BizSugar.com › Startups › Know your market by testing, talking, and a SWOT analysis

There is nothing more important in starting a business than learning all you can about your potential market. Most entrepreneurs have an instinctive confidence in their product or service -- but without first-hand market research, it's only a hunch.

The first step is to conduct a "SWOT" analysis: analyzing your business's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

If you see sufficient opportunity, move on to primary and secondary research. The latter means using "secondary" sources (such as published research, directories, market statistics) to explore the size of the market for your business. Urban population studies, government and industry statistics, trade association forecasts, and research reports from securities analysts may all help you figure out the dynamism of your market and its appetite for new suppliers....