How To Save Yourself Time and Money

10 replies
Before you do anything online you need to find out what they want! It is amazing how many times I see people skipping one the most important step of online marketing.

Ask yourself this, how can you sell a product if you don't know where your audience is and if they are actually interested in it? Well technically you could but lets be honest, it isn't going to yield that good of results is it. Wouldn't it be much easier selling something to a group of people who have a problem and they want it fixed? Of course it would so why are so many people not doing it!!

Market research is boring! I get that, it can be a long tedious process which eats a lot of time but it is an essential part of marketing. By spending a few days/weeks actually finding out what your market wants could save you months/years developing a website, products etc... to a market which quite honestly, don't want your product. Then you have spent all that time developing a product when you could of quite easily found out if it would work within a couple of weeks.

But how do you find out what people want?

It's not rocket science is it...

- Forums, an absolute great source for finding out what a market wants. Take this one for an example, just look at what WSO and Services do well, thats a clear indication of what people want. Look for a recurring pattern in question, one overwhelming question which comes up in this forum is, how do I get traffic to my blog. Look at the popular posts and look at why they are so popular... There are so many ways you can figure out what a group of people want by engaging and interacting with them.

- Yahoo Groups and Questions, there are tons of Yahoo groups out there with 1000s of members which are interested in a specific subject, why not join them, interact, engage and you will find their likes and dislikes. Are their questions which are constantly popping up on yahoo answers? If there is, theres a problem, fix it!

- SEO, not even going to mention this because everyone knows about keyword research so no point in going further.

- eBay, Amazon and companies like them. They all have best sellers, they all have people selling products on them. Lets take eBay for an example, if you search tennis rackets, you can quickly see which bats are looked for more then other, this is a good place to start your research, remember not all markets are ebook markets. Magazines!! There are tons of magazines being sold on amazon, if any relate to your niche, buy them and read them!! These will tell you so much for a small small fee. Spend a little and gain a lot!

- Social media, this should of really been first! Facebook and Twitter are market research machines, not only is their groups on Facebook which work similar to a forum, you have real time problems being tweeted about everyday. Figure out how to apply that to your niche and your find lots of problems, real people want fixing.

Not only by engaging and interacting with people in your market and finding out what they like and don't like. You are building up a reputation within the niche which could quite easily be turned into an authority over time.

To conclude this post, get engaged!! Find out what people are looking for and what people want before creating it and spending a boat load of money developing it. Put in the grunt work, the crappy bits and I promise you this will yield you better results then if you went out on a whim.

You should be looking forward to these sucky times ahead
#money #save #time
  • Profile picture of the author rolough
    Most people who start a business talk about themselves. Me Me Me! What do I want? It's all about ME!

    They don't realize that it's not about YOU, but it's about your CUSTOMERS and visitors.

    Once people make this fundamental shift in thinking they might have more success.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7755034].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Heart Cardio
    It is always nice to figure out what you do want. You really should make this the first step, as if you are not sure what you want to do then you first do decide that.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7755147].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mstrmindmktg
    Great post! Thanks.

    The thing is, so many believe that if they want something then others in their field want the same, but not true. Your best marketing tool is your customer. Without them you have nothing.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7755239].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ymest
    Thanks for the reminder! Yes, you're right, most of us tend to forget because it's SUPER TEDIOUS and yet good targeted research can make such a HUGE DIFFERENCE!

    Digging in properly instead of fleeting!!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7755825].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author YouWillKnow
      Great Discussion...Thanks, Lee

      I am learning just how important it is to give in terms of valuable information and help to those who want to treat our industry as a real business and not think of it as just a way to make a quick buck.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7758659].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DonnyBoy
    [DELETED]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7758869].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Julius Minor
    The best part about discovering "problems" is most likely the "answer/solution" is right there or close by...
    Signature
    Real.. Proven.. Money Making Methods
    juliusminor.com
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7778696].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MartinPlatt
    No truer words have ever been spoken.

    I think that this is the difference between the product almost writing itself, and struggling to put it together.

    You should even gather details from those people that you find who might be interested, so that when the product is released, a certain number of sales are guaranteed.

    I think that this is the difference between success and failure.
    Signature

    Martin Platt
    martin-platt.com

    Stuck with earning commissions online? Get this get this uncensored affiliate marketing guide for free (sold as coaching for $4,997)

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7778788].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MKCookins
    It's been proven that many successful people build list in profitable niches without ever knowing what product they are going to promote!

    This is so powerful to have list of people who want to know more about a certain topic who willing trust and like you. Then and only then find a product to meet their needs and you will be making sales left and right.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7778890].message }}

Trending Topics