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The Power of Market Research: The Key in Your Marketing Strategy

Written by: Sophie Kessner
The Sophie Kessner Podcast
The Sophie Kessner Podcast
The Power of Market Research: The Key in Your Marketing Strategy
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ll right, y’all welcome back to another episode of the Sophie Kessner podcast. I’ve been listening to country music, have a little bit of a country twang, but anywho, let’s go ahead and dive on in. So I want to have a conversation on this episode. We’ve been talking a little bit in the last few about Transitions and shifts and pivots and all of the fun things, and in this episode I want to kind of go a little bit off of that path and into a different conversation That’s been a question of topic in recent conversations with folks, and that is the question of marketing.
Now, when you’re going through big pivots or big transition or big shift, the marketing process can be a little confusing and Can sometimes be really overwhelming. But one of the biggest things that I want to touch on here is Getting really, really clear about where you’re going with this. Now, if you’re somebody who is transitioning into a space and you’re launching something brand new than this 110% applies to you as well. But the biggest thing is prepping prepping your audience for what you’re stepping into and what you’re going to be creating and what you’re going to be Doing. Now if you’re pivoting, the preparation and the transitional process is Incredibly important for your business and for the success of the launch if you’re just getting started with something brand new, also Incredibly important for going into a launch. Now, when we’re talking about launching, we’re talking about opening up cart, and what I mean when I say that is we’re opening up the door to accept sales and our enrollments into a program or service that we are delivering And, in the launching process, is essentially putting it out there into the world. Right, it’s, it’s launching it into the marketplace and we’re looking to create sales by opening up the cart to receive said sales. Now, if this is a little redundant, i apologize. I just want to make sure that for folks who aren’t as well-versed in the language and there’s a full understanding. So that means see it, when you’re going to launch something, whether it’s for the first time or for that, you’re shifting gears and you’re launching something brand new, very different if you’ve never marketed before and you’ve never used social media before, and it’s a brand new offer.
My Recommendation is always, always, always to start with market research, to go and get information and validate your Prediction of what you think you want to create with real people that you believe would be the perfect client for you, before you go to market. Now, why do we do this? So the reason behind market research for creating offers before we create them and before we try to sell them is so that you can Actually know exactly what the marketplace wants. Right, a lot of the times, we tend to create things that we think are cool, that we think we want, that we think the world needs, but Oftentimes there’s a disconnect between what we think and what the people actually want. And if we don’t spend the time doing the research to get Clear on, okay, where are people at? What are they saying? What are they wanting, what are they needing, what are they willing to invest, what have they invested in before, then we’ll be spending our time and energy paying To do this and try to get the data through the launch process. And basically what I mean and I say that is, if you don’t do the market research before you try to launch something, then you’re going to be getting market research when you’re launching the thing and if your launch is a flop, that’s market research for you, that’s the data for you to say okay, well, what you’re trying to do and the way you’re trying to do it is not working.
So the first thing in this process. If it’s a brand new offer, you’ve never been in business before or you’ve been in business for a long time but you’re transitioning into new direction. Same thing market research. You must do market research Right. You can totally neglect to do this and that’s fine No harm, no foul. But if you don’t do it, it’s going to have to get done at some point. We have to validate, we have to have proof of concept that the thing that you’re trying to do works, that people actually want it, that there’s a need in the marketplace, that people are looking for the thing that you are trying to sell And are deliver and they are willing to take out their credit cards or their bank accounts and pay you money for the service or product That you’re delivering. Now How much are they willing to pay? What are they willing to say yes to what actually works? These are parkourts from that process that you can easily find answers to inside of the market research process.
Why spend time doing the market research? because it’ll save you so much time and energy on the actual marketing and sales front, instead of creating all the sales pages and designing everything and building out this entire program and then going to the marketplace and saying buy this thing, cart closes. You’ll have proof of concept in an entire list of people that you’ve already Interviewed, that you’ve connected with, that you’ve done research with, who’ve said that they would potentially be interested in something like this, and those are your warm leads. Those are the people that are like, yeah, actually, i would be interested in that. And you go and you take this product to them and you say, hey, carts open. Do you want to beta test this? for me And I personally love the beta test approach Why?
because beta testing provides an opportunity for you to do exactly that test. It provides an opportunity for folks to get access to something at a price point that will likely never be accessible again, because you’re doing it as a beta round. It gives them an opportunity to give you feedback and for you to be able to make mistakes inside of it and not have it all figured out, because they know that this is a test round and so it takes off a lot of that pressure. It also eliminates the need to feel like you have to have it all figured out all at once, which usually is a really big challenge for folks who are doing something new, whether you’ve been doing business for a long time And are branching off into something different, or whether you’re stepping into business for the first time ever, and this is all new territory.
We want to eliminate the resistance points, and the biggest resistance points are the feeling that you don’t have it all figured out, that you don’t have it all built, that it’s not ready, that it’s not gonna work. And so how do you do that? You get people in, who you believe, or the right people for the product, because you’ve done the research and you’ve collected the information. And then you find out and they tell you, and then you adapt. Then you would change and you shift and you make the program better and better and better and better.
Now, when you are going into this, what we’ll oftentimes see is people create a program that they think they want, that they think the market wants, right, based off of their own experience or whatever it is. And that could be. You’re running like a 50-50 chance here, right? It’s kind of a gamble. It could work and it could also not work, depending on your marketing skills. If you’re somebody who is naturally really great at marketing, you might be able to sell this thing really well, but if you’re somebody who’s maybe not super gifted in the marketing department, then that might be a challenge for you, and it doesn’t necessarily matter how big your audience is. I can tell you this because we’ve had clients who have audiences upwards of hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram who’ve had flop launches and audiences close to like a couple hundred and had flop launches, and, on the other end of that, have both had huge successes. So it doesn’t matter the size of your audience. If you have an offer that hasn’t been proven, that hasn’t been proven in the marketplace, you can have the biggest audience in the world And it doesn’t matter because the offer has not been proven to work with that audience.
And every single audience is different. So what am I saying when I’m talking about audiences? Audiences are the people that you are trying to sell to, the people that are connected to you, the people that are reaching out to you. These could be your followers, your email list, your friends on Facebook, your friends in the real world, people at an event, right, whoever it is in front of you when you are performing, when you’re positioning the thing, when you are talking about the thing, when you’re selling the thing. So when I say every audience is different. What I’m saying is the different groups of people that are in front of different people when they’re selling something are all different. For instance, if you’re selling something to a group of moms, a group of moms is a completely different audience than a group of single bachelor men And priorities, different values, different needs, different lifestyles, different income brackets everything is different about them. And so what you would talk about to sell to somebody in a group of moms is a completely different process than what you would do to sell to somebody who’s a single bachelor live in their life. Now, it’s not to say that you can’t approach things from a similar lens, but that the marketing, the language, the positioning, the way that you talk about it, how you talk about it, it’s going to be completely different.
So if you are doing something for the first time, my recommendation is to start with market research. Start reaching out to people, interviewing them, asking them what have they invested in? What has worked? What hasn’t worked? What do they wish they had? What do they wish they could have received? What would they have done differently? What do they need? How much have they paid for other things? How much would they be willing to pay? What would make it better for them? What kind of results are they wanting to get? What are the things that they’re struggling with the most? What are the things that are most important to them? Why is this important to them? So you have that information and then you can create the thing based off of real, valid data, and you can ask them like, hey, if I create this, would you be open and me reach out to see if it would be a fit? later down the line And they say, yes, awesome, you’ve got a potential lead for your program, for your beta round. So go and do that.
Do as many different points of market research as possible. Reach out to as many people as possible. If you don’t know where to find them, look for them on social media, look for them in your real life, look for them in friends groups. Ask people hey, are you this type of person? Do you, does this land for you? Is this something that you’re resonating with, so that you can continue to get data Right? I think data is such an important component when we’re talking about building businesses because it can be such an emotional roller coaster, and I think the data can be something that anchors us, that holds us down and helps us say, okay, clearly this piece isn’t working. It’s not a personal attack on you, it’s not because you’re terrible and nobody loves you. It’s because there’s some sort of mismatch between the way that you’re talking about the thing and what people are needing to hear in order to transition into it. Okay, so it’s usually always just a tweak in the messaging and the marketing and the positioning.
Now that means, let’s say, you’ve done the market research right. Are you choosing to skip this, for whatever reason? If you’ve done the market research, then you will have ample amounts of data and information, points of what things people are saying that they’re struggling with it, they’re wanting that, they’re needing that, they’re going through, that, they’re wish they had that. They’ve tried that didn’t work. You have so much information that you can literally take and turn it into content. That is the beauty of the market research. If you haven’t done your market research, you will need to create all of those bits and pieces of information that you can then turn and create into content. Now, the reason why I bring this up is because, again, we like to try to shortcut our way through everything. We like to just skip the hard part and the boring part, because market research and data is not fun. But It will save you so much time in the long run if you realize that all the market research that you’re doing is also content that you’re creating. It’s pre-batching and building an entire library of data and information points for the content that you can then go and create from what people are sharing with you.
Now this doesn’t mean you go and take people’s personal information. It means you take the general themes and patterns. If you have a group of people who’ve all said that they’ve all struggled with this specific thing, you can say, hey, are you a person who struggles with this specific thing? You’ve tried ABCDEFG and those things haven’t worked for you. If so, i get it, i hear you and here’s what I’ve learned. So then you can start to educate and empower them through that process.
Now, when we’re talking about marketing specifically, we need to look at the process that people are going to be moving through when they are considering buying something. I went over this recently with another client of mine who’s fairly new to the business space but really, really good at what they do when it comes to the work that they do And when we’re thinking about buying right. There’s a few different stages that buyers move through. Now, the first stage that folks move through is just being in the pain of the problem. They’re completely oblivious or ignorant or just unaware of what’s actually going on. And there’s just things are just happening and they’re just moving through life and they’re feeling like, okay, i’m here, but I’m not necessarily looking for anything, i’m just kind of in it. The second stage that people go through is when they start to become problem aware. Now this is really really important, because first you’ve got people who are uncomfortable or just comfortable or just coasting through, but there’s nothing necessarily that’s a pain or a problem and there’s not really anywhere they want to go. They’re just kind of in it, right. And then one of two things happens that either become problem aware or they become solution aware.
Now, problem aware is when folks recognize what the problem is that they’re dealing with. What is the thing that’s actually the issue in their current lived experience that they’re wanting to shift. These folks start to recognize like, ah, this is the thing, this is the thing I’m struggling with, this is the thing I want to change, this is the thing I want to shift, this is the thing I want to get away from. Now, folks who are problem aware tend to be trying to move away from something. So people who are problem aware often tend to be pain motivated. Why? Because they’re trying to get away from the problem and they may not necessarily have awareness of what the solution is yet.
Now, that is when we move to that third stage the solution aware buyer. The solution aware buyer is aware of what their problem is. They understand the thing that they’re struggling with and they see the solution to their problem. They see the where, where they want to go, the place they want to be, how they want to get there, and they’re looking for something to invest in to get them to that place. Now what you have to identify is where is your audience in that process? And you might have different people who are different in different stages of that category. That’s incredibly common and normal.
But what you have to think about is what is your marketing towards? Is it towards just folks who are in stage one and who are just in the process of life yet to discover what the thing actually is? I mean, it hasn’t actually gotten to that point where they’re needing the thing. Are they in stage two or they’re just aware of the fact that, oh my God, this is a problem and I don’t want this anymore? Or are they in stage three, where there’s solution aware and they’re trying to find and actively seeking out a solution to their problem? They’re looking to buy.
Now, most buyers are going to be found in solute in stage three. These are the people that are ready to go. They’ve got their cards out. They are saying I’m trying to find the right thing and for them, it’s matching what they’re looking for with what they’re willing to invest for it. They’re looking for something that makes perfect sense for them, and so you need to understand what that is. You need to understand, okay, what are the things that these folks that are like okay, i don’t want to deal with this thing. I know I want this. How much do I need to pay? This is my budget. And then you meet them there and it’s such an easy selling place to be in.
But the problem for most folks is that A most people are not solution aware. Most people are not 100% aware that there is a potential solution to their problem. Most people are just stuck in the problem of and they realize, like, i really don’t like this thing, but I’m going to keep doing it because I don’t know that there’s another possibility or another way. And so if we start to shift gears and recognize that most people are either on stage one or stage two, then our job is to provide education and information to help folks move from stage one into stage two and from stage two into stage three. Now how do we do that? Well, we need to, in a ethical way, help folks understand what the problem is and that the problem doesn’t have to stay the problem, that the problem has a solution and that the solution has the process and how to get there. That is marketing. We’re informing and educating and empowering our audience through the process of information to help them understand how they can go from where they are to where it is that they want to be, in an ethical fashion.
Now, when you’re just starting out or when you’re moving into a new space, new field, new product, whatever it is, the first thing that we have to do oftentimes is educate our audience on this thing, on this shift. So a good example of this is let’s say you’re in one industry that’s all about business and marketing, but then you’ve shifted gears into a completely different direction. You’re like I’m doing business and marketing, i want to do personal development, mindset healing, whatever. So the first thing is okay, well, i’ve been talking about business and marketing for years and years and years. Acknowledge what you’ve been doing. If you’re transitioning and if you’re pivoting, if you are brand new to a space, then you can. You know, if you want to leverage what you’ve been doing in your other life, outside of entrepreneurship or business, leverage it great, but if it’s not relevant, then it’s not relevant.
So, essentially, the first thing is you know, i’ve spent the last few years teaching on this and doing this, and one of the things that I’ve realized is the biggest pattern that I’ve seen is ABC, and most folks think that this is the problem. And that might be true for certain folks who are, you know, who’ve done this work, but for other folks, the real issue, the real underlying problem, is not actually another sales process or marketing funnel or whatever. It’s this. So we start to inform our audience, we start to educate our audience on what the problem is actually is. And so, in that process, what we’re doing is we’re saying, hey, you’re highlighting what are the things that they’ve tried, what are the things that worked, what are the things that maybe didn’t work. Why is this a potential problem? How is it showing up? What does it actually look like? How does it feel? How is it impacting them?
Now, again, we’re not doing this to shame. We’re not doing this to belittle, we’re not doing this to make people wrong. We are educating and informing from a grounded space that is non bias, and I think that’s really important to put in there, because a lot of times you’ll see people who are shitting on other things, and that’s not what we’re trying to do here. What we’re trying to do is educate and inform and empower and give people the option of choice, and if we’re making people feel shitty about their choices, then they’re not going to want to invest with you, period. So we want to come from this real place of like Hey, you know, maybe you’ve tried some of these things and they haven’t worked for you and they’ve worked for other people. Here’s some potential reasons as to why it may not have worked for you, and we’re not demonizing them. We’re not demonizing the thing. We’re just saying. Here’s some potential reasons of why this might not work.
Now, a great example of this that I can give you is in the scenario of somebody going from business to transformation. Let’s say that maybe you’ve tried investing in all the sales programs. You tried investing in ad programs, you tried investing all these things, but no matter how much time and money and energy you spend in marketing, it’s not taking off. And if that is the case, then perhaps it’s a time to start to look at what’s actually going on internally. Where is your internal resistance to the thing that you’re building? Because what may be happening and this is important language, right, we’re not assuming, we’re not dictating, we’re not telling and we’re not saying like this is it, we’re saying it may be, this is a potential possibility. See if that lands. If not, that’s cool, right.
But it might be that there’s something inside of it that isn’t actually what you want to be doing. But there might actually be a part of you that doesn’t feel excited about this. So there might be a part of you that feels really afraid of this. And if that is true, then the solution isn’t necessarily another marketing funnel, another ads program, another business program. It might be developing a better sense of confidence and clarity in who you are, so that you can start to approach those things and bring that confidence and certainty and clarity into everything that you’re doing. It will help to amplify that process, right?
So that’s what we’re looking to do in this stage. We’re taking the folks who are in the kind of unknown of it, not really sure what the problem is, helping them become problem aware and then helping them start to see, ah, there’s another solution, there’s something else that I’m not necessarily understanding or recognizing Now. This requires us as service providers and as business owners, to have a really detailed understanding of who our clients are and what is the service that we’re delivering and how it all works. Right, because if you don’t know these things, then you can’t necessarily ethically market about them. So that’s again why you want to do the market research, but it also wants it’s important for you to have the proper training to fully understand what it is you’re actually doing, and the more training that you have, the more detailed understanding you have of what’s actually going on for folks.
So again, another example of this that I can give you is when I first started getting into like transformation work, everything was through like NLP and mindset and breathwork and all of the things, and I understood that these things could make change, but I didn’t understand how or why, and you know, they would give us basic summaries of like just a super generalized sense of what was going on, but never like a fully detailed, in-depth piece. And I didn’t start to dig deeper into that until this thing stopped working for me. And when they stopped working for me it was when I had some really serious traumatic stuff come up in my life, and what I didn’t understand was there was a much deeper, underlying issue that couldn’t be solved through all of these other things, and so I had to start to seek a different solution. First I had to understand what the hell was going on and why wasn’t it working. And then I understand what the actual problem was. And then I had to understand okay, there’s a solution to this, let me invest in it. And so in that scenario it was recognizing like, oh, breathwork isn’t actually the thing, because it actually puts my system into a heightened place of dysregulation And there’s a lot of arousal that comes up in that And I’m not actually able to be fully present with it because I don’t have the capacity to be with that level of intensity, because my system is so fragile. I wouldn’t know all of that unless I had done the work and done the intense training to learn and understand the nuances of how our systems work, of how trauma works, of how the person, the individual, grows and develops, and why certain modalities work better for certain people instead of others, dependent on what their experiences were, how their system responds, what their defense systems are and how they process. And I think this is important to mention because oftentimes what you’ll see in the marketplaces, folks will just be spewing out a bunch of information that may or may not be relevant or helpful. And what will set you apart is when you can very clearly and distinctly discern for somebody why something specifically may not be working for them in a way that they may not even be aware of. And what it does for people is they start to feel a sense of oh my God, somebody gets me, somebody sees me, they understand it, they’re telling me something that I didn’t realize was a thing or maybe I just needed reassurance on. And that’s going to be.
The first step of your nurturing process is to inform and educate your audience on what the thing actually is and helping them understand why the previous things didn’t work, what was going on, what are some potential possibilities And you can also address like these things might work for people like this, they might work in this scenario, they might work in this specific piece And if it hasn’t worked, it might be this other thing. Right, because we do want to take into consideration that not every single person in peace is going to be a perfect fit. So we do want to address and we do want to speak into the fact that certain things are not going to be a fit, certain things are not going to be the types of clients that we want to work with And we might like. What we do might not actually be the solution for some people. So we want to distinctly discern that and speak into that and talk about that in the front facing component of our marketing. So I personally prefer an educational approach that’s less biased and that is more about helping the client understand what’s going on.
I personally believe that information is power and that if we can empower our clients and inform them, they can make better decisions in that process And they will start to naturally see us as somebody that they can rely on, somebody who’s reliable, who’s trustworthy. If the information that we’re providing and in the way that we’re providing it, is continuing to support their educational process right. They’re feeling more informed, they’re feeling more empowered, they have a deeper understanding. And when we empower and we inform and we build trust and we build a relationship and we answer questions, then we can start to highlight case studies, testimonials, and you might be your first case study. Awesome, like talk about that. That’s not a bad thing. But it’s important again to caveat what were the things that worked for you? Why might that not work for somebody else? Who is this best for? How exactly did you go about it? Because the just be you thing is really 2016. But also it doesn’t help the people that you’re trying to help, for in my personal belief and again this is my personal philosophy to marketing I think the more that we can treat our audience like really empowered, educated individuals, the more that they will show up that way in our world.
So again, let me backtrack here a little bit. Stage one market research. Stage two educate and empower your audience on what the problem actually is and that there’s a potential solution. Stage three show them, give them proof of concept, show them that it is possible. Show them case studies of yourself, your clients, people that you’ve supported, where this thing has worked and explain to them why They at least can be videos. These can be written. Whatever you want to do, it’s all up to you. And then from there, then you can start to go into the leading up to the actual sale process, right? So, with this entire piece that we’re talking about is all nurturing, it’s educating, it’s informing, it’s nurturing your audience and getting them ready to receive what you’re going to be selling in this next stage. So, this whole season that we just talked about nurturing mode, and then we start to shift into marketing.
Now, this is specifically geared towards a launch model. Launch model open car, closed car. Right, you’re in a season of marketing. Then you’re in a season of nurturing. Marketing season is when we open up the doors. This is when we go to from saying, hey, you know, we’re just providing information and empowering folks, to now we’re going to Hey, i’m going to be presenting a way to work together. I’m going to be presenting an opportunity for us to potentially shift things for you.
Now, i’m going to sit on this topic for a little longer, because I think it’s of over promising and under delivering and moving away from the grandiose, vague statements of change your life, transform yourself, heal yourself, all of the things and starting to get a lot more granular and specific, because the more specific we can get about the results that we’re delivering or the changes that we’re making, the more trustworthy it is for folks and the more that will attract people who are exactly the perfect fit for what is that we’re doing. The more vague and grandiose we are, the more outlandish and the like, the higher variety of types of people that you’ll have, which will oftentimes create a bit of a kerfuffle inside of the experience of the program, because there’s so many conflicting, different pieces and points of where people are coming in from that it might not actually be the best fit for all of them and it’ll be really challenging to navigate. So I would encourage actually starting really clear and specific on what the thing is and then, when you go deep and you master, then you can start to go wide. So in the sales process, what you’re doing here is you’re giving yourself, for the first time that you’re doing something, at least six to eight weeks of consistently sharing, selling, talking about marketing the product or the service, and you’re letting people know hey, i’m going to be opening up cart, i’m going to be talking about this and I’m going to be inviting people to come in. And what you’re doing in that sales process is pretty simple You’re informing people of what the solution is, you’re reminding them of what the problem is, you’re showing them what’s possible through case studies and testimonials and you’re giving them the reasons for why right now might be the right time, and then again letting them know hey, here’s how you join, here’s how you get in. It does not have to be a big, icky, sticky process. It can be simple, it can be clean, it can be something that feels really nourishing if you’ve done the groundwork of doing your market research, of nurturing your audience and getting them ready for the marketing process.
And then the most important pieces here is that sales process. Is that closing cart? Now you’ll notice that the majority of sales actually happen within like the last few days and last few hours of the sales process, which is why it’s so important to go all the way through the finish line, so important And it’s also really helpful in this process to have a date for when the cart closes, have a set date and then go like do the thing, do the thing. And again, we’re not talking about creating fake urgency, we’re not talking about creating fake scarcity. We’re talking about having a legitimate open cart, close cart date that you’re running something and you’re letting people know this is how it’s going to work. We’re doing a beta round. This is the beta pricing. This is going to shift because it probably is when you run it again.
The next round. It should be more, because you’ve proven the concept and people will need to get in by that date. That creates a sense of okay, this is what I need to sign up by. If I don’t sign up by here, i can come in the next round, et cetera. We’re not trying to force people to do the thing. We wanna be open to the reality that some folks might just not be a good fit for us And if they can’t financially afford what we’re doing, it might just not be the right type of client for us. And so then you can start to look at other business models to incorporate more philanthropical components into your business. That’s not the topic of this podcast episode, but maybe in future episodes. And you want to look at the data of okay, what are people saying, what are who’s coming in, how many sales calls are we booking, what’s converting, and figure out where the leaks are in that process. So that is a fun little 30 minute chunk on all things marketing and launching an offer for the first time our brand new offer.
If you’re shifting and pivoting, i would highly, highly, highly encourage starting with the market research. Go get out there and ask those questions. I know I contend to speak pretty quick, so please slow down the listening speed on whatever you’re listening on So you can listen to this at a rate that you can pause and capture what I’m saying and then write it down and listen to this as many times as you need to to really go through this process. Now that six to eight week window is inclusive of everything, right, you’re spending the first three to four weeks nurturing and then you’re spending the last three to four weeks selling. That’s what you’re looking at doing. If you’re doing sales calls, amazing.
If this is the first time that you’re doing something, i would encourage sales calls, because sales calls are another opportunity for collecting data and information, especially if you haven’t fully landed on what’s the thing, what’s the thing that makes people buy? Why do they buy? Why do they not buy? Why do they choosing? So that would be another recommendation, but not mandatory, and then again just being messy with it Like. You do not need to have and you probably should not have an entire sales page and funnel and all of the things built out. Your first launch, the first launch, is gonna be messy because you’re collecting data and information and all of that is likely going to change after this first round when you collect the data.
So I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you have questions or need support, feel free to reach out at hayatthesegritco and we’d be happy to connect. If you have other requests for episode topics, please feel free to leave them to the same email hayatthesegritco. Our team will get to those and they’ll send them to us. Otherwise, if you enjoyed this episode, as always, please leave a five, a star review, and any comments and feedback is always welcome and appreciated. It means the world to us and it’s what keeps this podcast going. So thank you again for coming to the show and I will see you on the next episode. Bye-oh.

Episode Summary

In this exciting episode, we explore the world of marketing and its essential role in transitions, pivots, and shifts. Listen in as we discuss the importance of conducting market research beforehand to understand the needs of the marketplace before launching a product or service. This crucial step can save time and energy on the marketing and sales front, as well as provide proof of concept to take to the marketplace. We also touch on the beta test approach to launching products and services, which can help eliminate resistance points and allow for valuable feedback from early users.

We dive into the stages of being in the pain of a problem, becoming problem aware, and solution aware. Discover how market research can help create a product based on real, valid data, and how to use this data to create compelling content. We emphasize the need to ask people about their lived experiences, struggles, and wishes, to gain a better understanding of the market and create products that people genuinely need.

Finally, listen in as we discuss how to use education and empowerment to build trust and relationships with potential clients. We talk about the importance of market research in knowing our clients’ needs and how to share case studies and testimonials to provide proof of concept. Moreover, we reflect on the importance of being specific in our marketing, as this will attract the right people to our product or service. Don’t miss out on this episode filled with valuable insights and tips for launching your next big idea successfully!

Blog Introduction:

As a business owner, coach, or influencer, you know the importance of having a clear direction in marketing, even amidst times of change. It’s critical to have a marketing strategy that resonates with your target audience and speaks to their needs. This is where market research becomes a vital tool in creating successful marketing campaigns. In this post, we’ll cover the role of market research in validating ideas, understanding your audience, and designing effective marketing campaigns that focus on the buyer’s journey. We’ll also explore different methods of conducting market research that will help you stay ahead of changing audience preferences. Let’s dive in!

I. Understanding Your Audience

It’s important to recognize that every audience is unique and requires a tailored approach to marketing and messaging. Market research is a valuable tool that can help gather information about your audience’s demographics, interests, challenges, pain points, and more. This information can then be used to create messaging that speaks to their needs and resonates with them. Market research can also be used to build relationships with potential customers by identifying what they value in a brand and creating offers that address their specific needs.

II. The Buyer’s Journey

The buyer’s journey is the process buyers go through when making a purchase. This journey consists of five stages: awareness, consideration, decision, purchase, and post-purchase evaluation. Understanding where your audience is in this process is crucial in creating an effective marketing strategy. By using market research to gain insights into your audience’s needs and behaviors, you can tailor your messaging to each stage of the buyer’s journey and create offers that meet their specific needs.

III. Conducting Market Research

Market research can be conducted in two ways: primary and secondary research. Primary research is conducted by gathering data directly from your target audience through surveys, focus groups, or interviews. Secondary research, on the other hand, involves gathering data from existing sources such as industry reports, academic journals, or government databases. Both types of research have their advantages and drawbacks, and the choice between them depends on your specific marketing needs.

IV. Using Market Research in Your Marketing Strategy

By leveraging insights gained from market research, you can create successful offers and messaging that resonates with your target audience. Market research can also be used to design effective marketing campaigns that focus on the buyer’s journey. For example, understanding your audience’s pain points in the awareness stage can help you create messaging that highlights their problems and presents your product or service as a solution. Additionally, ongoing market research can help you stay ahead of changing audience preferences and behaviors and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.

V. Beta Testing

Beta testing involves releasing a product or service to a small group of customers for feedback before launching it to the larger market. This strategy can save you time and energy by getting customer feedback early in the process and making adjustments based on their feedback. This type of market research can validate your ideas and ensure that you’re creating offers that resonate with your target audience.

VI. Ethical Launches

As businesses strive to grow and succeed, ethical marketing has become increasingly important to build trust and lasting relationships with clients. While incorporating market research, case studies, and testimonials can provide valuable insights and credibility, it’s crucial to also consider the specific marketing tactics used to engage with potential customers. Education initiatives can inform and create value for clients, while a well-designed sales process can provide a positive experience and deepen relationships. At the heart of ethical marketing is a commitment to transparency, honesty, and serving the customer’s needs. By prioritizing integrity and a client-centered approach, businesses can build a reputation for ethical marketing that fosters long-term loyalty and success.

Conclusion:

Market research is a crucial element in building a successful marketing strategy. By understanding your audience, creating messaging that speaks to their needs, and focusing on the buyer’s journey, you can create effective marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience. Conducting market research effectively and on an ongoing basis can help you stay ahead of changing audience preferences and ensure that your marketing strategy remains relevant. By leveraging market research insights, you can build better relationships with your customers, validate your ideas, and save time and energy through customer feedback. It’s time to take advantage of the power of market research and build a marketing strategy that truly resonates with your audience.

Episode Keywords

Marketing, Market Research, Buyer’s Journey, Educating, Empowering, Business Success, Confidence, Clarity, Audience Empowerment, Sales Process, Launch, Open/Close Cart Date, Data Collection, Sales Calls, Nurturing, Six to Eight Week Cycle

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Meet The Host

Hey I’m Soph! I’m a mama and online digital marketer who’s been in the game since 2015. I LOVE building businesses that support creating real time freedom which is why I choose to specialize in email marketing, blogging and podcasting and teach others to do the same.

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I'm Sophie Kessner

First generation Mexican American mama that’s gone from hood to strategic hustle. I’ve spent the last 10+ years inside the personal development space supporting 100’s of coaches in scaling 6 figure businesses online & supported 4 different companies in surpassing the 7 figure mark. Today, I focus on making scaling more sustainable by integrating the lenses of business, systems, automation and CEO Development through an Equity centered and Trauma informed lens.

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