Books or web pages on finding markets
August 15, 2023 8:43 AM Subscribe
This is me. I'm trying to find out how to find markets to serve. So, far I know about using Google Keyword Planner and reading through forums to find pain points to gauge demand. I'd like to learn about other ways to do figure out what to build.
So far I've read Testing Business Ideas and (ugh) Stacking the Bricks. I am hostile to hucksterism and unverifiable claims, but my expectations are now low, so fire away with recs!
So far I've read Testing Business Ideas and (ugh) Stacking the Bricks. I am hostile to hucksterism and unverifiable claims, but my expectations are now low, so fire away with recs!
Once you have an idea, I highly recommend Pat Flynn's Will it Fly to vet the idea for the market. In fact, Pat Flynn himself, and his brand SPI (or Smart Passive Income) is pretty much the father of building income through finding problems and "serving his audience"; you really can't go too wrong with any of his content - podcast, books, etc.
posted by cgg at 10:55 AM on August 15, 2023
posted by cgg at 10:55 AM on August 15, 2023
This is the hard part. Building the solution and marketing the solution aren't the hard parts. The kicker is that you won't know if you've found a good problem to tackle until you put a solution/offer out there into the marketplace.
I am a reformed marketer and I can tell you that there is no "magic" page or site for this.
Here's the basic process. Another "simple, but not easy":
Read MetaFilter, read Amazon reviews, read comments to YouTube posts, read in FB forums. When you start to narrow down, go to industry conventions, interview live people, put out social media posts & ads to see if you get interest. If no, adjust your offer/message.
Many people will try to sell you something with a system or complicated process. But really, you just have to figure out what people are saying and praising and complaining about. It's a lot of work!
One last tip. I've found that people will buy what they want, not what they need. So don't get too clever and solve a problem that doesn't exist :).
posted by banjonaut at 10:57 AM on August 15, 2023
I am a reformed marketer and I can tell you that there is no "magic" page or site for this.
Here's the basic process. Another "simple, but not easy":
Read MetaFilter, read Amazon reviews, read comments to YouTube posts, read in FB forums. When you start to narrow down, go to industry conventions, interview live people, put out social media posts & ads to see if you get interest. If no, adjust your offer/message.
Many people will try to sell you something with a system or complicated process. But really, you just have to figure out what people are saying and praising and complaining about. It's a lot of work!
One last tip. I've found that people will buy what they want, not what they need. So don't get too clever and solve a problem that doesn't exist :).
posted by banjonaut at 10:57 AM on August 15, 2023
Don't spend any money unless you are sure that your customers will pay directly or indirectly for the expense, ie. don't rent an office/premises as customers may prefer you are itinerant, don't get a new/dedicated business phone/number, etc.
If you do spend money, see if you can rent/lease before you buy, just in case the expense doesn't create any extra income.
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 6:38 PM on August 15, 2023
If you do spend money, see if you can rent/lease before you buy, just in case the expense doesn't create any extra income.
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 6:38 PM on August 15, 2023
What is it that you want to market? That would make the difference.
posted by NotLost at 9:59 PM on August 15, 2023
posted by NotLost at 9:59 PM on August 15, 2023
Most general marketing is just looking at statistics for the localized area that you are going for, median income, number of people, age range, educational attainment, etc, that are relevant to the product you are making, and seeing if they meet and then taking a calculated risk that the market you determine will possibly purchase your product, which you drive via advertising.
For example, most commercial sales advertising document gather these stats for you (ie: 60k cars pass by this grocery store site daily with a 5,000 people with a median income of $85k in one square mile and 15,000 with a median income of $75k in 5 sq miles).
If the income stats are low, then you can't market a high-cost product in that area, your 'market' won't be large enough.
If your are not buying a site, then you'll have to gather all this info yourself.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:34 AM on August 16, 2023
For example, most commercial sales advertising document gather these stats for you (ie: 60k cars pass by this grocery store site daily with a 5,000 people with a median income of $85k in one square mile and 15,000 with a median income of $75k in 5 sq miles).
If the income stats are low, then you can't market a high-cost product in that area, your 'market' won't be large enough.
If your are not buying a site, then you'll have to gather all this info yourself.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:34 AM on August 16, 2023
I use something called Design Thinking for this. The main handbook for the process is Creative Confidence by Tom & David Kelly. I'm not sure if it's within the Community Guidelines to self-promote but I'm running a virtual workshop in September - if you're interested I will DM you the link (mods, let me know if I walked that self-promo line ok).
The tricky thing with marketing these days is that tactics do indeed change quickly and unpredictably, and there's one guaranteed magic bullet. Anyone who says you have to do X (whether that's FB ads, email marketing, white papers, podcast, whatever) is not to be trusted - there are so many different ways to build a business these days.
posted by dotparker at 8:33 AM on August 16, 2023
The tricky thing with marketing these days is that tactics do indeed change quickly and unpredictably, and there's one guaranteed magic bullet. Anyone who says you have to do X (whether that's FB ads, email marketing, white papers, podcast, whatever) is not to be trusted - there are so many different ways to build a business these days.
posted by dotparker at 8:33 AM on August 16, 2023
« Older Appropriate expectations for change in blended... | Fun and funky Toronto for a first time visitor! Newer »
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by ignignokt at 8:45 AM on August 15, 2023