So should you focus on products or people?

Actually I use both techniques in my personal business and I will show you why.

Let’s start with when I focus on products.

I like to keep an eye on what is hot right now.  I always look at Best Buy’s ads every week, and see if I can identify the trends in consumer electronics.  Then if I see something that is getting a lot of buzz, I put up a quick campaign around that product.  This works very well for me, and has generated for me some quick cash.

The downside to this approach is that most hot markets change pretty rapidly, so this type of niche research reveals fairly short term opportunities.  Which is fine as long as that is OK with you.

Now let’s look at focusing on a hungry market.

This approach takes more research, but definately leads to longer term success. What I do when I am focusing on a hungry market, is go to forums and yahoo answers and check out what kinds of problems that people in my target audience are trying to solve.

Then I put together a campaign that meets those needs.  Sometimes, I don’t quite hit the nail right on the head, and I make no sales.  But, when I do connect my marketing with the customers needs, I can be very successful.

The other big advantage to using this approach is that when you are focusing on meeting peoples wants, desires, and needs, you dramatically set yourself apart from 90% of your competition, who are just not willing to do the work to put together a targeted marketing campaign.

So for quick, but short term profits, a targeted prooduct driven campaign works best, and for stability and long term profits a well researched niche campaign works best.