How I Rock the Web on John Haydon’s Blog
John Haydon, owner of JohnHaydon.com, invited me to write a guest post on his blog. Please feel free to visit, comment and share: “How I Use Social Media for Business.”
It’s warm and fuzzy. I promise.
Thanks, John!
5 Ways to Conduct Market Research on a Shoestring Budget
Whether you are a big business or small business, market research is always important. Without it, all of your carefully made plans and hours spent creating your service or product will be wasted.
There’s no point in trying to sell a product that no one wants.
And honestly, you don’t need a huge budget to conduct market research. If you wanted to, you could purchase reports from market research agencies; they spend a lot of time and money creating reports that will tell you if it’s worth trying to sell your products in a certain market to a certain kind of person. If you can afford it, that’s great.
But for those of us who don’t have the start-up capital to pay out thousands of dollars to these firms, we have to conduct out own market research.
So here are 5 ways a small business can conduct market research on a budget:
We Should Always Market Like There’s a Recession
The recession has had devastating effects on our families, friends, businesses and towns. Watching things unravel around us, we’re worried about taking risks and unwilling to spend money where we can’t measure the return on investment. I’ve reduced my own marketing budget and I’m constantly looking for creative methods of connecting with people.
Advertising is expensive and becoming less effective, so how do we create awareness when times are even more dire? We need to add low cost marketing strategies to our existing business plans and get back to the basics. Find ways to advertise and create conversations about our businesses without exceeding our budgets or putting our businesses in jeopardy.
Use Public Relations and Find Stories that Fit Your Business
Let’s get creative, throw out the old rules and start breaking some new ground. We’re most creative when the options that were readily available to us quickly disappear. That’s where PR comes in. When we can’t rely on the traditional advertising methods and techniques we need to expand our options and search for solutions that extend our reach and add credibility to our businesses. We can read the news, follow journalists and media outlets in our areas and find ways we can connect with issues and involve our businesses in the solutions.
Show Your Customers You’re Still There For Them
Add more Public Relations practices to your plan. I’m not talking about media relations, but “public” relations. Even if you have a small client base, reach out your previous and existing customers and give them a reason to talk about you and pass on your message. Offer some low-cost incentives for being loyal to your company. Consider customer appreciate days or contests that reward customers for their opinions and loyalty. We can’t be afraid to ask for opinions and feedback. Although we don’t like criticism, it can mean the difference between survival and bankruptcy.
Fill the Gaps Your Competitors are Leaving
We need to stay one step ahead of the competition. They’re being hit with the recession, too. While they’re pulling back, we can push our businesses forward with consistent positive communications. It’s not difficult to differentiate ourselves when we’re listening to your customer’s most immediate concerns. We need to ensure we know where people are talking about us and what they are saying. We can’t afford to miss an opportunity to create an open and positive conversation with our business community. We’re not the only ones looking for gaps and if we’re not paying attention, someone else will step in and take over the conversation.
Always Focus on Building Your Story
Businesses have survived recessions before and what we need to remember is people are still going to buy products and services and plan for the future. They’re just being cautious and becoming more educated about their purchases. When customers search for products to purchase they’re going to be looking for trustworthy companies that are generate positive buzz.
I believe that the recession is best time assess our marketing efforts and create a plan that focuses more on the benefits of our products and the relationships with our customers. Once we start using non-traditional marketing and stepping away from the expected methods of advertising, it’s easy to realize how disconnected from our customers we’ve become.
Public relations isn’t just about what media attention can do for us. It’s about being part of the story and giving people something to talk about. Read the newspaper and watch the news, the people who get the most exposure are the people who put their customers and communities first.
People are changing the way they live. We just have to figure out how we fit into the picture.
Evaluating Your Customer Service
“All I want is one widget.”
For the client, it’s simple and direct.
They need something, they call, someone answers the phone takes their order, sends the product with their invoice and boom: they have their one widget. They’re happy. They tell everyone they meet that they’re happy.
People understand that you’re a great company to work with because no matter how simple the need, you fill it.
“All they want is one widget.”
For the small business that doesn’t understand this and needs to sell widgets by the hundreds per client to increase their profits, it’s a hassle.
The client is demanding just one small widget, the commission is low, the quoting process is long and drawn out, so you push the client need to the bottom of the list.
You’ll get back to it once you’ve filled the orders of your “important” and “big budget” clients. So, the client calls again. You tell them you’ll get back to them as soon as possible and, once again, the client waits. Their need becomes more urgent and they watch their deadlines slip past, but still no call. Now, they’re not happy. They vow never to return.
They tell everyone they’re not happy and not to bother contacting your company. The people they talked to continue to spread the word about your shoddy customer service to their own contacts. The potential for lost clientele continues to grow.
People start to understand that you don’t value their business and your focus is on pleasing only the big budget clients.
So, if you’re a small business or entrepreneur, how do you handle your client needs?
Do you rank them based on potential value, first come first serve, or do you treat everyone the same because your main goal is to have happy customers, no matter how big their budget, spreading the word about your customer service.
Starting an Online Business?
Are you thinking of expanding your business into the online marketplace?
Don’t waste hours, days or even weeks looking for start-up business information on the internet.
In How to Start a Business Website and Hire a Web Designer, the Remarkablogger, Michael Martine, shares secrets that will help you determine the perfect website for your business needs, maximize your search engine potential, find a skilled and reliable web designer, and have complete control over the entire process from start to finish.
The main goal of the book is to help businesses with no internet experience by defining common website terms, and explaining the most important factors involved in:
- Getting a Domain Name
- Getting Web Hosting
- Understanding What a CMS is (and Why You Want One)
- Hiring the Right Web Designer for the Job
If you are interested in starting an online business and don’t have time for a lot of run around and hype, this book is for you. Martine provides step-by-step information from picking and registering a domain name to hiring a designer and launching your business. His conversational tone leads you seamlessly from one chapter to the next. It’s a fantastic online business starter-kit. Before reading this book, I didn’t understand the many different ways a business owner can lose money by choosing the wrong website and designer.
If you don’t know what you are looking for or how to tell the difference between a CMS or Non-CMS site:
Clients hire and pay me to fix these kinds of mistakes. They pay for the mistake twice over: once when they make it and once more when I fix it. Now, I like money just as much as the next guy. I still have to charge for my services, but it’s just not right that these good people got screwed before they met me. So I decided to write this book as a way to arm you with the right information to get a website and hire a designer in today’s world of online business.
For only $24.97 USD, Martine explains what to look for in a website, how to find the right Web Designer, the most important web design questions, and the one must-have website feature that gives you complete control over your investment.
The processes and strategies provided throughout the book can be used to screen any online outsourcing service. Martine reminds his audience of the many traps business owners encounter when hiring services over the internet. But he doesn’t stop there, he also reminds readers that professionals who offer freelance services should be treated with the same respect that they would expect during any business transaction.
This is a valuable resource. The lay-out is clean and easy to navigate. It’s quick reference for people who are serious about getting their business online right now. Bullet-points and tables help to simplify and organize the most important information. You can see how much Martine cared about this project by the amount of information that was researched and included in this book. I’ll certainly be implementing the techniques to discover what the competition is optimizing for.
And he doesn’t just tell you what you should look for, he gives you features and resources that you can compare and use right now!
It’s definitely worth more than the low price of $24.97 USD!
So, if your interested in avoiding costly start-up business mistakes, click the Buy It Now button below to be directed to the check-out, or use the link in the sidebar to read more information and testimonials about the book.
Buying this book now will save you time and money in the future. Read it before you spend a dime on online business services.
Know what you need. Get exactly what you want!
Pamela Weir is a Content Copywriter. If you are looking for a sales writer with experience creating website content, press releases, squeeze pages, and sales pages, please visit her Copywriting Services page for information.
