Episode 66

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Published on:

13th Nov 2024

66 | Stop Guessing and Start Doing Market Research (the easy way)

As an entrepreneur, you probably have SO many ideas. But it is a lot easier to sell offers when we create things that our people already want to buy right now. In this episode I break down 5 simple ways to do market research and what you should be finding out when you do your market research. DM me if you're potentially interested in the new program and I'll make sure to send you the pre-sale when it's available.

Transcript
Speaker:

I've coached nearly 100 women about their screen time,

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and here's what I've learned.

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Women actually don't care about their

screen time, they care about those things

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that are impacted by their screen time.

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Their ability to be patient with their

kids, the growth of their business,

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having time to pursue their creative

dreams, their relationship with their

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husband, the inner peace that they feel,

their confidence in themselves, their

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Connection with God, their friendships

not missing out on their kids' childhoods.

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I'm Alex and I'm here to

help you find inner peace.

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Enjoy true fulfillment

and be fully present.

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Welcome to the Mindful with Media Podcast.

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Welcome back to the podcast.

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As many of, you know, I

first started my business as.

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I didn't really know what I was doing,

but . Essentially, it was all about

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being intentional with screen time.

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And especially for moms to be.

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Intentional with her phone use and set

healthy boundaries around their phone use.

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And.

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I was super excited.

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I would have all these ideas for.

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Blog posts and content and offers.

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And I would.

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Create it and then put

it out there and then.

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Either very few people would

buy it or nobody would buy it.

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And.

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This is.

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Y you're an entrepreneur, right?

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You have these ideas that have

been given to you that you

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want to share with the world.

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And I've noticed this with clients

too, where they have this idea,

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they get really excited about it.

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And.

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They put it out there and then it doesn't

get the response that they want it to.

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And so I want to talk about

something today that can

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help you create offers that.

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Your.

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Audience actually wants to buy.

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But I do want to make a note

before we get into this, that.

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It's not just about your offer,

like your offer is one part of it.

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But.

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It's also your messaging

around your offer.

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It also is how much you talk about it.

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It's also how long you

talk about it, like.

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Those are all factors playing into.

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Having people actually

purchase what you're creating.

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But I just want to help you too.

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Make sure that you're spending

time creating things that

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people actually want to buy.

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And not only just that they want to

buy, but actually helped them with what

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they are currently struggling with.

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And with this, you know, as I shared,

I created many, many things that

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few or no people will purchased.

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And I truly believe that

no effort is wasted.

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That.

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It's not only.

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Worth something or a success if.

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Tens of people by something like

those things that I created, I

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learned things from creating those

and they serve it to me in ways that.

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Have helped me now it's

served clients and.

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So just remember that, that no effort.

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Is wasted.

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You don't have to only create perfect

products because those are not a thing.

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But I do feel like it's especially

important in the beginning

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stages of your business.

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When you're still working on.

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Creating consistent.

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Income that's reliable.

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To focus on creating.

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Offers that your people.

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Really really want.

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And so I want to teach

and share some ways to do.

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To stop.

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Guessing and stop just creating

whatever you want to create.

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And actually creating things

that your, your people want.

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And so I'll first talk about five

different ways you can do research.

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First way is through polls

on your Instagram stories.

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And these are the easiest.

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For people to respond to.

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And so.

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You know, they don't have to.

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It doesn't take much brain power to

just choose which option from the poll.

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Right.

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And so just some examples that you could

do for polls on your Instagram stories.

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You could say.

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I'm working on some new offers right now.

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Which one would be most

helpful for you right now?

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And then give them four options

of some offer ideas that you have.

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Or.

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What is the biggest thing that's

making it hard for you to.

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Whatever result that they might

want and then give them four

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options of things that might be.

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An obstacle for them.

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In.

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Getting whatever they want.

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Another idea for a poll you could use

is what do you want the most right now?

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And then give four options of dream

outcomes that they might desire.

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Good news.

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Help have them help you name your offer?

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Which name is most compelling?

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Give them four name ideas.

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Or.

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What do you re re do you relate with the

most and then give them four pain points.

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And then lastly, another poll idea

is how do you feel about, and then.

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Whatever topic that you are

thinking about creating an offer on.

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So email marketing or mindset work or.

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Managing your work time or whatever it is.

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And then you can have four options.

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Like.

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You know, Love it.

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It's going great.

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So hard.

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This is.

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You know, like kind of like, this

is really hard right now, somewhere

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in between, you can kind of get a

gauge for if that's something your

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people are really struggling with

or only kind of struggling with.

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So.

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How's the different ways to use the

polls on your Instagram stories.

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Second way that you can

do research is through.

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Question boxes and the

more specific, the better.

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So.

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Instead of asking, like,

how can I best help you?

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Or what do you want me to create for you?

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Or

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How do you feel about.

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Whatever, like that's a really hard

question to answer when someone is

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just tapping through their stories.

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Right.

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So we want to have something

that's really specific.

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And.

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' cause question boxes.

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Do take more effort for people to respond.

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Something.

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I love Caitlin priest.

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Is she when she'll do market

research through her stories?

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She'll say like at the beginning,

anyone who answers all these questions.

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I'll choose three of you to send

a gift card to, or to Venmo you.

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However much money.

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So that can be a helpful

way to incentivize people.

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To actually respond to those stories.

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So yeah, just like.

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Use more specific questions.

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So like what's one thing that's

making it hard for you to.

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Insert a super specific

result that they might want.

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So that's question marks boxes.

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And then we can use DMS.

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So DM research is like, One step deeper.

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Right?

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So we have poles, which

is like surface level.

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Question boxes gets a little bit.

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Better and more specific.

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And then DMS is like the next level of.

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Really getting.

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To know what people are thinking

and feeling and wanting.

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So one way to do this is just

post on your stories and say,

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I'm looking for, and then.

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Literally, literally

describe your ideal client.

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And then say, who would be willing

to help me out with some market

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research all then mail you $5.

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If you're willing to answer

a few questions via DM.

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Tap the sticker, if you're

interested and then.

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If they tap the sticker,

you send them some.

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I wouldn't do too many, but.

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Like three.

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To five max, maybe.

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Curated questions.

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And then, you know,

because it's DMS, you can.

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Go a little bit more in depth

and ask them more questions.

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If that would be helpful for you.

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Or you can reach out to.

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Some specific people, you know, choose

five specific people that you think

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might be part of your target market.

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And ask if they'd be willing to answer

a few questions to help you out.

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Again, you can offer to Venmo them.

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Is there.

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Thank you.

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And then send them those questions.

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Fourth way it gets old.

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Little bit deeper, actually, this is.

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Deep as we go with getting

to know what people want.

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Is one-on-one research calls.

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Again, you can find people

through your stories to do these.

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I'm looking for.

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Again, describe your ideal client.

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Who'd be willing to help me

out with some market research.

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I'll then know you.

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$10.

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If you're willing to answer some questions

on a 15 minute cost me, or you could do.

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30 minute, call 45

minute call an hour call.

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You can choose how long

you want that call to be.

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And then just have them tap the

sticker if they're interested

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or DMU, if they're interested.

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Oregon.

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You can reach out to specific people.

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And offer them an incentive.

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You don't have to, but.

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If you're having a hard time

getting people, you can offer them.

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An incentive, like money.

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And then on these calls, that's

where you can get really deep about.

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What, what do they want?

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And actually we'll get into that next,

as far as like what we should be.

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Making sure we find out in these research.

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You know, during our

mercy market research.

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And you can also the last like type of

research I wanted to touch on was forms.

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These are a little bit harder to

get people to fill out because

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they have to leave Instagram.

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Or.

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And you're not still not getting to like.

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Go back and forth with them on it.

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So.

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You can do a forum to have it all

in one place, but you may need to

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do some more incentivizing to, to

get them to fill out that form.

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So let's talk about what you want

to learn from market research.

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So the very first thing, and like, this is

the most important thing to figure out is

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what are your people wanting to pay for?

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And I want to make sure it's really

clear that this is different.

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From what your people want.

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We all want a lot of things in our lives.

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But where we're willing to pay for.

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As a little bit different.

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And I do want to make a note on that,

that if your people, your audience.

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Isn't willing to pay for the

type of services that you offer.

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Then you need to focus on a

different target audience.

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And that doesn't mean like, I

just want to give an example.

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So let's say that your.

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Your target audience is young moms.

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And maybe you have.

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A belief that young moms.

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Don't have extra money to spend

on whatever you're offering.

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I promise you, there are young

moms who have extra money.

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To spend.

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And so make sure that you're talking

to those young moms who have.

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The extra money and want to spend it on

what you're offering, even if it's just

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in your mind on who you're talking to.

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That can be really helpful.

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Messaging can help people

understand that they actually

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want what you're selling and that.

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They want to spend money on.

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On what you're offering.

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And so.

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Don't get so like caught up in.

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Creating things that.

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People want to pay for.

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But it can be helpful and it can

make it a lot easier to sell.

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Things, if people already

want to pay for them.

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And I love this concept.

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I've talked about this before.

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I'll never forget the coaching call,

where I learned this from Caitlin priest.

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Where she says, sell them what they want.

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Give them what they need.

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And.

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You know what they need.

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But it's probably different from what they

think they need or they think they want.

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And so just keep that in mind,

as you're creating offers,

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create offers that people want.

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And then in the offer, you can give

them what they want and what they need.

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Okay.

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So.

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We want to make sure we find out

what people are wanting to pay for.

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We want to make sure that.

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We find out what do they want right now?

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Not just like, what do they want?

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Sometime eventually that'd be nice.

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Like what are they willing to pay for?

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And what do they really want?

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Right now.

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And then what format do they prefer?

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This is actually surprisingly important.

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The format that's best.

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Four.

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Your person, is it a.

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PDF guide.

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Is it a.

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Private podcasts like an audio training.

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Live group calls live one-on-one

calls, a physical workbook

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recorded video trainings.

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Certain things are easier

or harder for people to.

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To use and access.

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And so that actually can make

a significant difference.

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On if people buy it is

the, the format of it.

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And also with that.

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Which format is most likely to

help them get the result they want.

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So as an example of this.

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I've mentioned that I would love

to qualify for the Boston marathon.

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And.

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If I'm training for that.

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There are a lot of

different ways that I could.

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Pay someone to help me with that.

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I could pay someone.

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And they could write up a whole.

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Document.

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About everything that I need to do

to qualify for the Boston marathon.

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And that could be helpful.

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But what would be super helpful?

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Is if someone lived at my house

and they woke me up in the morning

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and they had me go out running

and they kept me at the pace.

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And then they.

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Planned all my meals and

they made all my food for me.

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Right.

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Like that's a very different

experience than just okay.

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Read this whole document

and figure out what to do.

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And there's obviously like

varying degrees in between there.

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Of.

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How.

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How you can help someone.

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I think some other examples that

I didn't, I didn't Share as far as

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different formats, but this is why I love.

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Boxer challenges.

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Cause it kind of breaks it down into.

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Smaller steps and it's more digestible or.

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Marco polo challenges or.

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And it really will depend

on your target audience.

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Like what is most helpful for that?

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That type of person specifically.

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And I also will say with this,

like with the format, like.

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You matter in this equation

too, as far as like what's.

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Easiest for you.

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And.

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That's that's an important

part of the equation.

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And obviously like the price is

impacted by what the format is.

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If you're living at someone's house

and making them food and waking

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them up every day, that's going to.

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Be a higher price point than.

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Just a document with everything.

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So.

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You can do research.

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Through.

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Instagram and through.

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One-on-one calls.

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And you want to make sure you find out.

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What do people want to pay for?

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And what are they want

right now and which format.

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Is as best.

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And kind of with format, you can also.

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Ask about like length of time, like,

you know, As far as, like, if it's

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like a program of some sort, like.

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You know, A one-time call or a six

week program or a six month program

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where a year long program, like.

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Just what timing people

are most interested in.

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And also with all this, I kind of

mentioned this at the beginning, but.

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The more, you.

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Like as you.

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Get systems set up and have

programs and offers and things.

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I do think market research

has always important.

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You probably won't have

to do it quite as much.

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Because.

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If you have one-on-one clients,

you're hearing constantly

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what people are asking about.

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And if you hear those

same things repeated.

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Then that's how, you know, What

your next offer is because you hear

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these same things over and over, or.

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You know, you can kind of see results

from certain programs like what's working.

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What's not working.

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But these like actual, like talking to

people and having conversations initially.

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Is really, really powerful to make

sure that you're spending your time.

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Creating things that

your people want to buy.

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And.

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I did want to make a note.

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If you are receipt, reaching

out to people individually.

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I think I said, especially for like

those Instagram DMS or the one-on-one

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research calls, if you're reaching

out to specific people That you think

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might have some helpful information.

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To do some market help.

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You do some market research.

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Make sure that you're not

attached to that specific person.

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Like, you know, let's say you

talk with someone, you get

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some good information for them.

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You create the offer based on like

what they say they would want.

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Don't hold on to the idea that that

person is going to buy your offer.

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Like.

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This is just to get an idea

of what your people want.

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And you could even

offer it to that person.

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Or those people for free as a thank you.

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And you can even ask, like, you know, Hey,

I created this based on our conversation.

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I have it for free.

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I'd love more feedback.

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And you could have them

continue to help with that.

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And making the offer a little bit better.

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And with all of this, like as

you're doing market research.

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Even just your whole business.

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Just experiment.

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So as you get answers to things,

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Create things, test things, find

out what feels best for you and what

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is resonating most for your people.

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Run beta groups run.

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Beta.

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One-on-one packages.

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And this is also why mini offers

are so powerful and helpful.

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And if you haven't heard me RD.

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I get on my spiel about many offers.

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You can go back and listen to.

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Episodes 62 63 and 64.

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And I talk more about what those are and.

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By they're so helpful and how

to come up with many offers.

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So based on my market research that

I have been doing, I have found

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that many of you would love help on.

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Knowing how to consistently

make money from your business.

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You've made some money,

but not consistently.

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And.

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You've learned a lot about

running a business and.

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How to make money from a business, but.

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You're having a hard time

actually making it happen.

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Whether that's because you're

overwhelmed by everything.

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Or.

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All the steps that people tell you to

do take way longer than you'd like.

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Or you do things and you put things

out and then not as many people

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buy things, as you think they will.

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That's what I have noticed.

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And so I am creating a program.

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That will walk you through a

seven step fail-proof formula.

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To help you consistently make

money from your business.

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And.

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If you're willing to slow down.

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And follow this process.

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I can help you.

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Set up your business so that you

are consistently making money.

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So if you're potentially interested,

make sure to send me a DM.

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And I will send you the pre-sale.

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Details when it's available.

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Thanks so much for joining me today.

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And as always, I would love to

hear from you if this episode

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resonated for you at all.

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Thanks so much.

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And we'll talk to you next week.

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About the Podcast

Mindful with Media
This is the podcast for entrepreneurial moms who want to grow a meaningful, profitable business without sacrificing their other priorities (like spending time with their kids or getting enough sleep).

Host Alex Fales—business coach, mindset mentor, and mom—shares honest conversations, simple strategies, and powerful mindset shifts to help you and make money doing work you love and grow as a person while you're at it.

Expect solo episodes, authentic chats, and real-life stories that help you blend business strategy with personal growth, so you can build a business that supports your life (not the other way around).

Because you don’t need more hustle.
You need clarity, confidence, and the courage to do business your way.