You may have heard of this marketing line: 95% of consumers are not actively looking to buy in any category. There are almost 138+ reports mentioning this same insight.

 

In these reports, Marketers suggest people need to be reminded about their needs. Taking this advice, I see many startups go do marketing like they are reminding people about their needs & how their life could be better with their products.

 

 

A consumer in need of X doesn’t want you to chant. How better, faster or sustainable your business is compared to others. They want to know if your business fulfills their need of X or not.

 

But in a competitive market, When everyone fulfills the need of a consumer. The behavior of a consumer changes.

 

The next most common advice is to do market research & survey your ideal consumers. To figure out how you can differentiate yourself from others.

 

You hire people to survey the consumer and find their opinions on the industry and competitors. That is where you have to remain silent.

 

Why Silence? Because you should not let your own bias come to the market research or the consumer. It is your time to let experienced people do their job.

 

They don’t do magic. Market researchers have the job to ask the same questions you have but without letting their bias come to their job.

 

Many take inspiration from Steve job because he told don’t ask people what they want. That does not mean, he did not do market research.

 

Apple spent millions on market research in the early stages but that was 90% indirect market research. Making sure the brand names don’t play a role in getting answers out of people. And they understood consumer minds through other research.

 

To build businesses that people want and do marketing that works.

 

Eliminate Bias when studying consumers and doing business research. And ask indirect questions that bring people to answers that they won’t give. When asked directly.

 

To learn more about studying your Ideal Buyers, I wrote a new guide on creating buyer personas that don’t fail.