The Chicken or the Egg.... Product or Audience Selection First...

In my opinion, the most important thing in marketing is the answer to the question, "Where EXACTLY will you find your potential customers"?


You can think about developing a product, but I wouldn't actually create one until the question above can be answered.

How about this one.

Why not find a product that already has an audience? Two birds, one stone.

Now you simply use advertising to build a list for that audience and sell the product to your list.

If you want to create your own products that's fine (though I'm one of those super lazy affiliate marketers myself). Find a product with an audience, buy it, then make it much better and sell that.

In other words this doesn't have to be an either/or kind of thing ... it can be a "both/and" kind of thing.

Make sense?

Honestly, there is no way to answer your question because I don't know you personally or your skill set. So I'll make an argument for both-

Consumer first- The first thing I do when I think of a new website idea is to check the competition. Part of my process is to actually read all of their main pages and ask myself, "How well are they communicating to their customers?" During that process, I am not only finding out who their ideal customer is but also how well their need is met...and if the sites I find are great then I'll abandon the idea completely. Because there are too many easy income streams to take on a brand doing something very well already.

Product First- Honestly, you should always research the consumer first UNLESS you plan on using someone else's funnel. For example, one of my more recent clients was heavy in the dating niche and I noticed that their list was very fresh and converted like mad. So I asked myself, what would that audience appreciate? And I developed a product to plug right into it.

Now, that example actually supports finding the consumer first, but there are thousands of companies out there that focus solely on marketing to certain demographics. So you can design a product for almost anything, find the right marketer, and then set them loose with your product without putting in any real effort at all. You'll lose about 50% of your income that way but hey...it's a very fair trade off.

I'd look to see what products people need. Doing that means you know the audience and you know what they need. Of course you can try and create a product and then think of the market, but that is much more riskier. The benefit of that is the more risk, the more reward. However, you will see that people generally don't like to get too far outside of the box. Most products and services available today are never truly originally, as they simply follow the "make a better wheel" approach.

If you create the product first then you need to also create the market for it. You need to create the need and perhaps make people realise that they need your product.

Far smarter to find a group that have a need and fill it.

It's easy to sell food to the hungry or water to the thirsty and for a much higher price.

Just my 2 cents

ODA

1) Find a painful problem or burning desired to a large enough audience that hasnt been covered by a competitor, or at least not perfectly or easily to use.

2) create a solution

3) frame your offer. You gotta make your marketing case compelling

4) find the audience and launch

5) systemiza and automatize your funnel

6) rinse and repeat

In many ways, choosing an audience first is best. There is a better chance of coming up with more products that way.

Here is some food for thought, from a mentor I had, Joe Karbo, a great guy and an able marketer. He called it the Transaction.

It goes something like this:

Start with; HOW does your customer get his money into your hands? What does the exchange, the TRANSACTION look like?

Example. I have a golf program. If someone wants it, they buy via paypal and are taken to download/thank you page. Then it implies I need a product to download, and a web site, and before that a promotion, and a promotion needs eyeballs, then the right kind of eyeballs.

It is basically backward chaining from the transaction to the product creation/acquisition point. See?

Golf is a huge market, I could find someone with a large list and create a product just for his list. OR, I could research via SRDS, NextMark, etc., about existing buyers and then create or acquire a product that way.

When you START at the end and follow the process back to the beginning, it makes marketing much simpler. The critical point in the process is the INTERSECTION where your promotion meets your qualified prospect.

FOCUS on just that one critical process, and master it, the rest becomes "rinse and repeat".

gjabiz

If your goal is to bank... than #1

If you want to give yourself and enjoy sharing your knowledge more than $$$ than #2

Nicole (:

Does it really matter?

Corporates try to define a product to address a perceived market need.

Inventors will develop an idea because it appeals to them. They are the true entrepreneurs and visionaries, but they don't always make a success out of it (ditto corporates, of course!).

I'd find forums in my niche and talk to people and see where their frustrations lie, then create the product based on that audience if the demand is high enough.

Dear David Burnett,
I feel very happy to read your title for this post " The Chicken or the Egg..." As you ask your question that for design a product or find audience first! in both cases you must have some research work.

I would like to say that when you have an idea for your product that it must take some time to design so that time you can utilize to find out your target audience. In short first you must have an idea for your product and in creation time you will be able to find out your target audience as there is a vide market of potential buyers what ever product you have with you. Just need to find them. I hope that you will get my point. You must design your product first as you have a open market for it and no matter of potential buyers for that as there is really a vide market available depends on your searching that how you find and market your product.

Thanks.
Mukhtiar Ali Khan

If you sell something you know about and like the whole thing is automatic, or it should be. Let's say you're really into snow globes. You have hundreds of them. It would be impossible to not know what other snow globe enthusiasts are all about. You have the same passion as they do. That means you've got the pulse of your market. And since you know all about the product itself, you've got that covered as well.

Put anything you know a lot about or even have a passion for in the place of snow globes and you're more than half way to being successful because you know the product and the market inside out.

Audience.

You can always create a product... But you can never create DEMAND.

At best, you can only re-direct it.

Well, I would say make a product that serves the need of many!
To make good money you create a product for people who:

1. Want to look beautiful, especially the ladies
2. Make more money, With the economic recessions,
more people are looking for way's at the internet.
3. To become thinner, Fitness industry of course (Burn those calories)
4. To become more healthy, of what you eat, your lifestyle.
5. Evergreen products like Energy company, satellite tv
6. Personal development to create a wealthy mindset.
7. Dating service, like how to get your ex back / how to attract your soul-mate.

So yeah, start with a evergreen product with a BIG targeted group of people.
Can't go wrong here.....

This is what I was wondering I have been looking into product creation for a while I decided on IM because I think I could help people most in this niche and I have studied it the most. The pros to designing your product around an audience is that you know your going to have sales if you keep them informed have their input etc. the negative is finding that audience. However this is the best to go with because if you create a product that no one wants you wont make many sales. Its best to know your audience first.

If you are passionate about something and know there is a market I would start there. It is easier to write the content when you personally know it. Just do it.

Beyond that there are obviously certain topics that provide a huge marketplace, health nutrition weight loss, self-help, MMO, IM etc that provide ongoing avenues to get in front of people.

Creating the product is where most people get stuck. Go after it and create it...then worry about where to market.

A huge CON to building your audience first...will you be ready for them??? If you don't have a product in place to offer them, what are they supposed to do, just wait? You will lose a bunch of followers that way...I know this from one of my many personal learning experiences in the past! lol Your audience starts to grow really quick and you begin spinning your wheels in a panic to try and fulfill their wants....it's a scary feeling.

You don't need to reinivent the wheel. Market products and services that people ALREADY have a want and need for.

Kurt makes a good point. The real question you have to ask yourself is where are you going to find customers (once you pick your market) and do you have the time,money and resources to acquire them.

Always Audience first, no make any sense to create a product if you don't have an audience.

Hi David, glad that you're coming closer to an answer for yourself. I think it's always good to find the demand or the audience and then meet it. Seems like you're doing half and half. I wish you the best of luck. Don't think about it for too long though. Just get it out there. There will always be somebody out there that will say "I'm so glad somebody came out with this product". Those are your best customers...

There is only one logical answer here..

Find A Audience First, Then Solve A Problem with your product..

The other way doesn't work!!!!!