98% of aspiring business owners make the same mistake when they either start a business or attempt to market a business using digital marketing.
Years ago, I launched a dating consulting service, and I had no idea what I was doing. I wrote articles week after week, got some SEO traffic and backlinks. A year passed, and I had ZERO leads, much less zero sales. I only had a trickle of traffic coming to my website. I also spent a complete year re-designing my website, thinking it was a design issue.
Today, I have learned how to validate business and marketing ideas even before they are launched. Yes, and I’m going to show you how.
Example
In the dating coaching market I was entering, many of my competitors shouted at the top of their lungs: ‘you just have to follow your dreams and passions,’ ‘you just have to be yourself,’ and ‘you just have to be confident.’
However, instead of following the crowd, I niched down, did my customer research, and decided to only help single professional men in their thirties succeed in their dating life.
Is it Important to Validate Your Business Idea before Launching?
98% of new businesses fail. If you’re going to start a business, why not play to win and prepare a well-thought-out battle plan? That includes your marketing strategy, the channels you are going to reach your clients, and your ideal client avatar.
In fact, after running digital marketing campaigns for Singapore businesses, we’ve seen many digital marketing campaigns fail. It often boils down to a lack of research. Yes, marketing campaigns are won or lost before even spending a dollar in digital marketing.
The hopes, fears, and dreams of your clients, the market demand, your positioning, and your minimum viable product or service should all be determined way beforehand, even before you lift a finger to launch a website.
How to Do Customer Research
The Google keyword planner is one of the most powerful tools you can use. With the Google keyword planner, you can find out the rough number of queries people are typing into their Google search bars from every part of the world.
Can you imagine how powerful that data is? You can pre-plan your content and the targeted keywords months ahead before you even write a single word on your website.
Once, I was hired as an SEO consultant to market Six Sigma courses in Singapore. I was confident I could get leads for my client. Why? That’s because of the time-tested proven demand in Singapore for the last 24 months shown by Google keyword planner.
Through this keyword research process, you’ll have a rough estimate if the service or product you’re creating has validated demand. This is true whether you are launching a marketing campaign or a service-oriented business. You’re never going in blind; you’re going in with a game plan.
Is traffic enough to get you cash? Nope. However, if you rank your website around a service or a product that is in demand, you’ll be able to convert this website traffic to paying clients.
Stand Out with Unique Positioning
When you’re creating products and services, you should aim to create products and services that are competitive. When you create products and services that last the test of time, you can keep those products and services FOREVER. There’s no need to scramble after one magical tactic or gimmicky sales strategy month after month.
That is how you’ll stand out from the rest of the market. This means including copy into your content and site that helps you stand out from your competitors.
Positioning Examples
Here at our SEO agency services targeted at small to medium enterprise businesses in Singapore, our team focuses specifically on white hat link building.
That’s our A game. It’s not trading links amongst our client’s sites. It’s not sneaking backlinks into footer links. It is white hat link acquisition. Yes, and white hat links do help in traffic: and they too stand the test of time.
That is our positioning. That’s how our team stands out. Our team only works with SME business owners that are looking for real results. Understanding their pains: that backlinks are difficult to get.
Secondly, I used to be in the edtech space. One thing our businesses’ marketing campaigns stressed was audited track records. The internet is filled with finance educators who promise you extraordinary returns in their courses to get you to purchase their program online.
Our team positioned themselves differently. The use of social proof can be powerful in your marketing campaigns.
Our market isn’t to get quick-rich customers that may or may not give us the customer lifetime value or brand equity we’re looking for.
Conclusion
Ultimately, whether you are a growth professional running digital marketing campaigns or a newly minted business owner, it is IMPORTANT to do your customer research upfront before launching your business. Understand your ideal customer’s pains, desires, and fears before even spending a single dollar.