The Internet offers a wealth of information about your target market. You can learn who they are, what they like, how they see themselves, what they fear, and best of all, what they want. In the past, marketing firms paid thousands for this information, but you can get it all for free if you just know where to look.
Online Forums
Internet forums are a great place to learn about ‘your people.’ Whatever niche you’re in, you should be frequenting a few online forums. Even if you’re not there actively promoting your business, they’re great places to just listen in on the conversation. If you’re clever about it, you can get a good discussion going on a forum and learn everything you want to know.
If you come right out and say, ‘I’m a marketer and I’d like to know what you think about….,’ you’ll put them on the spot. But you can start a discussion by saying, ‘I just bought this product and I’m not really happy with it, I think they should make this kind of improvement. What do you guys think?’ You’ll get everybody’s 2 cents about what they’re looking for in the product.
Social Media
Social media is an absolute goldmine of info about your fans and customers. Let’s take Facebook as an example. You can look at your fans’ profiles to learn demographic information about them as well as what other things they like. You’ll see which groups they belong to and what other brands they follow.
Read their posts, updates and shares, and you can get an idea directly of what they think about things. Same as with online forums, you can get a discussion going by asking questions or running surveys.
Online Merchants
I’ve always found online merchants helpful for pricing my products. Take EBay, for example. You can look at the same or similar products and see how much they’ve sold for. You can get a realistic range that shows what your target market is willing to pay for your products. This is a great bit of marketing research that helps you put the right price on what you’re selling.
Affiliate Networks
Affiliate networks like ClickBank and Commission Junction are also great for getting ideas about pricing and a whole bunch of other stuff. If I’m getting ready to launch a new info product, I’ll have a look at these marketplaces to see a few things. First, I’ll look to see if a similar product is out there. I’ll try to put a unique twist on mine. But in terms of market research, you can see how many people are buying and at what price. You can also get data on what people are searching for.
When you’re doing market research, approach it like a science. Never assume you know anything about your market. Always look for hard data. No matter how killer you think your product is, you’ve got to make sure your customers want it.
Tony
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