Market research information can be very helpful to a manager. It can also be expensive.  You usually can’t afford to have all the information you would like--but you can’t afford to “fly blind” either.  So, there’s a constant challenge to figure out what questions market research will answer and whether the information that is provided by a research report can really be useful in making decisions. 

Because of this, it’s important to think about what information is likely to change, and how fast, and what information is likely to be stable for a while. This may help you decide how frequently to buy a report.

It’s also important to think carefully about how you will use the information.  For example, you might review what type of information is in a sample report and then carefully consider each and every individual strategy decision for your marketing plan and think how that might help you improve that decision. This can help you decide what your priorities should be in selecting among research reports as well as in deciding which ones are most useful in combination.