How do you identify marketing problems?

Identify market problems Market problems are the stated or silent problems of your target market. This could refer to existing inefficiencies, cumbersome workflows, or suboptimal solutions. The key to finding a market problem is to listen to the frustrations, or “if only they are statements”, that arise during interviews. Market problems reflect the challenges, frustrations, and unmet needs that arise from the entire customer base (the market).

Problems must be observable and measurable. This leaves less time to focus on more meaningful activities, which can have a negative impact on overall marketing. By listening only to potential customers and offering only what the next customer wants, you'll earn revenue but miss out on market opportunities. However, time and again, tracking isn't part of the marketing equation, or it's so primitive that it might not exist.

As an entrepreneur, it's easy to focus on creating innovative solutions that don't relate directly to market problems; just because you can innovate doesn't always mean you should. Unfortunately, there are several marketing issues that can prevent your team from doing their best. This usually leads them to find the next best option or treatment to achieve their marketing success goals. In fact, the most recent report on the state of Adobe Workfront's marketing work revealed that marketers spend less than 20 percent of their time on high-value work.

When it comes to online marketing, most potential customers who describe their previous efforts to market their business through strategies such as SEO, PPC or social media have little to show when it comes to metrics: there are no landing pages for PPC, phone tracking, ad performance tracking, or tracking URLs or conversion sources. During that time, I've talked to hundreds of potential customers and now clients, and I've come to the conclusion that they're all suffering from pretty much the same marketing issues with slightly different symptoms. Market discovery is the continuous process of qualitative research to identify opportunities in the market through the interactions of the entire customer base. To offer products that solve the problems of your target customers, you must first identify the problems of the market.

Make sure you listen to all the people who make up your market to avoid falling into the following pitfalls.