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I have a question for you: why did you build the last product/feature/offer? It’s something I’ve been asking my clients for years because it’s one of the most revealing questions in strategy.
I call it the toddler approach because it’s usually followed by a lot more “why?” questions and it’s eerily similar to how toddlers learn about the world — repeating the same question ad nauseam until they get a satisfactory answer.
In business, the only acceptable answer to this question is “because our audience/clients needed it”. However, the most frequent answers are:
- Because it was easy to build (especially in SaaS, when adding new features to a product).
- The competition has it, so why not?
- It’s what I know how to do.
All these are valid sequels, not main reasons.
Do they need it? If the answer is “yes”, then you can move on to the next things on the list: build it if it’s reasonably easy, if the competition has it, if it matches your expertise, and so on.
Cool, but how do you figure out if people need what you want to build — ideally before you build it? If you like simple answers, as much as I do, you’re going to love this one:
Psst, my subscribers read this before you did. Want to be the first to see analyses and roadmaps like this one? Subscribe to Ideas to Power Your Future and get them in your inbox every Thursday.
Ask THEM before you build
Seriously, it’s that simple: social media polls, email surveys, mining your DMs for frequent questions, in-depth discussions with your best clients i.e. those who fit your ICP to a T — all are valid research methods, use them before you invest too much time and money building a solution looking for a problem.
The process is equally simple:
- Step 1: You have an idea 💡. It sounds amazing and it looks like there is demand for it.
- Step 2: Spend a bit of time refining it. Figure out what it is (a digital download, a service, a course, a new feature, and so on). Think about the time you’d spend building it or delivering it. What’s a fair cost for it i.e. something your audience could pay?
- Step 3: Ask them. Create a poll/survey on your preferred communication channel or conduct some interviews. Keep it simple: “I’m planning to build X. It would cost around $Y. Are you interested?”
- Step 4: Dig deeper. Ask them about their motivations, their pain points, preferred formats, and so on. Not only so you can build a better product, but also to learn how to market it.
Here’s how I used this exact process for my most recent product:
How I built The Guided Strategy Template with YOUR help
Quick note: if you haven’t seen my Guided Strategy Template yet, you can find it here. It just launched this week, so you’re quite early to this party!
Step 1: The idea
Back in late April, I sent a newsletter issue on how to build a marketing strategy from scratch. Nearly as soon as I sent it, my friend Michael messaged me to say this issue should be a paid product.
Hello, lightbulb moment!
It helps that Michael is also a client of mine, so we also have ICP fit.
On the other hand, he’s also incredibly supportive and an all-around amazing human. There aren’t many people like him around, so I had to factor that in before building a product.
I used the screenshot above to promote the newsletter issue in a LinkedIn post. Quite a few people agreed with Michael in the comment section, so I already had more to go on. Double lightbulb moment!
Step 2: Refining the idea
I spent a bit of time mulling over formats. eBooks are great but I had a hunch people would prefer something more practical, something they can use to bring their strategy to life.
I knew there was a bit of a disconnect within my value ladder: this newsletter gives you strategy advice for $0 but the next steps are a bit more expensive: a 1:1 strategy session with me ($350) OR hiring me to create your entire marketing strategy from scratch ($2000+).
The in-between became a guided marketing strategy template: more than your usual DIY template, this one comes with prompts, examples, and how-tos at every step. It distills my 17+ years of marketing experience in a single document and it’s like having me in your corner. But affordable ($50).
Cool, the idea is more refined. Now, let’s validate it.
Step 3: Idea validation
I started with a quick poll in a newsletter issue — you may have answered it. It was fairly easy to set up and use: I told you about my idea and asked you to click on YES if you’re interested or NO if you’re not. When the results were in, 65% of you said yes (Thank you!) and 15% clicked on both yes and no.
I hid this poll at the very end of the email because I knew only my most engaged subscribers would get that far and it’s their vote I wanted.
Next validation step: polling.
I did a quick poll on LinkedIn:
The result was pretty clear, which also prompted some funny comments, like Jason’s:
Or Hannah’s:
Step 3 done! BUT the poll didn’t have as many answers as I would have liked, so I dug deeper.
Step 4: Digging deeper
One month later, I published another poll, this time inquiring about the WHY. I knew I needed to target people who don’t have a documented strategy, so I asked what was stopping them from building it:
8% of respondents don’t need to document their strategy at all — that’s cool, it would have been weird if everyone agreed. The top reasons: no time to do it, no knowledge of how to do it, and no clarity are amazing starting points.
The post also got 108 comments, most of them with quite a few gold nuggets that helped me build marketing messaging that mirrors my audience’s language.
If you take a look at the landing page for The Guided Strategy Template, you’ll see that it mirrors the most common pain points I identified in research. It talks about why it’s important to have a documented strategy and then mentions the lack of time, clarity, and knowledge.
And voila! This is how you build a pre-validated offer with a pre-validated message too.
However, me being me, I took it one step further: since you can buy The Guided Strategy Template as a standalone product OR receive it as a bonus when you book a 1:1 strategy session with me, before sending it to anyone else, I offered it for free to my clients who had already paid for a strategy session — yes, to all of them.
In turn, this helped me get social proof mighty fast and use that social proof in the first public email and social media posts. This testimonial from Carol is the first ever piece of social proof my new product got:
This approach helped me sell the first copies nearly instantly and built up my confidence that I created something people actually need and that it’s fairly priced.
So is this a foolproof approach? Nothing in marketing is!
Limitations
Fake internet positivity is rooted in the online disinhibition effect — people say things online that they would never say in real life. This happens partially because there is less responsibility online, especially on forums where you can be anonymous.
The online disinhibition effect is an explanation for online bullying but also for fake positivity: people feel the pressure to show support and root for you whether they believe in what you’re doing or not and whether they plan to buy what you’re selling or not.
This effect is even more dangerous because it’s not malicious, like bullying. People mean well, they want to support you and see you succeed but that support often does more harm than good.
Don’t assume everyone who pledges support will also buy. Most likely, less than 10% of them will buy.
Next, a question I get asked quite often in my strategy sessions: what do I do if I don’t have a large enough audience to get actionable advice?
Valid question!
If you only have a few clients (not enough to see clear patterns emerge from interviews) and a small social media following, you can validate your idea on:
- Reddit: Reddit users are famously honest (the online disinhibition effect works well here, since most accounts are anonymous). There’s a subreddit for anything, so you will definitely find one where your ICP hangs out.
- Facebook and LinkedIn groups: again, you’re very likely to find a group that matches your ICP. When you post in a social media group, make sure you’re not overly promotional or your post may never be approved.
- Quora is a good place to both ask questions and do deep dives on similar products and the questions people ask about them –> take notes about tone of voice and common pain points.
Despite its limitations, you will never regret polling your audience. Even if the answers you get are inconclusive, you will learn a lot about the messaging you need to use and about their pain points.
That’s it from me today!
See you next Thursday in your inbox!
Here to make you think,
Adriana
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Need me in your corner? There are three ways I can help you:
- Boost your chances of success by 400%: document your strategy with The Guided Strategy Template.
- Get my product launch email templates that sell: 5+1 emails you can send to your list in 45 seconds.
- Book a 1:1 strategy session with me. Let’s unlock your growth in 60 mins!
