So for an extra $50-$100/month (US) how many viewers would that would feed in a month?Originally Posted by EastCoast
1 person?
10?
100?
1,000?
Debbie
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So for an extra $50-$100/month (US) how many viewers would that would feed in a month?
1 person?
10?
100?
1,000?
Debbie
It depends on the size of the videos (length, resolution, and format) as well as how many videos each person watches.
If you are going with a cloud solution, they are all usually in the ballpark of $0.20/GB transfer and $0.20/GB storage a month, so if you have 10 GB of storage ($2/month), you could have about 200GB of transfer a month. How many people that translates to is highly variable.
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Christian Snodgrass
More importantly, for an extra $50-$100 per month, how many conversions would you get and would those conversions surpass the investment?
Linda Jenkinson: Content Team Leader
Creative Web Content
"Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean." ~Unknown
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Won't know until I try...
Debbie
In trying to determine why I've never made money online, I've been looking at businesses that have done well ... and you often find that they did a lot of market research and other testing and feasibility studies before launching their site/product. I'm starting to feel that just taking a stab in the dark is pretty much a waste of time. Obviously it takes time and resources (i.e. money) to do this prior research. But I guess if it makes the difference between failure and success, it's worth it.
Not trying to sound sarcastic, but so what then, Ralph, would you envision the "research" would entail?
How would you go about it?
Would you go around and ask people, "Would you be interested in?"
Having worked at a Marketing Research company in the past, I can tell you that Marketing Research would cost tens of thousands of dollars to really be of any use. And even then, it is a crap shoot, just like advertising itself.
I personally think that having a "Business Plan" and doing research that way (i.e. Define the Problem, Define the Solution, Define your Target Audience, Define Your Competition) does have value, and is much easier and more affordable than *true* market research, but I don't know what you have in mind.
Also, am I understanding you correctly in that you are in a similar situation of trying to get a business going and struggling?
Debbie
I was a few years ago. In my innocence, I thought that when I put up my first site with its new, must-have products that people would lap it up, but of course they didn't, even though I got some decent traffic. I realized in the end that, despite my desire for the products, few others had much interest in it. I really should have checked that before spending money on it. How to check it no doubt depends on the product ... perhaps by showing prototypes to potential customers and asking them if they've buy it. (I guess you have more experience with that than I do.)
@DoubleDee
In the early 2000's we did market research on a health club product. We contacted health clubs, spas, nutritionists, and equipment manufacturers and found out from them 'What are the biggest under-serviced needs in your sectors' . We heard the same story from hundreds of these types of interview - many by phone.
Although that doesn't qualify as a Market Research Companies type of research, we were able to ask these sectors "If this product existed how much would you be able to pay each month to use it - where would it make business sense to use it?". We asked other targeted questions and felt we had a good handle on what those markets needed.
We then asked 15 different clubs if they would participate in our starting product if they could secure a great deal for the lifetime of the service. We were able to get all 15 clubs.
We then built a web application that serviced the needs in these sectors. In the end we had 1000000 plus users in the system with about 100 000 per day. It made good money.
We sold this business in 2009 and made quite a bit. Since then we have been researching the next thing we are going to get into but have turned down 5 different promising ideas based on researching them with people that represented the target market. Just recently we found another idea that is resonating with people, so we are starting to build a modern web application that services the needs of this sector.
I can't recommend this type of research enough before you try to launch your business. The 'build it and they will come' is great in Movies but not great at all in real life. Research it, give them what the need and want and they will come. I can't stress enough how important the 'give them what they want' is!
A little over a year ago we were asked to advise and consult on a big budget web application; they had over 1 million to spend. They came up with an idea that business really need, but they didn't find out if there was an appetite for it. For our part, we flagged this as a risk and did some of our type of research and found that although businesses thought it was a good idea they were not willing to spend money on it. We advised the company to not do the project because of this. They disregarded our advise and gave us the reason that we have over $500, 000 in marketing set, we will create the appetite as the need is there.
One year later the company is out of business and the people are now working out of their basements still trying to make the web idea work, where for 15 years they owned their own building and had many employees. Sad yes, but the reality is they did not pay attention to what the market wanted.
Hope this helps,
Steve
Great post, Steve. Very clear and practical.
Trying to not be too fluffy, but not succeeding.... thanks @ralph.m ;
Last edited by ralph.m; Feb 17, 2012 at 23:07.
Is that possible?! Ralph... Innocence...
Care to share what the product was?I thought that when I put up my first site with its new, must-have products that people would lap it up, but of course they didn't, even though I got some decent traffic.
What is "decent traffic"?
Did you actually invent and patent something, or nothing that serious?
Why do you think that is?I realized in the end that, despite my desire for the products, few others had much interest in it.
Did you "bet the farm" on this idea?I really should have checked that before spending money on it.
I am not a Marketing Research expert, but I have a great appreciation for hard hard it is and how much money can go into it.How to check it no doubt depends on the product ... perhaps by showing prototypes to potential customers and asking them if they've buy it. (I guess you have more experience with that than I do.)
Marketing Researchers are typically Ph.D.'s in Math and Statistics, and some really smart dudes!!!
True Market Research is not standing in a mall asking 100 passers-by what they think.
Unfortunately I have a budget of about $0, so to do formal Market Research isn't possible right now, although like I said, I feel that I have researched my Target Audience.
Debbie
Who is "we"??
How much did you spend?
Sounds like a good approach.Although that doesn't qualify as a Market Research Companies type of research, we were able to ask these sectors "If this product existed how much would you be able to pay each month to use it - where would it make business sense to use it?". We asked other targeted questions and felt we had a good handle on what those markets needed.
We then asked 15 different clubs if they would participate in our starting product if they could secure a great deal for the lifetime of the service. We were able to get all 15 clubs.
We then built a web application that serviced the needs in these sectors. In the end we had 1000000 plus users in the system with about 100 000 per day. It made good money.
What was your sample size?
Valid point.I can't recommend this type of research enough before you try to launch your business. The 'build it and they will come' is great in Movies but not great at all in real life. Research it, give them what the need and want and they will come. I can't stress enough how important the 'give them what they want' is!
Why do you think - see bold above that people weren't interested in something that they felt there was a need for?!A little over a year ago we were asked to advise and consult on a big budget web application; they had over 1 million to spend. They came up with an idea that business really need, but they didn't find out if there was an appetite for it. For our part, we flagged this as a risk and did some of our type of research and found that although businesses thought it was a good idea they were not willing to spend money on it. We advised the company to not do the project because of this. They disregarded our advise and gave us the reason that we have over $500, 000 in marketing set, we will create the appetite as the need is there.
Yes, I appreciate your comments.One year later the company is out of business and the people are now working out of their basements still trying to make the web idea work, where for 15 years they owned their own building and had many employees. Sad yes, but the reality is they did not pay attention to what the market wanted.
Hope this helps,
Steve
Debbie
I have a company with a few people.
The communication to the clubs was cost by the time spent (paying employees and my own time), we didn't spend 1 marketing dollar we raised interest within the clubs/organizations themselves and so the sale was really secondary. The application cost all said an done about $45 000 (In three phases of work) so by no means large but also not 'shoe string'.
If, like in your case, you are just starting your own company and doing all the technical, administrative, design, marketing, planning and research then the cost will be far less as you are not paying others to help, but the trade-off is much more of your time.
We targeted decision makers, managers of clubs, front-line workers, and corporate operations people in each club which by the first 15 clubs is about 150 people. We wanted to get information from each levels within these organizations that would make use of our software concept. We didqualitative research primarily by telephone.
I think that it came down to prioritization. To give an analogy it is like insurance, many companies/people know they should have it but can't prioritize it over other things in their life and are willing to risk the potential consequences.
Regards,
Steve
ServerStorm,
Glad to have a business mogul and millionaire at my disposal...
Thanks for sharing about your business and marketing research efforts.
Debbie
To secure videos you would just need a Wowza hosting plan (starting around $50/month) and setup something like:
http://flowplayer.org/plugins/streaming/secure.html
How does a Wowza hosting plan differ from those offered by other hosting providers?
Linda Jenkinson: Content Team Leader
Creative Web Content
"Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean." ~Unknown
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April Photo Challenge - "A Piece of Paper"
I hear screencast.com is a good solution.
It solves the problem of streaming video for Ipads and Ipods.
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