David J Smith & Barbara A. VanderWerf 
Marketing Research for Small Business [PDF ebook] 
An Efficient and Effective Functional Approach

Marketing Research for Small Business: An Efficient and Effective Functional Approach is as the title suggests, a work focused on providing small to medium sized firms with the tools and techniques needed to successfully undergo a marketing research campaign. Special consideration is made for firms with limited budgets and knowledge of appropriate research techniques. Two of the most common comments made regarding marketing research for small firms are: 1) It is too expensive and 2) it is too complicated. The authors work hard at setting straight these two chief concerns. Good marketing research can uncover substantial insight into your customer, competitor, market and potential new business opportunities.This book is primarily broken into three parts, with the first part focusing on the setup. Specifically, the content is directed at how research benefits the firm, how the research agenda is setup, and how firms can look at existing data first to answer some of their key questions. The second part looks at collecting information, either existing or new, making sure that everything you want to know is made possible. And lastly, we explain very simply how to analyze the information and turn it into usable knowledge.It is interesting sometimes when speaking with small business owners who are struggling to grow their business. They often do not really know their customer or business well for that matter. Normally, the typical entrepreneur has an idea, possibly affirms it with a few friends, and then runs with it. This is a disastrous formula with a high percentage chance of failure. It goes along with the old saying: "It is much better to build on rock than sand." This simply means that preparation through knowledge gathering, preferably early in the process, is the key to success. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."