The Chicken or the Egg?

I think both, and neither.

You do need to have some skills, otherwise things simply aren't going to happen for you, and you do have to have a market before selling.

I think you need to have some skills if you're creating a product, and also a market. If these things come together, then you have the potential to really make it, but if one side is lacking, then no.

Both are definitely important but I would have to say marketing is more important. Crappy products are marketed well and profited off of all the time... aka the shake weight. Good products that have bad marketing will never get noticed.

I agree with finding the market first.

It is much easier to sell bad products to a good market then good products to a bad market.

I say, the skills you need to learn are the basics. Every marketer needs to learn the skills to market not a niche.

To be seeing as an expert in a niche, you only need to know 20% more then the general public. Anyone can do this in a eight hour day.

Which comes to my point, you should differently build a list first and then find/make a product for that list. Finding/making a product is the easy part. If there is anything you cant do, just out source it.

Its about finding a product people want. Not a product you think they want. Why having a list first will benefit greatly.


Justin

Market research first, then find or create a product to match.

In the market research phase you need to find a profitable niche before you determine that people are actually willing to spend money on a product.

Even in cases like this:

...you still have to do the market research just so you know that your knowledge and expertise are something worth for people to pay for.

When someone who is new starts online they are not capable of doing any of these things, I know I wasn't. What comes first are some hard lessons and failures. Adversity comes first.

After that if you can persist through then you will find that your climb to the top of the mountain can be reached by many different paths ;-)

You need both BUT you need to build a system with a sales funnel. Once you've figured out your funnel and get it to work for you, you don't care where the lead comes from.

List makes your life easier over time. Simply a click of a button and you have instant buyers - your own buyers and followers. Other, you got to constantly looking for it even if you have a brand... people just don't come to you. Lots of competition out there.

By researching the chickens you will discover which eggs they need created.


I do not think there is one correct answer though, some pharmaceuticals are created in labs, then left up to marketing to find the 'issues' they will assist with. After that, it's off to the lawyers so they can work out that long list of potential side effects.

There is only one school of thought from real marketers. Find the market first. You don't plan a wedding without a bride do you? You have to find your target first.

For me its knowledge and expertise all day.

Trying to run a site, create content, do podcast interviews, network with authorities, answer support questions and emails from buyers and do joint ventures when you know nothing about the subject matter (or infact hate it completely) isn't sustainable long term.

I have found over the years that there is literally a market for everything. So to me it comes down to how large the market is verses how I can fair against the competition. If the size of market and competition are favorable to me I'm in all the way.

I agree with several of the others here that both methods are valid to a point.

However, promoting a great product that has little or no demand will get you nowhere fast.

Good Keyword/Market Research is a MUST... BEFORE you even register a domain name, let alone create a product.

I use PPC as part of the second phase of my market research to make sure that the keyword phrases that passed my initial evaluation have real monetizable potential.

Once a niche is decided upon and the keywords are chosen I immediately start building my list. For list building I usually rewrite and brand a good quality niche relevant PLR product, or create one of my own from scratch for the giveaway. This giveaway should be of very high quality if you plan on residual sales from your list.

I often ask questions and or poll my list to find out what exactly they are seeking in my market that they haven't been able to find elsewhere (I try to determine what problem I might be able to solve for them). I've found out that by giving away additional products and info to my list I am able to coerce them into responding to my answers and polls (I make it conditional through additional opt-ins).

Now that I know what their problem is and exactly what they seek, I create the solution (the PRODUCT).

In a nutshell, It's a simply Supply and Demand. I believe that you must find out what people are searching for first, and whether that need is already being fulfilled, and if it is, how strong your competition is, and then, and only then, should you create that big ticket product.

P.S. There's alot more details to the above methods I mentioned, but I think most of you get the gist of it. It works for me!

I believe that Col Sanders pondered the same question for many years... then one day he decided: Screw it... just fry the little suckers and see if it works!

Well neither the egg nor the chicken actually came first; what came first was an egg-laying ancestor of the chicken. So perhaps there's something in that analogy for you i.e. just get your egg and bird going and see where that leads - evolution is a powerful force for change and, who knows, before very long you could have your egg-laying chicken.

Will

I prefer the turkey.

It's a simple question if you think like a CUSTOMER.

Provide the product/contact/value FIRST. The list will follow.

Seeking the market and seeking buyers isn't the same thing.

The former is research of prospects. The latter is striving to sell.

Everyone should find the market first.

I created my products without marketing research, and it was hard to find the right audience. Now that I know a lot more than I knew in the beginning of my adventures I understand this mistake.

I agree with finding the market first. It is much easier to sell bad products to a good market then good products to a bad market.

I understand this point of view because I saw how hard it has been to promote original products that I have never had to refund, while many marketers are easily selling low quality products because they are good marketers.

Ewen Chia once said that if you are a good internet marketer you can sell whatever online. The quality of the product you are trying to sell doesn’t really matter if the product is decent enough. What matters is your marketing techniques. It was quite disappointing for me to read this statement.

Wish a high quality product could easily be sold online just because it is good.

This doesn’t happen because you have to convince the public that this product really is special. Nobody believes you.

First of all you have to be able to find the people who need this product, and many other details.

In my newly established offline business, my target market is the main reason why I created such business - and succeed. Today, whether offline or online, it's hard to create a product first then market it later. A good business should not have a large inventory. Zero inventory is a perfect inventory because your money is moving and not sleeping.

I set-up 2 different offline business early this year and both are based on market condition and demand....

Normally people look for the market first and then find/create product that meets exisiting demands in this nich. But if you have great product in mind and you feel it there is a demand for it - then I'd think in which market it would fit and then research that market to find the real demand.

You must always find a market that is able to buy. Then use affiliate products first to test the market to see what they want and if they are willing to pay for it.

If you don't find any affiliate products to test with then it is not a profitable market, so look some where else.

Once you find an affiliate product that sells in that market, then create your own product, which can be very similar to the affiliate product that is selling. This way you can bring home all the profits instead of sharing with the affiliate product owner.

Keep in mind that with your own product comes addition responsibilites to support that product. But it will open other marketing possibilities, which could mean more income.

Best regards,
Steve

Either way can work, but finding a market first will probably be less work overall.

As Eben Pagan has said, once you find the market and understand it, marketing to it is very easy.

And in Frank Kern's words, it's like walking up to people and asking them what they want to eat, then making that food and selling it to them. There is no mystery involved in the sales process once you understand the desires of your market/customers. You just make what they want, and give it to them for a fee.

If you get a big list before finding a market, you will have to go to the trouble of finding out what that list is interested in buying. And if you built the list via free giveaways, it's possible that they aren't interested in buying anything!

I would tend to go with finding the product first. I see what others mean about you have to make sure you have someone to sell it to but I think that you can do a great deal of marketing once you know what your product is actually going to be.