This is the age of technology; hardly anything can be done these days without interacting with tech in one way or the other. I am stating the obvious? I know. This is an obvious that must be reiterated for you to know what you have been missing or under-utilizing as an entrepreneur. Access to data is so commonplace now that it requires of you is just a web enabled mobile phone and voila! You are on.

However, as entrepreneurs, you must be able to interpret data sets accurately to gain meaningful insight about consumer behavior as this is vital to scaling a business. How then does one do this?

Google is the cheapest and nonetheless effective answer to this. Yes Google! That ubiquitous search engine, the know-it-all oracle that can provide answer to any question/request posed to it.

Getting the facts straight

More than 50,000 searches happen on Google every second, that is approximately 3.5 billion searches daily and over a trillion searches per year worldwide. That’s huge and it’s a goldmine only if entrepreneurs can explore it judiciously. Again, how can entrepreneurs leverage on this?

Google Tools. These publicly available and mostly free tools that come with Google can help you make sense of data to better understand customers and make smarter business decisions.

Here is how

Google Trends

With this free tool, entrepreneurs can investigate worldwide consumer trends, in real time, by country, period and specific search terms. All you need to do is type in your query in the search engine, click on the search tools icon, and proceed to set the search according to your preference/wants.

The resulting insights can assist early-stage companies in understanding their category, as well as the core intentions of the audience. That can then help inform communication strategies—such as the kind of marketing language to use on promotional copy, websites, and for search engine optimization.

Google Public Data

This tool simplifies access to global public data. Consisting of a variety of broad topics, such as public health or environmental issues, all in one place, the service gathers information from international organizations and academic institutions, including the World Bank, U.S. Census Bureau and Eurostat, and helps users comprehend data sets through dynamic graphs, maps, and charts.

Google Consumer Barometer

This free tool is designed to help users understand when, how and why their target audience uses the Internet. As the world becomes increasingly plugged in, and as more people head online to research and purchase products, it’s becoming critical for companies to implement integrated marketing strategies. Google Consumer Barometer allows users to explore key research findings on consumer purchase paths, device usage and viewing behavior across countries. In turn, businesses are able to determine how to best draw in customer bases.

Google Consumer Surveys

Want to know which logo people like better? Or how much customers are willing to pay for a product? With Google’s Consumer Surveys toolkit, entrepreneurs can get answers to these questions and more straight from their target audience, and at a fraction of the cost of standard consumer research. After users type questions into the tool and choose a demographic, Google will show the survey to Internet users, who complete questions in exchange for content. With complete, analyzed and accurate results within days, they can utilize customer feedback to make quick, informed business decisions every step of the way.

Google Analytics

Once an enterprise is off the ground and running, a business can gain insights into their website with Google Analytics. This free tool helps them understand which digital marketing strategies are performing best by analyzing visitor traffic (i.e., the channels through which people find the site, how they use the site, and on what devices). Users can then use the collected data to develop actionable solutions to scale their business.

 

This post is an adaptation of originally published article on The Venture