EP30: [Marketing 101] How to Find Customer Wants?

Do you have an idea for a product, service, or training that you know EVERYONE will want?

You may be right, however…

That is the wrong way to sell things whether online, offline, or any other way.

Most people hate being sold to.

They prefer to think they FOUND the solution to their woes on their own. Things that help them overcome pain, struggles, and heartache.

Sure, if you already have a relationship with them, you can suggest things that you think will help, because you already know their needs.

But if you’re just starting, you need to FIRST find out what people want.

Even if you already have an idea for a product that you believe will help your niche…

…You’re not sure.

So, before you start the long process of creating a product just to find out you missed the mark, and no one wants it, let’s explore how best to get started.

There are a few ways to find the wants of your customer base.

Number 1

Ask Them.

That sounds simple, but if it were EVERYBODY would be doing it. And they're NOT. So NO! It ain’t simple.

If they are already customers

Send them an email, detailing what you want to do. Be straight up with them. You’re looking for interest. Ask them to raise their hands to let you know if this [your idea for a product or solution] is something they would find useful and want to purchase.

Straight up…

This is not something new. People [marketers] online do this all the time. They are constantly selling products, training, and courses BEFORE they even start the project. If they cannot generate enough interest they simply move on to another idea and not a lot of effort was wasted.

If there was interest and it sold in enough quantities to make it worthwhile, then they proceed with developing and delivering the item.

Now for everyone else who does NOT know you

You can do this with a FB post, simply relate your idea to the audience, maybe even asking a question and waiting for comments. If there is interest, you should get comments. Follow up with the interest. Good or bad, it will help you define, or refine your ideas.

Or

Create a video asking your channel of subscribers a question and await comments.

Not only with YouTube, but also you can use a VSL on a landing page, a blog post, or a video FB Ad.

Or

On Twitter you can ask multiple-choice polls, looking for a response.

I hope you can see that there is a lot of ways to skin this cat?!

Number 2

Search for information online.

NOTE: There are a LOT of ways to search online to gather information. With limited time on the podcast, below is the abbreviated version. As the Podcast matures, it will include multiple ways for you to reach out in you understanding of your customers' needs and wants. - Keep coming back!

Here you’re trying to find what people are already searching for. It is through their search queries we can better find interest.

You can use Google Search and YouTube search specifically asking “wants” or “how” questions.

Such as “what is the best way to make money doing __________?”

Or

“How can I ________ to get _________?”

The thing is this. We ALL know how to ask questions, right?

The important thing is to ask the right people those questions.

If you ask people randomly (like most untrained marketers) you will get a mixed response that could confuse you and skew your effort.

Instead, you need to be asking only the people that you WANT to serve and help.

This is important.

The marketing world at large is looking to get in front of everyone online.

To differentiate ourselves, we want to discourage (or repel) people we do NOT want to work with and attract (or pull) the people we do want to work with.

I know that is not what Guru’s teach.

They want you to reach as many as possible.

The problem is that we cannot serve everyone. We cannot.

But if [imagine this] we can somehow get in front of people who would appreciate our service or product and would be willing to pay for it, now we have a better than normal chance of getting them to be clients.

If you had to pay FB or Google for Ads, wouldn’t you rather be in front of people that would want what your offering?

Isn’t that better than being in front of everyone, and getting a lot of clicks, you paid for, only later they leave once they know it is not what they were looking for because you were entirely too vague?

As mentioned before, you only want to serve your people. They are the ones you NEED to ask questions of because your product or service needs to be verified.

Is this item/story/product/course something they understand?

Do they even need it?

Will they stop what they are doing and purchase it?

Would YOU?

Which leads to…

Number 3

Advertising

Through one of the largest social advertising mediums around, you can quickly do sophisticated research that will provide you with real-world answers.

With FB Ads, you can target your niche precisely. If you’re not quite sure who your niche is exactly, you can let FB’s algorithm do some of the heavy lifting. Instead of advertising to a super small niche, open up your options a bit [not too much though] and see what bites. [You'll be surprised HOW MUCH Facebook actually knows about our individual actions, likes, and dislikes. They know who your market is, you just need to just give them an idea.]

An example:

If you’re just starting in the online marketing field, you may want to know if other people need help getting started online as well.

You have already had to go through the struggle of learning how to market online yourself. [Done!]

So, you know a few things, they have yet to learn. [Help me please!]

You have overcome many struggles they could avoid. [Done!]

You know which tools help and which ones are a waste of money. [Done!]

So, yes, you can help a lot of people get started.

You just need to find them.

If I were creating a FB Ad, I would make it a long-form ad. Somewhere around 800 words. In the content, I would be describing the struggles of being online, and how the online universe is diverse.

I would let them know I had to live through the struggles as well. Many of those struggles they may be experiencing at this time. [Believe me, they are experiencing struggles]

I would help them see that there is a silver lining and they can get there as well.

The entire Ad would skillfully take them on a journey, a story-inspired journey, that will invoke feelings they understand ALL too well. It would open a loop and leave them hanging, wanting an answer that closes the loop, giving them relief.

I would not complicate it. I would just simply ask them to raise their hand, to let me know they would be interested in the solution.

Maybe ask them to email me their response. [There are a lot of ways to do this. Keeping it simple is the best.]

This gets them to do something.

They are initiating contact.

They feel less vulnerable.

In the long run, this makes them more valuable because of it.

You can then communicate with them and ask other questions if you needed to do that.

. .

Sure there are many other ways to find our customers and learn our future customers' wants.

Those will be delivered throughout other podcasts as we continue on this adventure.

Be safe, and I’ll see you next week.

If you think you know of some improvements that could be made, let me know. Click on the link here.

Keep coming back for more great content next week.

Take care and be well.

James "Keeping it Simple" Brown