Before going out to sell your products, it is important to test-market them to see if there is a demand for it. Otherwise you might end up investing time and resources on something that few are keen to buy.
Test-marketing your products can also help you:
- get feedback on your products for future improvements
- set a price for your products
- determine the appropriate distribution channels
- improve your marketing strategies
Some of the ways that you can test-market your products are:
- Conduct a public survey at places such as bus stops, shopping malls and beaches, to gather feedback on your products. By engaging potential customers directly, you can learn more about their likes and dislikes and fine-tune the features of your products.
- Logon to online forums or newsgroups to discuss your products. This is a quick and easy way to solicit views at little cost.
- Organise a focus group session. This could be an informal arrangement with family and friends or a more formal session with a few potential customers. Having a group discussion offers opportunities to brainstorm for ideas on how to improve your products.
By encouraging free and easy discussion, you might also gain better insights into the customer's thoughts and feelings about the products.
- Attend trade shows and networking opportunities with other professionals of the same trade to learn more about the industry and market trends. You might also be able to find products similar to yours which can help benchmark your own product's features.
