What you need to know about becoming a marketplace researcher.
The 3 M’s are the heart of your promotional process. If you want to grow your business, then it’s critical to understand how the market, your message, and media options play into your marketing programs. One of the most critical steps to take in order to understand the marketplace is to study it—and that is why we created our marketplace researcher form. A marketplace researcher is a form that we’ve created with a number of questions on it. We use this form to guide conversations with our best clients. Here is how you approach a client:
“Hey, Steve, it’s Mike. I’m starting a new marketing program, and I’m wondering if I might be able to get your help in developing this program.” (Remember, people love to help.)
Steve might say, “Yeah, Mike, I’d love to help you. What can I do for you?”
I continue. “What I’d like to do is buy you a cup of coffee or lunch and spend a few minutes with you to pick your brain on what’s going on in your marketplace. How does that sound?”
“Yeah, that sounds great.”
“How about Tuesday at 10 am? I’ll meet you over at your office. Does that work for you?”
At the appointment, I will ask Steve my predetermined marketplace researcher questions that dig in to what he’s thinking, what makes him happy, where his passions are, what he worries about, what he reads, how he responds to snail mail and what types he receives, and even what day he reads his mail.
If you want to reach the marketplace, you have to know all of this and more. You can’t create a message for that market until you understand completely what they’re thinking. Get the answers “straight from the horse’s mouth” rather than try to guess what people want because you are not a mind reader. If you simply ask for this information, you’ve got a huge head start on creating an effective message to reach them.
Like a doctor treating a patient, you can’t know where the pain exists until you do an examination. The marketplace researcher form is like performing a check-up on our market. Do your homework, connect with your marketplace, and understand what’s going on inside of their minds, as well as the current moods of the moment. It’s absolutely critical if you’re ever going to create something that will resonate with the marketplace.
Imagine you had to reach 500 people with an urgent message. This message simply MUST be heard and seen by all 500 people. For a matter of such extreme importance, what would you do to ensure that the message was received? Would you send an email? Maybe place a call? Perhaps you’d send a letter? A fax? A text message? A video? Reach out via social media? Chances are, you’d use all of those ways to connect and more to make sure 100 percent of your intended audience got the message. Why treat the communications from your business any differently? The message you want to spread to the marketplace is too important to rely on only a few media sources to deliver that message.
Every one of us is different. Some of us are visual—and we respond well to videos and other visual media. Some of us like to absorb through reading—and we respond well to emails and other printed information. Some of us are auditory—and we respond well to recorded audio messages. Some of us are tactile—and we want to feel and hold something in our hands like a direct mail piece. Why willingly exclude any of these types of people within your marketplace? That is why you set your goal to reach 100 percent of the marketplace using 100 percent of the tools available to you.
Put your messages out there in every form possible—and watch the business that will come flowing to you as a result. Be real with your messages, be honest, and be sincere. You’ll find that when you give of yourself, people are going to give of themselves as well.
To learn more about how to be successful in your business, contact Mike Stromsoe’s Unstoppable Profit Producer Program. We can offer guidance, helping you perfect your professional posture. We also offer a premier wealth creation program that helps you to work less, earn more, and enjoy life.