Photo by cogdog

If you are a mom, there is probably a pretty good chance you have seen more than your fair share of superhero TV shows and movies – I know I have. My son used to run around the house and with an apron tied around his neck and the fabric flying behind him shouting, “Shicka, shicka, boom! I am Weather Man!” (from The Magic School Bus).

So, I have my kids to thank (or blame) for my “Superhero Internet Marketing Strategies” -  a few things that must be used to the level of “super power” in order to powerfully succeed.

The average marketer would simply call this market research, but the superhero marketer places laser-like focus on how to discover the needs and desires of her marketplace, so that it seems as if she’s reading the minds of her customer or prospect.

The internet is a rich resource for market research.

Then there are many more that are privately hosted on a variety of subjects:

There is probably a group for any topic.  Using forums and groups for market research is as simple as joining a group with members of your target market. If you are marketing a product to moms with toddlers, find groups with that target audience. Your goal is to build relationships by joining the conversation. Ask questions, answer questions, make comments – become a participant in the group.

First of all, the group owner or moderator may ask you to leave the group or delete your posts to the group.  Secondly, the members will not engage you in any online conversations out of fear that you’ll spam them.

What questions do they ask, what problems do they discuss, what solutions or advice is offered by others in response? With an active, longstanding group, you could read the posts and find the top 10 questions asked by your target market.  A product or service developed to answer those questions would potentially have  greater feedback in the marketplace.

The answers that you post on forums should be informative and not a sales pitch.

Depending on what the group guidelines are, you might be able to add a few lines of copy to your signature – and again – don’t make this too much a sales pitch. Trust me, as your helpful reputations builds, you’ll see traffic coming to your website from the links within your signature.

If you are an “infopreneur,” the forum or group discussions become the topics that you write about in your blog, discuss in your podcast, for which you create an ebook, or report with a well-researched answer. Of course, you never want to copy comments directly from the discussion posts to your blog or other information product or tool – but you can use the topic as a reference.

If you sell a product or service, forum discussions become the basis for upgrades and improvements as you uncover needs in your marketplace.