Test Your Market, Then Create The Product

Test Your Market, Then Create The Product

For most of the year of 2003 we ran home buyer workshops. A huge amount of work with limited results and very long term payoff? Then I received an e-mail from Dean Jackson at www.deanjackson.com suggesting setting up a booklet or brochure offering Free Pricing Information for a specific area? Sounded good to me? So off we set to test, like all good marketers do?

Initially we thought that a book on First Time Buyer Pricing info would be a hit. we also focused in on a particular region and a booklet on Loft Living in the City of Toronto – featuring original lofts instead of the new condo lofts? The items in total to test, test, test. I expected the first to be a hit, the Region book to come in second and with the glut of lofts and condos the loft guide to be last.

The results were reversed? This shows the importance of testing a concept and also your titles before you spend time and energy producing a product for the marketplace? We ran small ads within our full page buyer workshop ad.

Then we created a full page add in a local Homes magazine offering the three products. First ad results, loft living 59 hits, York Region Guide 25 hits, First time home buyers guide, 5 hits. Had we not run the add first before producing the product, I would have spent a few days of my time developing the wrong brochure.

The lofts are glamorous and relative to everything else in the marketplace they are the newbie on the block. They trigger curiousity? However we have found most folks end up buying something else? For either cost considerations ( much more expensive to carry than initially advertised) or space considerations? such as too open, too noisy etc.

So what is my point?.. Before you spend a great deal of time creating a product? make sure it is what they market wants. Test , test, test? Either on the internet? checking hits on key words at overture or in your local market initially with small classified ads and then something larger when you see a response. Then create the product?

In our case the Toronto Price book was not worth creating? We called these folks and offered them something equally if not more valuable? Our Credit Guide.

See you next time. Aeriol
P.S. you can make comments on the blog if you wish? Best. A.