If you’re super serious about creating a product that either fulfills a specific need or solves a particularly frustrating problem for a market that is absolutely “starving” for it, then you’ll need to be certain to do a thorough job of research.
To achieve your goal, you’ll need to cover two main areas: market research and product research. And this in turn is conducted using two methods: online research and offline research.
A mission statement for this process would read something like this: The purpose of my research is to discover what my target market wants, and then figure out how I can create it and give it to them the way they want it.” Although it may sound complicated, the process for implementing it is quite simple.
Begin by trying to find out all you can about your target market. Conduct some very simple but effective online research. Discover their thoughts and feelings by frequenting forums where they hang out to discuss their hurts and hopes. Find out the websites that cater to their interests. Subscribe to the very same ezines and newsletters that they are reading.
Once you’ve gotten a feel for who your target market is and what their concerns and needs are, widen your level of research. Use the major online search engines to conduct your own search to find additional sources to help you compile or create the specific information product your target market wants.
Now let’s move to phase two: offline resources. Pay a visit to your local library or to one in a large city or at a college. While you’re there, spend some time doing good old-fashioned research like you used to do for those high school and college papers. Take notes on the information you find in books, magazines and reference materials as you continue finding or assembling information about your topic. And don’t forget to read the trade journals as well.
If you accept the challenge and complete the second phase of research, then you’ll be in for a very pleasant surprise. Due to your extensive research efforts on behalf of your target market, you will have discovered the names of experts who are the recognized authorities in their field. This is a potential goldmine for you and your target market.
Why? Because armed with that information you can then contact them with an offer to help them get some free exposure to their audience by allowing them to contribute to your product by sharing their expertise. This can be achieved through a number of ways including a teleseminar, a questionnaire, a special article or report written by them specifically for your product.
In short, you want to do everything you can to create the best possible product that provides the best possible information your target market needs to solve a problem or meet a need. You are going to become the authority on the very problem your hungry market is starving for a specific solution to that you know they must have.
Next, when you’ve gotten to the product creation stage, you’ll want to make certain that it is designed specifically with your target market in mind. Thanks to your in-depth research, you already know how to do this. Give them the solution they want, the way they want it. The format could be electronic, like an e-book or digital audio or video, or you could create a physical product, such as a workbook, CD, DVD or home study course.
