[Guide] How to conduct market research for your dream clients

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Are you having a difficult time identifying your target market?

Do you have a difficult time finding buyers for your product or service?

Before we get started, grab the market research template that goes alongside this guide. You can grab it here.

I've seen time and time again entrepreneurs make the tell-tale mistake of not doing enough market research on their target market. Often, they create a product or service with no buyer in mind. Thus, spending time, money, and energy on something that no one can see the light of day on.

Let's not make the same mistake, shall we?

So, why does it benefit you to conduct market research?

Well, as entrepreneurs, we have this extraordinary talent of curating our ideas into a reality. We come across an idea, think it's good enough, and then move on to the next step. But here's the problem, we think that our idea is the next big thing in the market, but we fail to do proper market research to validate our idea.

When we apply market research to our ideas we save time. By conducting proper market research we validate whether our idea is worth pursuing. We identify questions such as

• Is there already a product similar to our idea?
• Are people actually looking for solutions to their current problems?

We save money. Nothing sucks more than wasting money on an idea that no one wants to buy.

Finally, you save energy. Likewise, it would also brutally suck to waste energy on an idea that no one even cares to give any attention to.

So how do we conduct market research? Where do I need to look in order to conduct proper market research?

With that being said, let's begin:

There are two types of market research:

You will need a combination of both in order to get a proper understanding of what target market your idea falls into.

Primary research is any type of research that you collect yourself. Examples include surveys, interviews, observations, and ethnographic research

For primary research, I air on the side of taking a more grassroots approach to this. This method allows you the opportunity to speak to your ideal customer in a face-to-face setting, whether it's virtual or in person. Both work well. If you are having a difficult time finding your ideal customer in your local area then take the time to log on to social media. Social media is your gold mine when it comes to connecting to the right types of people.

Any social media platform that has the ability to communicate via a messaging feature will work. You can simply find your target audience and ask them if they could spend some time with you answering some interview questions. In exchange for their time, you could offer a product or service that could benefit them in return.

Well, this begs the question, where do I find these people on social media?

For simplicity, we will give instructions on two major platforms that may be beneficial for your use: Instagram and Facebook

For Instagram, I encourage you to do research within hashtags.

For example, if your target audience is someone who is into fitness, you may look up the hashtag #weightlossjourney and see the individuals that are posting within that hashtag.

You can leverage Facebook to your advantage as well. We'll use the same example as the previous one. You can simply search into Facebook and look up keywords like "fitness" or "weight loss" and select your search category to find the corresponding Facebook groups within that niche.

From there, you can connect further and ask for opportunities to interview them. I usually conduct these interviews via zoom and have them recorded so that I can refer to them; of course, always ask for permission.

When you are conducting these interviews, it's important to ask specific questions in relation to their current pain points and potential solutions they are looking for.

Secondary research or desk research is a research method that involves using already existing data.

When it comes to looking for secondary research, your internet is your best friend. You want to reference sites where people usually post their thoughts - anonymous thoughts/opinions are usually the best.

I like Quora, Reddit, and Amazon.

Quora

Quora is a gold mine to identify what questions people are asking along with the topics you are searching for. You can take a poll to see what are some common questions people are asking, as these may be important questions that you would want your idea to have answers to.

Reddit

Reddit is great, it’s anonymous galore, people are not afraid to share their thoughts, stories and opinions. This allows you the opportunity to get inside of your ideal client’s head, identify what problems keep them up at night, what solutions they’re looking to have answers to, and quote their words so you can integrate their own words within your marketing.

Amazon

Amazon is awesome because it literally shares with you the best and worst reviews about X product. Why is this helpful? Well, if a product is selling well within your category that you are searching within, you can see what your customers absolutely love. It also further validates that people will spend money on a solution that solves their current problem. On the flip side, you can also see what people absolutely hate. From there, you can improve on those problems and find a solution that helps them even further.

In summary, conducting market research will allow you to get one step closer to finding your ideal client. It will allow you to identify their current problems, opinions, and thoughts — thus, allowing you to create a tailored solution for them. Don’t skip out on this, time spent on market research will save you time in the long run.

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