Top 25 Success Secrets – Market Research

Posted by Steven Wagenheim on October 10, 2010 in General, Marketing Articles

In the last installment of Top 25 Success Secrets, I went over getting customer feedback, which is essential to do if you’re going to have any idea of whether or not your products are any good or even if people want them. If you haven’t read that article, I suggest, after reading this one, that you go back and read it then. I know you’re going to get a lot out of it.

In this installment, we’re going to cover another topic that many people who run a home business drop the ball on…market research. This should be the first thing you do before you even THINK of starting a business or marketing campaign. This article explains.

Okay, first of all, what exactly IS market research? A lot of people really don’t have a clue. So let’s get that much out of the way.

Market research is going out in the world to gather an analyze information about the moving of goods and/or services from producer to consumer. In other words, you want to find out who wants what and what’s the best and most efficient way of getting that whatever to the public.

Probably the best way to illustrate this is with an example…one where the producer really dropped the ball.

Let’s take New Coke. I’m talking about the New Coke from way back in the 80s. Remember it? Coke came out with it THINKING that people were going to buy it because it tasted more like Pepsi. They wanted to steal that market share that Pepsi had by creating a soft drink that could compete with Pepsi on their own terms.

The problem was, and this is where Coke dropped the ball, the people who drank Coke did so because they didn’t like Pepsi. And the last thing they wanted was a soft drink that TASTED like Pepsi. The people that DID drink Pepsi weren’t going to switch to Coke anyway. As a result, New Coke was a total disaster.

I can’t stress this enough. If you’re going to run a home business or some kind of marketing campaign, before you even create your product, you MUST find out if people want it and if so, HOW they want it? Who is your target market? Is it teens, adults, men, women, certain ethnic groups, or whoever?

Not doing market research is marketing in a bubble and marketing blind. You’re essentially taking pot shots at your market and guessing as to what they may or may not want.

Does market research take a lot of time? Yes, it does. Depending on your target market or potential target markets, it could take weeks or even months. And this is why home business owners don’t want to do it, because it’s too time consuming.

Well, guess who ends up succeeding more than not? You got it…the ones who do market research.

So, you can take the easy and short path and take your shots in the dark, OR you can do your market research and have a decent chance of actually having some success.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Looking for a solid 4 step plan to building your own business…FREE? Pick up my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/4steps.html and get started TODAY!