10 Ways to Conduct Continuous Market Research by Connecting with Your Market.
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Oct 8, 2008
10 ways to conduct continuous market research by better connecting with your market and improving your relationship marketing:
1. Start by building a relationship with a group of people you are interested in. If they are going to become your loyal fans, your audience needs to love you. However, you need to also love them. If you don’t they will know it.
2. Don’t just talk. Listen. Find out what they want. (Products are easier to find than audiences.)
3. Find out what they truly want – even compulsively need - to spend money on. There are many things they want. The real question is, what are they willing to spend money on? Further, they should have the ability (or at the very least, the strong inclination and potential near-future ability) to buy what you are selling.
4. Try to understand what is motivating their actions. What do they really want? (Sorry to complicate things, but this might not be what they say they want. I might say I want to lose 10 pounds and then order dessert. Pay attention to their behavior.) What’s their agenda? What are their goals? What are they afraid of? What problems are they dealing with? What are they running towards/ away from?
5. Be authentic. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Speak to them about them and about what they want, just be you while doing it. Capitalize on your own strengths. (For fun, read this great post by Sonia Simone at Coppyblogger, where she asks the question, “If your blog could be personified as a shapely star of a really cheesy 1960s sitcom, which would it be? Ginger, or Mary Ann?“
6. Do some research, find out what your market is interested in and study that. Subscribe to their publications, join their associations, do some keyword research, etc.
7. Recognize that your target market has no innate understanding the value of your service(s) and/or product(s). They didn’t wake up this morning with the vision that lives in your head about how your product or service can improve their lives and solve their problems. Teaching them in a way that is relevant to them is your job as a marketer. Important: “teach” rather than “preach”. You will further your connection with them while increasing the knowledge of the value you provide. Most importantly, they will not run away from you if you are really giving them good information.
8. Establish credibility. Do and say stuff that demonstrates your credibility. Associate with credible people. Do what you say and say what you mean. Then repeat. Over and over again.
9. Understand that if you try to sell before you have connected, your efforts will be largely wasted. If you do sell before you have connected, and don’t make every effort to connect after the sale, you will likely not be rewarded with a 2nd sale. And, “You don’t really have a customer until you’ve sold them twice.” - Joyce Lillis
10. Really contribute. Contribute to the conversation, contribute to their lives, contribute to their efforts. Give, not for the opportunity to get, but because you recognize that ultimately it will result in more opportunities to give.
