Welcome to the friendly Market Research Guide Hi, there! So, you need to research a marketing idea? Okay, great! Hopefully, Bob (the guy over there in the purple suit) and I can give you some guidance as well some working skills to research anything, anytime, anywhere. And another point, this guide will give you the knowledge and background to understand all those other market research books and statistics....groan. Now, this guide will take some time to work through, but less time is needed if you just want to skim it, or find specific info. Any way is fine! So, to get started say hello, Bob ..... good, that was polite. He's going to be great at this job. Now, believe it or not, Bob and I take market research pretty seriously. We know that starting and running a business is costly and has its risks, so we are prepared to provide you with as much information and tools that you may need. Bob is going to share his own marketing research story with you as we go along. Isn't he a great guy for helping out? The way we have laid out this research guide will let you run through it in a number of ways and in your own time. We will explain the basic layout: there are 5 parts to this guide; each one follows the next, but you can jump all over if you want. We take a look at what marketing research is and then we go do it (gulp!) ... then we take a look at what you found to see if or how your idea will work. There are links to good web sites, there are ideas to think about, and most of all, we are supporting you along the way. Aaawww, shucks, we wanna help ya...blush. As for the timing, well, we figure about 3 hours per part, except for the part where you actually go out and do the research. That may take a week to three weeks. The longer the better. Can you take your time in this? I explain the need for time in the research section. Hopefully, you can come and go with this guide as you need. Please take a break from it when you are full! Overall, it will do you well if you can saunter through this tutorial and take the time to learn and try the concepts. So, are you ready to go? Just hit the menu button above and see the steps. Also, in the menu there is some help available for that yucky techy stuff. See ya at the menu.