Poor man's market research

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November 20, 2025

by a searcher from Gonzaga University in Bend, OR, USA

I’ve been experimenting with what I call “poor man’s market research.” I wanted to understand the market size and stability for our Med Spa in Bend, OR. Here’s the process: 1. Grabbed a couple of industry reports for the national anchors (more credible the better here) — total spend, CAGR, average ticket, participation rates. Enough to understand the broader space. 2. Pulled the demographic flyers from a few commercial listings in Bend. Every broker packet typically has the area’s population, household income, education, age mix, projected growth, etc. 3. Ten-minute Google Maps sweep → competitor count + quick read on who looks strong vs. new vs. struggling. Then I dumped all the PDFs + the competitor list into ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity and asked each to build me a TAM → SAM → SOM for Bend specifically. TAM being a 15 mile radius around Bend, OR then working top down to SAM and SOM. Compared the three outputs, pushed back on the assumptions that felt off, iterated a bit, and landed on a blended number that felt realistic. It’s obviously not perfect but I think it’s a good “finger on the pulse”. Below link is where I ended up for our market scale and stability analysis. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-7uOiozljZFOgLiGxHH_ijPKMNH24UCPMVcM48LnRQM/edit?usp=sharing Curious what folks think. Does this feel directionally credible as a first-pass? Or is it way off?
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Reply by a searcher
from Emory University in Tucson, AZ, USA
As you move towards growth marketing, consider: 1) A 15 mile trade radius is aggressive, with most retail/services using a trade area of 3-5 miles as traffic is a considerable factor in customer habits. 2) Your existing customer database is great place to mine for understanding your trade area by zip code. With larger lists, appending carrier route can provide additional insights (vendor - Smarty.com). 4) With the zip and carrier route information, go to USPS Every Door Direct Mail's website. Using the info, you can review demographic data for the zip code or by carrier route - including household and business counts. Direct mail is underutilized and can be highly effective, especially for comebacks. 5) Placer.ai may provide additional information of value.
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Reply by a professional
from Southern Oregon University in Portland, OR, USA
Along side your poor man's research (love that btw!) there is DealStats. This has private company deal data that you can search by industry, size, and more. https://searchfunder.com/bvr Right at the top right of the Searchfunder site. Have you used DealStats before? Happy to help. DealStats is used by appraisers, litigation experts, M&A professionals, academics, PE, and more.
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