›Spending too little time understanding your target market

›Targeting too broad an audience

›Targeting too small an audience

›Not knowing your prospects true desires

›Guessing instead of researching

Marketing and becoming successful online comes down to one or two things, you are either spending time or you are spending money, and quite often you are spending both. And I’m pretty sure you’ll agree, that neither one of those two things is something you want to waste, right? Waste time, and you’re never going to get it back.

Doing market research properly isn’t wasting time. Spending too little time on understanding your target market is!

Because in the end it leads to wasting money and making mistakes.

Targeting too broad an audience is the same thing – all animal lovers are not going to need dog training. Targeting too small an audience can raise your costs in advertising, while also never fully launching in the first place, because you are reliant on a market that is limited and if they don’t buy, what do you do then?

Not knowing your prospects true desires means you probably aren’t going to be able to communicate with them, and touch them at an emotional level. And this is really important. It’s about knowing your prospects at a deeper level, understanding what makes them tick, and what they want.

For example, I began affiliate marketing partly because I wanted to make more money, but knowing why that was important to me is also really important. If you’d have asked me why I wanted to make more money, I’d have told you I wanted security for my family and freedom for myself. It all comes down to the feeling, and there are many feelings behind our initial reasons. For that reason I was often put off by the marketing of those that overly played the money thing, like it was the be all and end all. I am someone who dislikes the fear tactics of some marketers, and that’s because at a deep level I wanted security, but I also valued choice. Knowing this would help if you wanted to sell to me, and it’s why I bought into Wealthy Affiliate.

Guessing instead of researching, this is another big mistake. You do not want to guess! Now at the outset of looking into a niche we all have some ideas surrounding the niche. Whether that be weight loss, whether it be selling pet toys, whatever it might be, you aren’t likely to choose something you know nothing about, so you will have some ideas and that’s great, because you want to start somewhere.

But you don’t then want to allow this to be what you base your marketing on. You need to validate your ideas. You need to make sure they will lead you to understanding your ideal prospect and eventual customer. You owe it to them to understand them. You are providing a service after all. You are putting the products they want in front of them, and then allowing them to buy them in the easiest way possible. You won’t need to use fear tactics, although you will understand what their fears are.

Spending time on your market research leads to ethical selling. It leads to knowing your customers and developing relationships with them that last. It leads to repeat business and also leads to the best form of marketing you can ask for – word of mouth.