How Market Research Works
Marshall Brain prepares a useful how-to on formulating and conducting successful marketplace research.

US Census Bureau Data Access Tools
Comprehensive (and free) interactive demographic tools including Zip business patterns; mapping tools; QuickFacts from the national, state, county, and city level; local employment dynamics; and a whole lot more.

CIA WorldFactbook
Extensive nation reports courtesy of CIA spooks around the world. Each country's entry includes current economic, political, social, environmental data updated regularly.

Global Trends 2025
The National Intelligence Council offers "offers a fresh look at how key global trends might develop over the next 15 years to influence world events."

The Economist Country Briefings
Useful news, country profiles, forecasts, statistics and more on countries A-Z, ranging from Algeria to Vietnam.

Marketing Facts & Statistics
The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council regularly aggregates facts and statistics across a variety of industry sectors and topics valuable to marketing executives worldwide.

Quirk's Marketing Research Review
A gateway to market research companies, articles, job openings, industry events, focus group moderators, mystery shopping companies, and such. Some free resources.

Knowledge@Wharton
Research and business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, covering topics including finance and investment, leadership and change, executive education, marketing, health economics, strategic management, real estate, law and public policy, human resources, business ethics, innovation and entrepreneurship, operations management, and managing technology. Also available in Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese.

Craigslist
A useful tool for international marketing travels, providing listings from around the world for rentals, jobs, services, discussions, etc.

International Travel Advice
Helpful information from the US Department of State: travel advisories for global hotspots, passport information, detail on gaining US visas for foreigners, assistance for US citizens abroad, embassy links, much more.

Language Translation Tools
Translate to and from languages including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, English -- courtesy of Google.

MarketResearch.com
Extensive (if expensive) updated collection of market research with more than 250,000 reports from 650 leading global publishers providing "unbiased and qualitative insights" on new product trends and competitive analyses.

Web Marketing Today
Publishes a free weekly newsletter and provides a research room with annotated database of links to articles and resources covering Internet marketing and e-commerce.

ClickZ
A large "resource of interactive marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion, research, and reference ... from search to social, technology to trends."

New York Times
With search results going back to 1851, the NY Times website provides a wealth of research data for US and world events key to practical market research.

Wall Street Journal
Lots of business news in the WSJ database for a subscription fee.

BusinessWeek
Lots of US and international business news and features from around the world useful for global marketers.

Inc.com
Small business information for the entrepreneur with how-to's on topics such as business plans and start-ups, blogs, research tools -- lots of good stuff.

CNET News
Top technology headlines.

Nielsen NetRatings
"Online measurement services to understand, measure and respond to online consumers."

Business.com
Helps business decision makers "find what they need to manage and grow their businesses" with free articles ranging from setting up a bookkeeping system, to getting a trademark, to marketing your business with a blog.

Forrester Research
Provides proprietary research, customer insight, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. Some free access to select research reports.

International Data Corporation
For a fee, "more than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries worldwide."

Marketing Research
The AMA's quarterly publication addressing "addresses the business needs of marketing research professionals."

comScore
Providing digital marketing intelligence to advertising agencies, publishers, marketers seeking digital, marketing, sales, product development and trading strategies.

eMarketer
Research and analysis on digital marketing media and Internet marketing trends with data collected from more than 4,000 worldwide sources.

BusinessWire
A useful research resource where "thousands of member companies and organizations transmit their full-text news releases, regulatory filings, photos and other multimedia content to journalists, financial professionals, investor services, regulatory authorities and the general public worldwide."

PR Newswire
Another research resource where "corporations and organizations conduct rich, timely and dynamic dialogues with the media, consumers, policymakers, investors and the general public, in support of building brands, generating awareness, impacting public policy, driving sales, and raising capital."

Free Sample Marketing Plans
The website is selling a marketing plan software program, but the numerous free plans provide useful templates and tactics for preparing your own plan, with or without the software buy, and articles on how to write a marketing plan are useful and also free.

Sponsored Articles & Announcements
Useful sponsored news items, services, products, releases, and announcements. You may promote your company or client on this popular award-winning website by placing your own sponsored article on specially designated pages.

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