Internet Marketing - Ever Tried Beef Steak In Your Fish Hook? - Internet Marketing Australia

Don't try. It simply won't work. If you want to catch fish, you need to have in the hook what fish like, not what you like.

The most common mistake we, internet marketers, do is trying to sell what we like, not what our market likes.

This is the first lesson in marketing: To understand our market thoroughly. And research is the best known tool yet.

In an earlier article, I explained the concept of the Search Continuum, which is part of Dr. Glenn's Market Research methodology. I'll continue to show how, by focusing on the beginning of the Search Continuum, you could hope to find many customers with general, less expensive needs, being met by few competitors.

Surveying the market is an important component of any marketing. You must know exactly what your target customer wants, and the reason he or she is looking for that information, before deciding on how to satisfy him or her.

Now, it is very important to realize that one question survey approaches leave a lot to be desired. This kind of survey, which asks about a single desire of the customer, was popularized by Ed Dale and Frank Kern, the authors of "The Underachiever's Method".

What your prospective customer is looking for in a particular item, and the reason behind his or her search intention, must also be queried. Put yourself in a customer's shoes. For instance, assume you are thinking of buying a cockatiel for your daughter, and you want to know how long the pet bird will live. If through the survey, you reveal that the reason behind this query is that the last time round the pet bird died in 6 months, and the death devastated your daughter, we can put this info to good use, by calming your fears, and reassuring you that their normal life span is 8 years. Thus, we can strike home base with you, and make the sale.

A mistake many of us marketers frequently make is that we think that by just asking the customer his or her most important reason for searching, we have finished the job. Sadly, that is not so. For instance, supposing in a survey, your customers say that their prime reason for searching is to find out how long cockatiels live; you cannot think that you can make the sale just by telling them the pet will live for so many years.

You must go farther, and further probe the mind of the customer, like a psychologist, and understand all of the customer's doubts, frustrations, concerns, and problems and provide convincing answers. In addition, you should make the book holistic, giving every little detail your customer needs to know about cockatiels as a pet, in order to induce him/ her to buy. All this, together, will help the customer perceive the true value of your book, which will prompt him/ her to buy it, paying a decent price.

Summarizing, an advanced survey method is essential to understanding the workings of your customers' minds, and contributing to your being ahead in the niche market of your choice than a single-question, over-simplified survey.

There are many more things to know, and I will discuss them in future articles.