market research – 8 strategies for getting it right, quickly

Market Research

8 Strategies for Getting it

Right, Quickly

Christopher Ryan, CEO

Companies often launch their products into new channels, with fresh messaging, pricing, etc. The question is: How do you validate your concept before formally announcing it to the

world.

You need to know the following

before launching into the

new channel:

Make sure your CHANCES for revenue and

profit are HIGH… BEFORE making a

larger COMMITMEN

T

• Details of the offering

• Most appropriate keywords

• Potential size of the market

• Best target segments

• Pricing options

Traditional market research

-focus groups-telephone surveys-online surveys-code analysis

-instructive-not always very precise-don’t answer the real question: “Will people/companies spend money on a key particular offer, and how much?

Market research is

based on the theoretical (e.g. would

you buy this) and not the

practical (sign the contract).

My experience with market research reveals this:

After being involved with hundreds of product launches in my career…

…I can find no correlation between the amount of time and money spent on pre-launch research and the degree of success enjoyed by the product.

– some backed by heavy market research and others thrown into the market based on little more than gut instinct –

Get the ego out of the process

85%

of new consumer product launches

failSource: product.com

Products often flounder because managers become too ego-involved with pet products and overestimate their chance of success.

Minimize your costs and maximize your speed to market

You can do a lot of research, and still get it wrong: the market shifts, a competitor outflanks you, the economy crashes, etc.

Here are 8 ways for how to best validate your idea before launch:

1. Ask people who are selling something similar

Your direct competitors will probably not talk to you, but those with complementary products or who

are in non-competing geographies may give you great information.

2. Query people at the right sites

Query people at community share sites like Quora.com or

Reddit.com. These are open business forums where people answer

questions and provide input on subjects of interest.

3. Crowdfund your idea

This is more of a long shot, but there have been notable success

stories of companies launching (and pre-selling) products before they were

ready for market.

4. Take advance orders

What a great way to validate your product – offer it for a discount for pre-ordering. This is definitely a confidence

builder for both product manager and CFO.

5. Run test ads

Run test ads (e.g. pay-per-click). More companies than you realize actually run

ads before the product is available. There are ways to do this without offending

potential customers.

6. Talk with people who bought the other guy’s product

Talk with people who bought a competitive product or service. While you may not have a short-term sales opportunity

with these people, their opinions are valid since they actually made a transaction.

7. Check out Amazon®

Check out which books people are buying on Amazon that are related to your business area. This will give you a good idea of what the current hot buttons are and perhaps provide you with some

messaging strategies.

8. Do online keyword analysis

Do online keyword analysis to determine what terms people search on to find a similar product or service. Look at your

competitors’ — as well as your own — notions of the motivating benefits and/or pain points.

Don’t forget Linkedin®

Useful for:

• target segment sizing • product validation • message testing

About Fusion Marketing Partners

Christopher Ryan, CEO

We Do This: Brand building/messaging Website optimization Content creation Lead Generation

You Get This: Much greater levels of awareness Higher quantities of qualified leads Ability to generate faster revenue

Lots more information at: http://FusionMarketingPartners.com/http://Greatb2BMarketing.com

(blog)

info@fusionmarketingpartners.com

719-357-6280