| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Does The Market Really Want It?
At the very heart of any successful marketing strategy is the determination of what your present and prospective customers need, want, and desire. You have to find out what they want before you try to sell it to them. Never make the mistake of investing a lot of money into a product or service you want to sell before you understand how much demand really exists on the part of the customer. If you want to be successful in business you have to provide a product or service people want. You cannot create demand. All the best marketing will not be able to sell a product or service that no one wants. The advertising graveyard is filled with award-winning campaigns that did not make a dime, because there was no desire, need, or want for the product being sold. You certainly must have a quality product or service, but you first have to put your effort and money into validating that there is sufficient market interest to actually warrant rolling out your product or service. You need to test first. Conduct surveys and focus groups about your product or service. This will validate or invalidate the viability of what you are trying to sell. In order to be successful, you need to have a product or service that the marketplace is willing to buy, and a market approach that can sell the product or service at a profit. Unless you have both, don't even think about investing your time and precious capital developing a product or service. I am constantly amazed at how many people come to me who have lost thousands of dollars trying to market a product or service that they didn't test to see if anyone wanted to buy it. Always remember this rule: You don't have the right to tell the market what it will buy and at what price. The market will always tell you what it will buy and at what price. Always test first. The market will never lie to you. If you have an idea for a product or service you must know everything you possibly can before developing it. Here are a few research ideas to help you get started. * Go to the library and check the periodicals. Pull up every related article and story from the past week, month, year, and even five years that is related to your idea. * Research the internet about your idea and your competition as well. * Go to a shopping mall and ask the management if they have a facility you can rent for conducting a focus group. Most malls have them for a small fee. Ask passing shoppers whether they'd like to participate. If you tell them they will be compensated for their time, you'll get people to participate. All contents Copyright(c)2005 Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. A former ad agency executive and marketing consultant, Joe's work in personal development focuses on helping his clients identify hidden marketable assets that create windfall opportunities and profits, as well as sound personal happiness and peace. Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com Read more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com/
MORE RESOURCES:
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Create a Blueprint for Your Success Having a strong foundation enables you to build a thriving, profitable life and business. A simple method to create this foundation is with Discovery, Vision, Planning and Benchmarking, the four cornerstones of your life as well as your business. What Our CAT Taught Me About Marketing! Toby is one of our two family pets (both cats). He is quite astute, and he has learned one of the most basic tenets of selling - stick with what works!Many of Toby's days are spent perched on the top of my monitor as I work here on my computer. Ten Tips for Creating a Winning Proposal - Part 2 Part 1 of this series described five critical components for creating a winning proposal. In some instances, these components are all a prospective client needs to make a determination and award the job. Effective Use of Promotional Products and Ad Specialties 1. Determine the goals of your promotional products program. How to Turn More Referrals Into Paying Clients 60% of all small business owners, sales and solo-professionals claim that more than half of their new business comes from referrals. Yet when asked about the process they so successfully use to get those referrals and turn them into paying clients, most will have a puzzled, deer-in-the-headlights, stupefied look on their face, and keep quiet. Marketing Discipline and the Joy of Success Discipline Is Important.I recently read an article about why discipline is important to a marketer. Five New 5 Ps! NO! When I say "5 P's", I'm not talking about the big 5 P's of marketing everyone's familiar with.Here I'm NOT referring to Product, Price, Place, Promotion and Package!But I'm talking about the FRESHEST 5 P's I believe will be extra useful for your websites and newsletters. Marketing Lessons From TV's The Apprentice Can we actually learn a marketing lesson from reality TV? In the case of Donald Trump's "The Apprentice" I'd say we can.Advertising and marketing are creative disciplines. Marketing Through Associations 2004 Jeffrey DobkinIf you're in direct marketing, you're continually looking for new list sources - everybody's tired of mailing to the same lists. If you're not in direct marketing and thinking about putting a mailing together, here's something a little different: take a look at marketing through associations. A Complaint? It's a Compliment! - 7 Tips for Dealing with Complaints at Trade Shows A Complaint? It's a Compliment!What made you mad last week?In the past week, how many times were you upset by something? What action did you take? Complain to the neighbors, make a snide remark to a co-worker, post it on a list or email a group? Did you just gossip or did you try to make it into a positive experience? They say we complain to ten people for every one compliment about a product or service.Did you call the manager of the company, write the company president, email a suggestion for improvement? Probably not. Refresh Your Web Site So you have a Web site. And so does most every business these days. 5 Ways to Give Your Web Site a Big-Company Look and Feel We all DO judge a book by its cover, and the same saying goes for Web sites. I've seen many entrepreneurs offer great information on their Web pages, but compromise their image dramatically with a few amateur mistakes that can be VERY unforgiving. Finding Your Niche: What Do You Want To Be Known For? In my experience, there are two kinds of small business owners: one that knows whom their market niche is and utilize it, and another who tends to waiver or not want to "set in stone" their target market. With the latter group, I always probe for more information: Why don't you want to choose a specific target for your product/service? Time and time again, the response is the same "I don't want to limit my profits by only catering to a few. Be a Smarter Marketer - Learn the L-A-W for Trade Shows People attend trade shows because they are in a specific industry and want to learn more. They want to know what's new and how you will help them. Tricks of the Trade: Design your Booth for Maximum Impact The fight for your customer's attention at a tradeshow has never been so intense. Budget cutbacks in the travel sector means that buyers spend less time than ever at shows. Up Your Income Next Week: 13 Ways to Have a Sale Nothing gets people buying products or programs like a special promotion in your e-zine. Now, I know right now you're thinking, "I can't have a sale on my products or services. 10 Important Steps to Mail Order Success There are a number of difficulties a beginning entrepreneur may encounter that can "torpedo" his business almost before he knows it. But the wise mail order dealer can sidestep some of the pitfalls of operating his own business by recognizing and avoiding the following common mistakes. How to Put the Profit Producing Power of Couponing to Work for You Coupons have proven themselves to be highly effective sales tools for every conceivable size and type of business.Because coupons "pull in the business" they have gained remarkable acceptance and popularity among astute marketing managers. Dont Use Yourself as Your Pricing Yardstick "I wouldn't pay more than what I charge now."If you are not a member of your target market, toss this thought about your own preferences out the window this very minute. Client Attraction Technique #3: Study the Competition! One very powerful and cost-effective marketing strategy is to study the competition. This is an important exercise, as essentially it allows you to find out as much as possible about the opposition - how best they operate, what they lack and then how to capitalise on it!Study the Competition OfflineStart by reviewing the Yellow Pages, the Thomson Local or even go online to determine what you're up against locally (and if applicable nationally).
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
