Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Another important source of industry and company information are trade, professional, and industry associations.
They advocate interest of an industry or professional group and may collect data and statistics, including industry surveys.
They also publish trade newsletters, magazines or journals, and produce reports including white papers and member directories.
In some cases the information is for members only, but you maybe able to access a lot of free content and identify industry experts without being a member.
It’s pretty easy to find a trade association.
You can do it by searching the web for your industry name and trade association keyword.
Or you can find them in the additional resources section of the industry reports.
Another useful resource is the Encyclopedia of Associations in the Gale Directory Library, a UTSA online subscription database.
It’s a comprehensive directory for national, local and international trade, industry and professional associations.
To view all the directories available in this library, click View All.
Let’s do a Basic Search and enter "soft drinks" as the keyword.
You may also search for words in the Entity Name or Subject.
This search retrieves every record that mentions "soft drinks."
If you want to narrow your search, try the Advanced Search.
Select a directory, or hold down the control key to access several directories at once.
Don’t assume that a database search engine works like Google and automatically includes variations of a keyword.
Each search will produce a different number of results, so you may need to try both.
Once you've found what you need, you may export a list of trade associations to Excel by clicking the checkbox to the left of each entry you want to export and clicking the Export List link at the top.
Now enter your email address, click Send, and the Excel spreadsheet will be emailed to you.
Here is an example of a Trade Association website.
Beverage World is an industry website and magazine which helps stay on top of the latest issues and trends.
You can read about the newest ingredients and technology, as well as learn who the players are in the industry.
It is intended for beverage producers, distributors, and retailers.
Pretty much every industry has at least one publication similar to this one so identifying those trade publications is an important step in your industry research.