4 Keys To Creating Products That Your Target Market Wants

target market

I oftentimes have to coach people around the idea that creating products has almost nothing to do with what they want to put out there, but rather what their target market needs and is willing to pay for. The same thing goes for services and the conversation tends to go a little something like this:

Client: “Amanda, I’ve sent so many emails where I let companies know that I would like to write a profile on them for publicity, but no one is responding!”

Me: “Could it be that they don’t need publicity so they don’t want to pay for it?”

Client: “But that’s what I offer!”

Me: “That may be what you are offering, but it’s not what your prospects are looking for. If you’re offering writing services then consider that what they do actually need is help with marketing. For example, they may need someone to write their blogs or newsletters.”

Client: “But I really don’t want to blog.”

Me: “It’s often times not about what you want, it’s about what your target market wants and how you can fix their problem. Your passion is writing. Who cares what form you are writing in?”

That client eventually saw the light and understood that creating products and services is about fixing her target market’s problem. Since then she’s been doing much better and has gotten more opportunities. Once you truly understand your target market’s struggles and how you can help, then creating and selling products and services becomes a whole lot easier. So how exactly do you find out what your target market wants? And how do you use that information to create and sell your products and services?

1. Survey your target market on their needs

Surveys are a great way to get in the heads of individuals in your target market. Why try to guess what they want when you can just ask them? I once had a client who was just starting her personal training business. She had a faint idea of what she was offering but she wasn’t sure. I encouraged her to send out an email to her target market with a link to a survey so she could gather some intel.

From the information she gathered she was able to move forward in her business, create a great product that helped her target market with their needs and sell it. To get started, create an online survey in Google DocsSurvey Monkey or even Typeform to concept-test your own business idea.

2. Interview your market

If you want some really in-depth information you can try setting up meetings and interviews with members of your target market. Sometimes you can get a lot more insight by having a conversation and taking lots of notes.

For example, when I was creating my book “Make Money Your Honey,” I sent out an email to my list asking if anyone would be willing to get on the phone with me so I could interview them for an upcoming project. In exchange they would probably get some free coaching while on the phone.

I must have conducted close to 100 interviews which really helped me get clear on what my audience was struggling with, what solutions they wanted and how they wanted those solutions presented to them. With my findings I was able to create and self-publish an Amazon bestseller which to this day still brings in revenue and changes people’s lives.

I had another one of my coaching clients do this as well. She set up coffee dates with members of her target market with the sole intention of hearing what it was they were struggling with and how she could create something that would help. In her case she was able to get her first paying clients just from those initial coffee dates!

3. Make your prospects a part of the creation process

If people are a part of the process they are more likely to buy your stuff. Not only are they more likely to buy it, they’ll also promote it!

Maybe it’s an ego thing where they feel proud to have helped create something and want to promote themselves—who knows! The point is that by creating a sense of community and allowing your market to be a part of the process, you not only get valuable feedback from your target market, you also create customers and potential referral partners.

One way in which you can do this is to run a beta test of a service or product. You may see big tech companies do this all the time. For example, PayPal has been slowly rolling out its new interface to users and they’ve been using the feedback they gather to make the service even better.

Going back to the example of my book, I sent it to quite a few people in my target market to read it and give me feedback. I was able to improve the content and when launch day came around they were the first people writing reviews and encouraging people to buy my book.

I’ve also done this with my online course, The Make Money Your Honey Academy. I ran a small beta test last year and am now using the feedback we gathered from participants to improve the program. Those original participants have also already agreed to become affiliates.

4. Engage in products similar to yours

Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You To Be Rich fame recently sent out an email to his list talking about the importance of knowing the “value” of what it is you offer. One of the ways in which to know that value is by having actually used products and services that were similar to what you are offering.

For example, if you intend to sell an online course, you can’t really convey the value of your online course if you’ve never taken an online course. You also can’t really build an online course if you have no idea what they entail because you’ve never taken one. Otherwise you’re going into this project completely blind!

This is a mistake I see often as a business coach. For example, let’s say you are trying to sell a certain product or service as an affiliate but you’ve never actually used it. How on earth are you supposed to convey its value and recommend it to people? Not only is it 10-times more difficult to sell something that way, it may also border on unethical in my book.

  • One of the reasons I can sell coaching is because I’ve been coached.
  • One of the reasons I can sell affiliate products is because I’ve actually used them.
  • One of the reasons I can sell a course is because I’ve taken lots of courses.

Final thoughts

Rather than spinning your wheels trying to come up with the perfect product or service that people will buy, consider just asking your target market what they are struggling with and what it is they need. By taking their needs into account and making them a part of the process, you create customers and raving fans.

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About the Author

Amanda Abella is an online business coach, speaker and author of the Amazon bestselling book - Make Money Your Honey. She is committed to helping individuals have a better relationship with work and money through entrepreneurship, online marketing and money mindset. Her work has been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, and more.

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