Have you ever stopped and asked yourself this simple question?
We see it time and again. Excited fledgling business owners with a “fantastic idea” for a product or a service extremely disappointed when potential customers or prospects are not as enthusiastic about it as they are.
Often, the first and most critical step in starting a business is the one which is overlooked.
We are talking here about market research.
We have seen, firsthand new business owners dash out into the world, buying stock, leasing shop or office space, having expensive business cards printed and logos designed before they determine that a need even exists in the market for what they have to offer.
Incidentally, this is a type of brand marketing which is a complete waste of time and resources unless you have already experienced the sales to establish your brand, and you are protecting your territory. When you are starting out, aim for response, not recognition, it does not pay the bills.
Brand awareness always follows sales.
This is a costly and soul destroying mistake to make.
You see, you cannot create a need. It either exists, or it doesn’t. It is fortunately pretty simple.
And when you decide to use search engines to market your business, it is extremely easy and relatively quick to complete research into your niche. And better yet, thanks to tools like Google’s keyword research tools, it is also FREE.
The Google Free Keywords Tool make market research easy
The entire process comes back to being able to identify what need your product or service meets, or what problems or challenges it solves.
* Are there a group of people who are experiencing this problem or challenge now?
* Are they online searching for information about it now?
* Are they searching with a moderate to high level of urgency?
These are three questions you must have clear in your mind before you get started in your business. Remember, all business is about problem solving in one way or another. People don’t buy products because they want more stuff.
People buy products because they want the benefits the product or service will deliver them.
People make buying decisions on the basis of the benefits it will deliver them
So when you go to do your research, think about the people in your niche. What are their problems, challenges or frustrations? What is the language they use to describe this? Remember that the words you will be wanting to tap into in all of your marketing are the “money” keywords that people in your niche are typing into the search engines.
Also remember that the longer and more descriptive keyword phrases that people are searching on, the closer they are to a buying decision. These are the people you want to target.
For example…”childrens swimwear” is OK but far too broad…”childrens sunsafe swimwear” is better…”childrens UV protection Tuga swimwear” is excellent. The person who types in those keywords has a very specific set of buying criteria and is much closer to a buying decision than the person who typed in “childrens swimwear”.
So before you outlay a great deal of money, and commit yourself to a specific product or service, determine that there are enough people out there who actually want it first.
