“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.” – Buddha
We’ve all been there.
You finally had your aha moment and you’re ready to take your big idea and make something out of it. You can’t wait to get started, creating prototypes, writing copy, building a website, designing your logo but are you jumping the gun?
Does your big idea really have legs?
Does it have a place on the shelf – virtual or otherwise?
Will people actually buy it?
You have a lot of questions to answer before you invest your time, resources, money and energy into going down a road that might lead to heartbreak. It’s best to take a moment – now – to figure out if there is really a market for your product or service.
Consider market research your first most important “investment” into making your dreams a reality.
Here are 9 steps to take to determine if there’s a market for your product
1. Research. Research. Then Research Some More
It has never been easier to do the necessary research to see if there is a market for your product. Google is clearly the first tool. Start a keyword search and find out what comes up. If there are others doing what you’re doing, that’s a good thing! Sounds elementary? It’s not. You can learn a ton about your market by just doing a simple key word search and seeing what comes up.
Read up on the market itself. There are plenty of reports that are published on industries such as e-Learning, wearable technology, specialty food items, and so on. Read the reports!
If you need help with research – hire someone on Fivver or through Upwork to do some quality market research for you. You’d be surprised how much they can uncover for you.
2. And Yes, Continue Researching
Set up some Google news alerts on your industry and competitors and see how they’re preforming, how they connect with their audience and how much they typically sell (and how much and often they discount) their product or service. Also sign up to their newsletters and follow them on social media. Research doesn’t stop at the beginning – continue to keep these alerts alive because you’ll learn a ton from paying attention to how other companies behave.
3. Ask Your Perfect Client
Let’s get one thing straight, your mom, BFF, or spouse is typically not your ideal customer so don’t delude yourself by asking them if they think your idea will fly. They love you and will nod their head affirmatively even if they don’t understand a word you’re saying. Most likely they won’t be your ideal customer anyway – so go ask the right people.
I can hear the question now, “But how do I get in front of my perfect customer.” If you have an audience via your your email list or social media begin to share your idea. (Don’t worry – no one will steal it and if they do, then you know you have a great idea and you’ll just have to work a bit harder to differentiate yourself.) Survey your tribe, get feedback, ask questions, listen closely. You can also poke around Facebook groups, Quora or other forums and ask questions and get feedback. If your audience (the audience that your product/service is targeted to) doesn’t respond favorably, it’s worth taking a harder look at what you’re planning to create. You may not need to give up just yet but you may need to refine your idea, refine your idea customer or tweak the offering.
If you’ve done the work to figure out your ideal customer, you may recognize that you know someone who fits that profile. If so, ask them out to coffee/tea and have a candid conversation with them about your idea.
4. Talk With Competitors
Contact your potential competitors to chat about the market. Be upfront with your intentions of course when you reach out. Find out how well they’re doing and what hurdles they’ve had to overcome. Ask them what advice they would give to someone just entering this market. You may have competing products but you may be serving a different market. It is always worth reaching out to connect because you never know where it might lead in terms of joint projects and potential collaboration opportunities.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea._ – Buddha.]()
5. Does It Solve a Real Problem
Yes, you can say that Twitter didn’t really “solve a problem” but these types of companies are really the exception – they’re creating whole new technologies and ways of behaving and thinking. But for most businesses it is important to ask if you’re solving a real problem for your ideal market. Is this problem being solved in another way? Is it adequately being solved by another product/service? Is it a problem that people know they have or one that may take a lot of persuading for them to realize it’s a problem. Are you providing an obvious solution or a unique and creative one?
6. Do the Math
You may have a great idea and you have people willing to buy your product or service, but is there money in this idea? Sit down and figure out how much you’re looking at to get started (website, prototypes, designers, systems, etc) and then figure out how much you have to sell to at least break even.
If you discover that you have to sell 1,000 of your special one-of-a-kind dark chocolate covered dried banana packs every month, is that in line with what you projected? Will that bring in enough money and can you deliver on it? You don’t have to get super specific right now (unless you love the numbers!) but sitting down with pencil, paper and calculator, old school style, can really prepare you for a dose of “for-reals-ville”.
7. Test It Out
You can run Google or Facebook ads and drive people to a landing page that shares with them what is potentially coming soon. See how it’s received. Test out a variety of ideas (and copy) while also collecting great data and emails to potential customers down the road. Share with them that you’re in development and hoping to develop it with input from the community. People love to be involved in the creation of things so this can serve multiple purposes.
8. Are You In It the Long Haul
This is really a personal question for you. Can you see yourself doing this (or some iteration of your idea) for 3 years, 5 years, 15 years? Do you love the idea enough to work on it without any accolades, no raving fans, and no income for the first 18 months? Does the building of this company work with the lifestyle you see for yourself? Are you a mom of two little ones who wants to start a particular type of company that requires 18 hour work days outside the home? Are you ok with that?
Are you wanderlust who wants to start a venture that requires you to be in one place for a set period of time each week, month or year. Will that make you happy or insane? And can you sustain the energy and patience that is needed to build something great knowing that very very few companies (if truly any) become overnight successes?
9. Crowdfund it baby!
Many people and companies are testing products through crowdfunding these days. It’s a great way to not only test if your product has legs but also shows proof of concept and active customers to investors – if you’re thinking of going down that route. When it comes to crowdfunding though, people launch campaigns without a lot of thought or investment. It takes a lot of time and you want to be thoughtful, creative and willing to invest a bit of money in a quality video before you jump in. You also have to understand it is a huge marketing exercise which in many ways is great practice for marketing and building your business but can be surprise to those that familiar with how crowdfunding truly works.
Testing your idea has never been easier. We’re lucky to have direct access to our potential tribe of customers and fans to test out ideas and see what flies. Utilize all the research, resources and connections available.
Take the time upfront though to make sure your idea has legs to stand on. It’s the best investment you can make in your business and yourself.
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