When starting your online business there are many things you probably thought about, what you wanted to do, how much money you wanted to make, how many hours you hoped to work, or hoped to have for "free" time, but have you or did you think about market research?
WHO you are targeting with your business makes a huge difference. In order to truly be successful with your business you must know as much as possible about WHO you are targeting, WHAT their needs are, HOW much they are willing to spend, HOW they like to communicate, and HOW they like to take in information. All of this is known as "market research". Without researching your target market you are going to be left at a significant disadvantage.
After all, it is highly likely that your competition did their research. This is another thing you must consider when you're researching the market that you hope to be successful in, your competition. How much is out there, how successful are they, and how competitive can you be?
You can learn a great deal about your market from your competitors, so that is definitely a good place to begin.
Doing your market research can help you to do the following:
- Determine your unique approach.
- Set your short term and long term goals.
- Create and plan your marketing activities.
You might ask yourself the following questions:
- Who are my customers?
- How can I reach those customers?
- What are my customer's needs?
- Can I compete with the competition?
- Can my target customer afford my product?
These ideas and questions are just a starting point. Want to learn more?
Attend back to back ustream shows on market research and list building. Starting at 9 pm EST/ 6 pm PST watch James Wedmore and the guys of Reality Mastermind talk all about market research. These guys can make even a boring subject like market research entertaining! Then right after their show stay tuned for my show on list building where I’ll show you how to create a web page to effectively grow your list. Tune in on Thursday April 9th at RealityMastermind.tv. See you on Thursday! And if you have specific questions you want answered just ask away by leaving a comment.
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