Before jumping into a brand-new market to sell an existing product or service, it is important for a company to figure out how the new audience will respond to its offering. While most companies do a lot of consumer and market research when first developing their products or services—running tests to ensure they will solve the right problems and appeal to the target market before being released—it is just as critical to gauge how well those same products and services will do when entering a new market.
The members of Forbes Agency Council have vast experience and expertise with product releases and know the best ways to introduce services to new audiences. Here, 14 members share the best ways for companies to determine how audiences will react to a product or service when they’re diving into a whole new market.
Members pictured from left to right.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Use Behavior Analysis
Determining how well a product or service will do with a new audience is best accomplished through behavior analysis. By using a motivation model, you can determine the likely level of interest and whether or not that service or product is aligned with the new audience’s needs. Then, you can factor in behavioral ability and determine the best way to prompt the audience to action. - Roger Hurni, Off Madison Ave
2. Test PPC Offers For D2C Goods
When developing B2B services and software as a service products, we often use a small beta or pilot program to test the market before launching it publicly. For D2C goods, depending on the scale of production or budgeting requirements, we may test pay-per-click offers, which can yield more information about how well they’re performing through ads placed across various platforms, such as Google Ads and Meta ads. - Yan Zhang, XYZ Advantage
3. It Depends On The Product Or Service
Piloting a service line works well. A/B testing works well for consumer products. Focus groups work well for taste-testing food products. For apps, beta tests done with small- sample-size test groups help—especially with glitches and technical quality assurance. With testing, utilizing “the right horse for the course” is key. - Monica Alvarez-Mitchell, Pulse Creative, LLC
4. Ask Existing Customers To Be Beta Testers
If you have an existing customer base, invite them into your product development processes as beta testers. Give them a discount in exchange for honest and blunt feedback on the product. If you don’t have an existing base, you can do the same with a public beta release or by targeting a specific target list. The best feedback you can get is from real people using the product. - Jason Wilson, Strategy, LLC
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5. Study The Voice Of The Customer
The absolute best and most important step to take when introducing your product or service to a new audience is to do a VoC study on the potential audience. Use a blend of qualitative and quantitative research to identify the audience’s values, intersection points, concerns and drivers, as well as opportunities you have with the audience. Armed with that data, you can position your product effectively. - Mary Ann O’Brien, OBI Creative
6. Dive Into The Secret Life Of Google Ads
Want to see results in hours instead of days? Test new product and service messaging by dropping ads in front of your audience in Google. Measure performance by clicks. It’s not free, but neither are focus groups or other methods that take weeks to complete with small sample sizes. It doesn’t matter where you send the visitor after they click—you’ve got your data. - Michael Chagala, Rank Harvest SEO
7. Seed The Offering With Audience-Aligned Influencers
Seeding the product or service with influencers who align with the new audience is an efficient and nimble way to test the waters. You can get firsthand feedback from the influencers themselves and gather rich insights from their follower communities, particularly with those in the micro- and nano-influencer tiers, which tend to get the most engagement with their content. - Cooper Munroe, The Motherhood Inc.
8. Understand Which Channel The Audience Indexes Highest Against
To test a new audience, the company must understand which channel—TV, TikTok, LinkedIn or Meta, for example—that audience indexes highest against. Once this is defined, create an A/B test with multiple positionings on this channel. Meta’s dynamic ads are an excellent way for companies to test their product or service with a new audience, using several iterations to find the most effective combination. - Geoff Crain, Kingstar Media
9. Gather Theoretical Information Through Market Research
Before attempting to enter a new market with a new audience, market research must be done so that even before testing, you know if your product is suitable, if it will be competitive, if it meets the current need and so on. The market research process helps gather theoretical information, and if this data tells you that this isn’t your audience, then it’s not worth testing. - Dmitrii Kustov, Regex SEO
10. Run An Industrywide Competitive Analysis
Running an industrywide competitive analysis is key. A SWOT analysis on all competitors is also helpful. You can then identify all of their weaknesses and explore any opportunities to fortify them through your product or service offering. If you create multiple buyer personas, you will also understand which benefits are most important to your potential customers. This will help you create the right offer. - Alex Quin, UADV MARKETING
11. Use This Tried-And-True Formula
Our agency has experience in entering new markets, and we have developed a formula for it. We analyze the capacity, volume and market conditions; study the demand for our services by indirect factors;, and do research on competitors. We also take recommendations from local experts who know the market better. Combining these two elements, we begin to develop a new market without any tests. - Michael Kuzminov, HypeFactory
12. Use POC Testing And Pilot Campaigns
Proof-of-concept testing and pilot campaigns offer a valuable way for agencies and their clients to assess how marketing messages related to new products and services will resonate with new audiences. POC testing can also provide insight into early results. This gives businesses confidence that they’re targeting the right audience(s). - Paula Chiocchi, Outward Media, Inc.
13. Talk To Your Prospective Audience
Meet the members of your prospective audience where they are. For example, one of our agencies solely serves lawyers. Attending conferences where lawyers are sharing their frustrations has been invaluable in terms of understanding how we can build our services around those challenges. If you can’t meet them in person, conduct surveys and collect publicly available data via social networks and whatnot. - Gyi Tsakalakis, AttorneySync & EPL Digital
14. Take It Slow
The best way is to take it slow. It can be difficult and expensive to move into a new industry. The tangential aspects, such as personal expertise or professional relationships within your normal arena, can be difficult to attain. Testing the waters with a minor investment of time and resources can help determine what your hard costs are before diving in too deep. - Seth Price, BluShark Digital
