How I Conducted Market Research for a B2B Startup With 0 Corporate Contacts

It's tough to do market research when you're new, and have 0 contacts. I helped a friend do it WITHOUT her contacts, and LinkedIn.

Case - She had an audio tech startup with target customers as museums and trade fairs. I came up with idea that it could be used in corporate offices too. Next step? Validate it.

And that too without any boring surveys or paid ads.

If you wanna read the full fledged in-depth post, you can check it on Medium.

So, how did I do it?

1. Identify the Right Audience and Platform

I figured Reddit would be the best platform for something like this because a lot of 9–5 workers use it (that’s why antiwork is popular there :P)

And, Reddit has hyper niche communities as well.

So I started by concluding the two types of targets I would contact.

• Primary targets: Direct Subreddits related to office or office tech. Office workers, internal communication teams. Example - r/digitalsignange, r/internalcomms, r/Communications and others related to Office Tech.

• Secondary targets: Subreddits where office employees hang out. Developers, finance teams, HR etc. r/developers, r/financeworkers , r/developersin[Country] and more related to different employees every office has.

These subreddits gave me access to the exact audience I needed, without needing introductions or being too formal.

2. Different approach for different audience

Different communities need different styles of engagement.

1. Niche subreddits: Here you can post direct questions or whatever help you need. These subreddits are primed to help you, so no sweat here.

I posted direct questions like,
“What’s the biggest annoyance in your workplace related to communication or sound?”

2. Broad subreddits: Here you can also post a direct question but if it is too techy, people wouldn’t like it. So, I figured another way…

Memes.

I shared memes about irritating office audios and then asked a question. This worked pretty well and I got over 20K impressions on one subreddit.

One example -

3. Follow Up Strategically

When posts started gaining traction, I DM’d the most active commenters. Now I didn’t ask to “pick their brain” or send a huge message.

Instead I asked specific, easy-to-answer questions like:

1. “Do you face audio issues in meetings?”
2. “Would a hands-free solution help, or do you not care?”

Make it so simple they can answer in under two seconds.

This is what my DM looked like.

My B2B Outreach Message

As you can see I was extremely polite and told them it was okay to not answer as well.

But I still got answers to about 80% of the DMs I sent. That’s pretty cool!

4. Compile and Analyze the Insights

By the end of the campaign, I had a lot of data on:

• If corporate offices had what I thought they have
• I heard directly from the customers of my customers
• Actionable feedback my friend could use

And that's really it!

Key Takeaways for Working with Limiting Means

1. Don’t let a lack of contacts stop you. Find communities where your audience hangs out — Reddit, Slack groups, forums, etc.
2. Adapt your approach. What works for one group might not work for another. Be creative. Check out the vibes of subreddits before posting.
3. Be direct. Respect people’s time by asking specific, easy-to-answer questions.
4. Engage actively. Respond to comments and follow up with DM conversations.
5. Pivot when needed. My posts didn’t work for a lot of subreddits, that’s when I got the idea of DMing people who were a part of those subreddits. Don’t be dejected if your first plan doesn’t work out. There will be a lot more.
6. Don’t be entitled. Don’t think people should be answering you. Don’t be rude. Don’t be needy. Don’t ask for a lot. No one’s got the time or energy. Every platform has a lot of people you can approach so have an abundant mindset.

Next time you think, “I can’t validate this idea,” remember this story. If I can do it with Reddit and zero corporate contacts, so can you.

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Let me know if you found this helpful :)

Cheers!