How do you know if there is a market for your product?
 

I know you find a need and then fill it. It is also said the best product to sell is one you created yourself. Informational/electronic products being the best. But what if you have found a niche and an idea. How do you find out if it will sell? For instance, I like word search puzzles. My children like word search puzzles. I have an idea for creating word search puzzles with a twist that is different than the normal everyday wordsearch puzzle on paper to be solved with pen or pencil. How would I go about finding out if this "new" product will sell? I plan on creating some and selling them on ebay to test the waters. Any other advice/suggestions?

Thanks,
Ken

Several Comments...
 

Good questions and interesting observations, I'll give you my own personal spin on each (for whatever it is worth...)

> I know you find a need and then fill it.

Finding "needs" (I feel) is one of the most difficult things in the world to do. We could argue that you look for "wants" or "needs & wants & urgency" but I'll leave the semantics behind by saying--I know what you mean.

I think finding a "need" for a retail or restaurant venture is much, much easier than finding them for mail-order or on-line businesses. For these brick & mortar type businesses quite often its easiest just to compare the businesses in your area with those in other areas. Adjust for population and open a business in your area in an under-served product category.

I've found that profitable on-line and mail-order product ideas are much more difficult to come by. I think there are a lot of potential products but the cost and/or difficulty in finding a target market keeps these potential products from being profitable.

In a bricks & mortar business you tie up bunches of money in a building but if you're bright you can limit your risk by easily finding products or categories of products undersold in your market.

In a mail-order or on-line business you don't have the cost of a building and all that stuff... but you also don't have an easy way of making sure your product offering(s) are going to be profitable. This is where the whole testing thing comes into play. An on-line or mail-order business has to invest in testing... and probably a lot of tests concerning a great many products until a "gold nugget" can be mined. Very, very rarely is someone going to make a profit off their first product. I'm not saying it can't happen because I'm sure it has but the chances are pretty poor (in my opinion).

Anyway going back to my original thought "finding a need" and "finding a profitable need" are two entirely different things.

> It is also said the best product to sell is one
> you created yourself.

As I get older I tend to strongly disagree with this. Why?

I've met very few people in my lifetime and I'm talking a lot of very skilled business people that had the skills necessary to be both product developer and product marketer (not too mention all the various subsets included like "engineering, sales, human resources, r&d and what not".

Yeah, yeah I know we're probably talking about a small one-person-work-at-home type on-line business here but I still believe it's very difficult to create and sell (successfully) your own products. Yes, there are people doing it but I would be willing to bet there are many, many more that aren't doing it well. They're either into the product development or they're into the marketing. And I think there are many, many great products out there that aren't being marketed well that you only have to approach these owners/developers and do a joint-venture.

Mail-order legend Jim Straw has said repeatedly that knowing what he knows he would never develop his own products. (Jim, if I'm wrong about this just jump in and burst my bubble!)

To hit a "home-run" with a product you need to be at the top of your game and that means with marketing and with a product that is top notch. Most people I feel don't have the capacity to do both and do them well.

> Informational/electronic products being the
> best.

I don't think that's necessarily true. Why? Because you don't have any inventory investment? Inventory investment should only be a small piece of the puzzle. And it (inventory cost) should rank below the quality of the target market and the ease of accessing that target market. You show me a product that is selling well in a test mode and I'm sure I can find you money for inventory.

> But what if you have found a niche and
> an idea. How do you find out if it will
> sell? For instance, I like word search
> puzzles. My children like word search
> puzzles. I have an idea for creating word
> search puzzles with a twist that is
> different than the normal everyday
> wordsearch puzzle on paper to be solved with
> pen or pencil. How would I go about finding
> out if this "new" product will
> sell? I plan on creating some and selling
> them on ebay to test the waters. Any other
> advice/suggestions?

Is this a product that can be marketed through classifieds? or display ads? or inserts? or radio? or billboards? in other words I need more info.

As far as ebay goes--for many products ebay should be considered a "wholesale" market. In other words people are buying and selling at perceived wholesale prices. These are folks looking for a 'deal' and they may or may not represent the best target audience for your product. I don't think your results from an ebay test would necessarily mean anything. You may find that you have to sell your product at a very low price in order to attract any buyers. And what does that get you other than a few sales at a low profit? Unless you intend to sell entirely on ebay you're going to have to have some profit reserved for marketing... and order processing... and fulfillment... and customer service... and r & d for the next product because it is a rare product indeed that is profitable all its lonesome (not too mention you end up wasting the rapport you've created by selling one person a product they're very happy with).

> Thanks,
> Ken

Thank you Ken for providing a good post to comment on...

Take care,

Mike Winicki

Re: Several Comments...
 

Mike,

Thanks for your comments.

> Is this a product that can be marketed
> through classifieds? or display ads? or
> inserts? or radio? or billboards? in other
> words I need more info.

I'm not sure what additional info you need? This would be an "electronic version" of a word search puzzle(s). Not sure how to test, which is what I am asking for I guess. How would I test to see if there is a viable market out there? How do you go about "finding" potential customers?

Thanks,
Ken

> As far as ebay goes--for many products ebay
> should be considered a "wholesale"
> market. In other words people are buying and
> selling at perceived wholesale prices. These
> are folks looking for a 'deal' and they may
> or may not represent the best target
> audience for your product. I don't think
> your results from an ebay test would
> necessarily mean anything. You may find that
> you have to sell your product at a very low
> price in order to attract any buyers. And
> what does that get you other than a few
> sales at a low profit? Unless you intend to
> sell entirely on ebay you're going to have
> to have some profit reserved for
> marketing... and order processing... and
> fulfillment... and customer service... and r
> & d for the next product because it is a
> rare product indeed that is profitable all
> its lonesome (not too mention you end up
> wasting the rapport you've created by
> selling one person a product they're very
> happy with).

> Thank you Ken for providing a good post to
> comment on...

> Take care,

> Mike Winicki

Once again....
 

another "BassAckwards" attempt to make money selling something.

I don't know why it is people continue to come up with products "they" think are "needed or wanted" ... then try to find a market for the product.

You should take a look at a certain "niche" group (people who love to work puzzles) and create something these folks have ALREADY PROVED they WILL BUY!

You should then find out ALL the names of the people who have sold these items to this "niche" and see if you can buy a list of buyers.

You should also find out what this "niche" reads, magazines, newsletters, ezines... and buy ads in those and submit News Releases to them.

These people in this "niche" possibly also have a "Discussion Board" or 2 they frequent. Get on those boards with your "tag Links" to your sales letter on your website.

Also...submit articles to these ezines, magazines and newsletters. Publishers are HUNGRY for info to feed their "niches".

Don Alm




Make Money Sending Faxes for Deli's!

Re: Once again....
 

Don,

Thank your for your comments and suggestions. PLease see my responses and additional questions below your comments.

Thanks,
Ken

> another "BassAckwards" attempt to
> make money selling something.

> I don't know why it is people continue to
> come up with products "they" think
> are "needed or wanted" ... then
> try to find a market for the product.

> You should take a look at a certain
> "niche" group (people who love to
> work puzzles) and create something these
> folks have ALREADY PROVED they WILL BUY!

I think I have done this, the niche would be people who love to do word search puzzles like me and my family.

> You should then find out ALL the names of
> the people who have sold these items to this
> "niche" and see if you can buy a
> list of buyers.

How do I go about doing this?

> You should also find out what this
> "niche" reads, magazines,
> newsletters, ezines... and buy ads in those
> and submit News Releases to them.

Again good suggestion but I need to know how I
would find out this type of information.

> These people in this "niche"
> possibly also have a "Discussion
> Board" or 2 they frequent. Get on those
> boards with your "tag Links" to
> your sales letter on your website.

Where can a find a list of all these "discussion boards" ? Is there such a thing? How do you locate discussion groups?

> Also...submit articles to these ezines,
> magazines and newsletters. Publishers are
> HUNGRY for info to feed their
> "niches".

> Don Alm

Again Don, Thanks for all your helpful
suggestions. I look forward to your replies.

Ken

Answers
 

> Don,

> Thank your for your comments and
> suggestions. PLease see my responses and
> additional questions below your comments.

> Thanks,
> Ken

> I think I have done this, the niche would be
> people who love to do word search puzzles
> like me and my family.

> How do I go about doing this?

> Again good suggestion but I need to know how
> I
> would find out this type of information.

A) Call your Library Reference dept and ask if they have a copy of the book "Standard Rate & Data". Look in the "List subject" section for BUYERS of products similar to yours. You will have to buy a min of 5,000 names.

> Where can a find a list of all these
> "discussion boards" ? Is there
> such a thing? How do you locate discussion
> groups?

A) Here's a link to Discussion Forums;
http://www.forum-tracker.com

A) Also check this site for lists of ezines of prospects; http://www.directoryofezines.com
Ruth was keeping this site up to date.

Also...check for a 'Directory of Newsletters" (I forgot what the actual name is) at Google. The library reference section may also have this directory. Look in the "subject" section of the Newsletter Directory for subjects that you think might appeal to your niche group.

Send these ezines and newsletters a "News Release". Publishers are ALWAYS HUNTING for stuff they can put into their pubs so as to keep their subscribers...subscribin'.

Best of success to you....a little perseverence could pay off.

Don Alm
> Again Don, Thanks for all your helpful
> suggestions. I look forward to your replies.

> Ken




Some of my Unique, money-making programs.

Also....
 

By looking thru the Standard Rate & Data book you can find "niche" markets that might trigger your brain to create something for that market.

Example: Some years ago there was a full page ad in the tabloids showing a plastic Buddha with the heading..."Rub The Buddha's Tummy For Luck!"

The plastic Buddha was selling for $7 plus postage. I thought, "WHO would spend the TIME to even send an order for this thing?"

Was I shocked when I looked in the SRD book and found there was a list of BUYERS for rent and the list was 3 MILLION!

So...what do I know?

And...a few people who rented the list also knew that anyone who pays 7bux for a plastic Buddha will ALSO spend money for a "Rabbit's Foot Keychain" and other "lucky" items.

So...check the SRD book to see what people are ACTUALLY spending money on...then try to come up with something similar to sell to that niche.

Don Alm

> A) Call your Library Reference dept and ask
> if they have a copy of the book
> "Standard Rate & Data". Look
> in the "List subject" section for
> BUYERS of products similar to yours. You
> will have to buy a min of 5,000 names.

> A) Here's a link to Discussion Forums;
> http://www.forum-tracker.com A) Also check
> this site for lists of ezines of prospects;
> http://www.directoryofezines.com Ruth was
> keeping this site up to date.

> Also...check for a 'Directory of
> Newsletters" (I forgot what the actual
> name is) at Google. The library reference
> section may also have this directory. Look
> in the "subject" section of the
> Newsletter Directory for subjects that you
> think might appeal to your niche group.

> Send these ezines and newsletters a
> "News Release". Publishers are
> ALWAYS HUNTING for stuff they can put into
> their pubs so as to keep their
> subscribers...subscribin'.

> Best of success to you....a little
> perseverence could pay off.

> Don Alm




Make Money From Restaurants

Re: Also....
 

> By looking thru the Standard Rate & Data
> book you can find "niche" markets
> that might trigger your brain to create
> something for that market.

> Example: Some years ago there was a full
> page ad in the tabloids showing a plastic
> Buddha with the heading..."Rub The
> Buddha's Tummy For Luck!"

> The plastic Buddha was selling for $7 plus
> postage. I thought, "WHO would spend
> the TIME to even send an order for this
> thing?"

> Was I shocked when I looked in the SRD book
> and found there was a list of BUYERS for
> rent and the list was 3 MILLION!

> So...what do I know?

> And...a few people who rented the list also
> knew that anyone who pays 7bux for a plastic
> Buddha will ALSO spend money for a
> "Rabbit's Foot Keychain" and other
> "lucky" items.

> So...check the SRD book to see what people
> are ACTUALLY spending money on...then try to
> come up with something similar to sell to
> that niche.

> Don Alm

Don,

Thanks for all the great suggestions.

Ken