Isn't it "market research" to find those people and ask what they need? Isn't it "selling" to convince them that building this thing will be worth paying your freelancer's rate?
Usually someone refers those people to me and they just tell me what they want and I tell them the price and they agree or go elsewhere or give their price which I accept or not. As I said, no market research and almost no selling involved.
I'm not saying it's perfect but that a viable alternative to job that employers have to learn to compete with if they want to get programmers they need.
