Often times small business owners think they know their
customers want, but assumption is primary tool of choice
drawing these conclusions.
The best way to really know what a market thinks about
something is to ask. Run the idea up the old flagpole and
see what kind of response you get. The Internet is spawning
a whole new set of tools that can the smallest of
businesses tap the collective wisdom, or least collective
opinion, of the masses when trying to make even the
simplest business decisions.
Online surveys have become a powerful tool for the small
business. By asking your clients everything from how much
should I charge to what's the best color for our logo you
can effectively test your assumptions before you push
something out to the market.
Survey are also a great way to monitor how you are doing in
the eyes of your customers. Creating simple satisfaction
survey and serving them up to each individual customer
allows you to find holes in your customer service and
collect comments, good and bad, from the street.
Several email marketing services have begun to offer survey
tools are part of the overall communications strategy.
Emails with interactive components like surveys stand out
and engage the reader more effectively than static content.
Planning what your readers would like to hear more about in
your next five newsletter issues is as simple as proposing
topics in a survey. Then you can better prepare the content
your readers want to read the most.
Journalists love survey results and will often take great
interest in the results of a survey conducted by an
industry expert - that means you! Conducting some basic
research about trends and habits in your industry is a
great way to add some expert status to your brand and could
land your results in a publication or two about your
industry.
Sharing your survey results with prospects is a great way
to help educate them on important information that may
impact their buying decisions.
Survey tools come in several flavors and a broad range of
prices from free to not so free. Online stand alone
versions like Survey Monkey and Survey Gizmo are nice
options for the small business. (Survey Gizmo also features
a WordPress Plugin and Mac desktop widget.)
Email marketing services like iContact and Constant Contact
also offer survey tools right inside their core offerings.
Bloggers have long seen the value of the interaction a good
survey can generate, so there are lots of survey widgets
available for blogging platforms like WordPress and TypePad
as well.
----------------------------------------------------
John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning
blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most
Practical Small Business Marketing Guide. You can find more
information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com .
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