Before taking on the major capital expenses of a manufacturing facility, equipment, materials and labor, a company needs to secure commitments from potential customers to know that it will be able to sell the product. Often times, small companies do not have sufficient marketing resources to attract the attention of all their potential customers, accordingly, their efforts should remain as focused as possible. Unless a company knows before marketing its product what is of high value and to whom, it cannot tell the prospective buyers what benefits the product offers them. Most potential buyers will not expend the extra effort to try your product and learn this for themselves. Secondary source research can reduce the range of possible markets to a manageable size for further exploration.
Secondary sources are typically trade journals and trade associations.
The goal is to determine both what is and is not of importance to those people in the industries or businesses to which you are interested in marketing. To narrow the possible markets shown in the segmentation chart, we talked with ten to twelve national trade associations in the construction industry, such as the National Association of Home Builders and the Metal Building Manufacturers Association. We read articles, editorials and ads in industry magazines, such as Automated Builder and Wood Technology. The focus has now shifted to specific uses that can be explored with easily identifiable companies. The emphasis has moved away from complete end-products to component uses to accomplish defined results.