It's happened to all of us.

We get a great idea that is next Great American Novel level, how-has-no-one-thought-of-this, mind-blowingly amazing.

(Probably in the bathroom because, let's be honest, that's where most good ideas are thought up.)

So we make it happen, get the offer out there, and...

...crickets.

Complete bust.

And so we go through the litany of a failed campaign:

→ Was it the price point?

→ The quality?

→ Did I not market it well enough?

→ Did I not get the right people to see it?

But we sometimes miss the critical reason why it flopped:

Maybe no one actually wanted it. 🫣

I know, it's super painful to even think that, especially if you feel like you prayed on it and got a green light from God or that it was inspiration straight from Him.

I'm not saying it wasn't. It could absolutely be one of the other marketing factors.

But there's a way to almost guarantee that it's NOT because people don't want it — essentially making sure people want what we offer BEFORE we offer it, so we can at least cross that possibility off the list.

And almost no one does it, myself included.

You ready for this?

✨ Ask them ✨

I know, it's radical, right?

But we don't often stop to think about it. WE think that it's a great idea, so we run with it without first doing the market research to make sure it's actually something people outside our own brain want.

Plus we're afraid of "leaking" something too soon, and that that will take away the hype.

(Launch marketing actually tells us the opposite, that getting your people involved before it's a reality encourages a feeling of being part of it and builds up more anticipation than springing it on them once it's all ready.)

So how do you ask them?

If you have an established audience already, it's easy — ask them directly! You can have them take a survey (cough, cough, see an example below), ask in an email or IG answer box, or get a small group of testers.

Give them a general idea of what you want to offer and ask if they'd be interested! You don't have to go into specifics — just enough to gauge interest.

(I'd go more specific than "Are you interested in new Catholic apparel?" but you also don't need to go to great lengths to describe the exact fiber count and pattern on it.)

You can offer some sort of reward for participating — a coupon code off the potential offer, entering a raffle for a gift card, etc.

If you have this data, you can even segment it so that it only goes to your most engaged people or those you know would be especially the right audience for what you're offering.

If you don't have your own audience already, it's a little trickier, but you can still figure this out!

Try asking in a Facebook group, search group comments to see if people have been asking for recommendations for something similar to what you want to offer, or even just do some Google/Pinterest/Etsy searches to see if there are other things out there like it that are selling well.

Still not sure how you'd make it work? See below for a real life example. 😉

No, that's not a fake example; I'd actually love if you'd take the survey because I AM planning something new for Gloriam. 🙂

And take this as your encouragement to ask your people before you launch your next offering! It will give you valuable information that can help your launch to be successful and peace of mind that you're actually providing things people want.

For His greater glory,

Emily

P.S. In case you missed it, I'm considering offering something new here at Gloriam. Would you take this 3-minute survey to see if it is something you'd be interested in?

Inside, I reveal an announcement about the future of Gloriam, and if you leave your email, you'll also get a 10% coupon off the offering if I decide to move forward with it. Take the survey here.​