annual series that provides subnational economic data by industry. Businesses use the data for analyzing market potential, measuring the effectiveness of sales and advertising programs, setting sales quotas, and developing budgets.
Statistical Abstract |
www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
Summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
FEDStats | www.fedstats.gov
Gateway to federally collected stats