How to Do Market Research for Your Niche

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As a Christ-centered business coach, I help women business owners who are feeling stuck and frustrated in their business develop a brand that magnetically attracts her ideal client.

We can try so hard to appeal to everybody but when we do that

our language,
the sentences we use,
the problems we try to solve,

become so watered down that we are really just noise.

So, we actually repel our ideal client because she can’t really figure out what we’re trying to help her with.

Before you can attract your ideal client, you have to know what she is struggling with.

What is her problem, and where is she frustrated in her business?

Once you know that, you can then look at what you offer and ask yourself, “How can I help her?”

But how do you know what your ideal client is struggling with?

You have to do your market research.

And when you are just starting out, that can seem quite overwhelming. But it really isn’t.

I have a few suggestions for you around conducting market research when you don’t have a huge social following or your own Facebook group to poll.

Niche Specific & Business-Building Facebook Groups

I am a part of many business-building Facebook groups.

Within these groups are women who come together to help encourage each other, lift each other up, network and provide training to each other.

For me, these are the perfect place to do market research because they are filled with women working to make their business successful.

For you, the niche may be very different like a moms of toddlers group, homeschool group, fitness instructor support group, artists group – seriously there is a group that has your people in it!

There are some great questions you can ask to help gather the information you need.

First, be sure to follow the rules within the group. They may be posted as an announcement or in the description of the group.

Larger, well-run Facebook communities have rules about the kinds of posts that can be made each day and may have specific hashtags to use.

I belong to one group that allows you to ask any question of the group on Tuesdays as long as you use the hashtag #tellmetuesday. Be up front that you are conduction market research and the kind of person you really want to answer your questions.

For example, I am working on a new freebie about defining your niche. So I asked the following question in one of my groups filled with women business owners:

“In your business right now, are you completely clear on your niche? If not, what questions do you have? Why do you think you are struggling to settle in on a specific niche? I am doing some market research to help me develop a new lead magnet and mini-course for my coaching business. Your answers are greatly appreciated to make sure I am putting together information and training that will be SUPER helpful!! And if you don’t mind, would you share how you describe your niche currently?”

See. Super easy. And the responses are so helpful!

Don’t be afraid to post something like that in a couple of groups and even on your personal profile or your business page.

Gather all the intel you can!

BUT – don’t just take from these groups. Schedule a little time each week to go into those groups and answer relevant questions, like and follow others in the groups.

Search for keywords that are relevant to your niche and business and add value everywhere you can.

Soon enough you will become the “go to” person in the group for your expertise!

Amazon Reviews are a Goldmine

Another place to conduct market research is within the reviews on Amazon.

There are 1000’s and 1000’s of books out there, books that probably address what you help with. Go look at those books that seem to appeal to you and see what the comments are.

Look at books that were really helpful to you as you were starting your business, too.

Set a timer for an hour (you can get lost in this activity) and read the reviews looking for:

Where were they stuck?
How did the book help them?
How did the book NOT help them, but you could?

Now that might make you ask, but if there are 1000’s and 1000’s of books already doing that, why do they need me?

Well, they need you because you bring a very, very unique perspective.

You bring YOU to the table.

You offer something that none of those authors do.

You offer a personal service, where they can have a conversation with you. Even if those conversations are just through comments on Facebook, they get to actually talk to you and ask you questions.

You also bring your own uniqueness, your own flair, your own personality, your own take on the issue.

And you deliver that in a way that appeals to your ideal customer.

Do it on purpose and know what you’re going after.

You have to know who it is you are talking and writing for.

When you’re talking to that ideal client and you’re trying to figure out who she is, you really need to hone in on her pain points.

Is it something that people want
Is it something they need

Instead of being worried about imposter syndrome or thinking that the market is saturated, know that there’s something unique in you that is going to attract customers to you.

There’s something in others that they’re not going to resonate with, they’re not going to connect with them, but they will connect with you.

NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO LIKE YOU

And if they don’t, they aren’t your people! And that’s OK.

Make a decision today to let criticism and “No” simply be indicators that they aren’t the people for you.

Now, you may know that they definitely need your coaching, your course, or your product, but be comfortable that the people who say no – well, they just aren’t your people.

I grew up in business in the network marketing world where leaders train you over and over again that every “No” is just a “Not Now.” While that may be true for about 10% of the people who say no, I do not believe that is true for 100% of the people.

Stand firm and confident within those gifts that God gave you. The way that you speak and the way that you communicate are going to appeal to the right people.

Know who you are trying to attract, speak to their pain points so that you can tell them how you are going to help them.

My challenge to you is to really think about where you can do some market research to determine who your ideal customer is.

Go and find out what other people with what you offer are doing, but don’t get caught in the comparison trap!

What are people struggling with?

Is there one thing that keeps coming up where you could say “if I can address that one thing, I can probably help them with some other things that can help them in other ways in their business.”

So, what is that one thing that you can bring to the table to help get your clients over the frustration in their life or business so that they can move on to have amazing success?

My mission is to encourage women to trust in themselves in life and in business. With love and faith I lead women business owners to find freedom in their God-given identity so they can live out their purpose with confidence. By helping you set expectations that lead to action, your dreams become a reality!