Starting a new project can certainly feel daunting, especially when you don't feel you have the right tools or budget. But there's good news: When you have to be scrappy, there's data all around you.
Step 1: Wrap your head around the problem as best as you can
Whether it's bringing a new product or feature to market or developing a new marketing campaign, I like to start with an unbiased hunt for existing information because it may trigger ideas you wouldn't have if you defined scope too early.
To best wrap your head around a market, audience, or category, start with desktop research. There are often market reports available (e.g., from Mintel and NPD), and though the free versions will have limited information, they're often enough to start painting a picture. Do deep dives on social media to see what the conversation is like. Interview the key stakeholders on your team to unpack institutional knowledge from past launches. Dive into what competitors are doing and how they're marketing their products (e.g., MOAT and Facebook Ad Library should help give you a sense).
Step 2: Synthesize everything you found
Now take that disparate information and look for patterns. Is there something people on social wanted to see from the company that doesn't exist yet? Do the market reports speculate on growth in a certain area? Were you able to get a sense of the main competitive value props?
If you see something come up with enough frequency, you can start to see it as a more reliable insight to build your GTM strategy off of.
Step 3: Fine tune your objective to find gaps
Once you feel you have a general landscape, fine tune your objective. Are you introducing a new feature and want to make sure it's something people actually want? Are you trying a new value prop? Are you trying to improve retention on an existing product?
Let's say your goal is reducing churn on an existing product but you don't have a sense of why people are abandoning your product. Reach out to your customer support team for complaints or tickets and look for patterns there.
Step 4: Create more data where you need it
With all that in mind, you've gotten pretty far in your understanding of a market without spending a dime. Now ask yourself what you need to set your work up for success and how you might create that data. Identifying the risks of launching without certain information could give you an opportunity to ask management for increased budget. If not, ask your customer support and legal team if you can reach out to customers and offer to call them for feedback. Run focus groups and brainstorms internally (it's imperfect because it's biased, but it may help you gut check things).
Then go forth and test!