Market research through Soul Searching

Knowing what our customers want and meeting their needs are vital aspects of running a business. 

However, what I’ve seen in recent years is that the masculine business paradigm has taken this to the extreme. We’ve been taught to listen to the market so much that it loses the internal clarity, momentum, and creative certainty we have within ourselves. 

We’ve been taught to do business from “outside-in”–- i.e. asking what others want while giving little attention to what our hearts also wants. While market research is an important aspect of validating our creative business ideas, only seeking the needs from outside can make our ideas easily subjected to the ephemeral tastes and the tides of the ever-changing world. 

To feminine souls, this external-proving business approach can feel unfulfilling, overwhelming, and unsatisfying because we are operating in direct opposition to our natural rhythm of creating life– i.e. bringing creations from inside-out instead of outside-in. 

This is because what the inner feminine actually desires is to express her ideas naturally without having to overthink and restricting herself with rules and boundaries of what they “should be” based of other people. She desires to birth ideas into the world because she simply desires them, period. The feminine soul desires what is authentic, genuine, and true to her heart, attract people simply from being herself.

However, if we are only listening to the chatter of the market which can be vague and erratic at times, we muffle the voice of our own hearts and what she wants. For it is this our hearts that also show us how we are different from anyone else out in the market, and therefore highlights our Unique Value Proposition (UVP) in our offerings/products. 

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Finding out what your heart wants (via soul searching) does not have to mean cutting yourself off from the world completely and abandoning the desires of our customers. 

Nor it does not have to mean going off on a month-long retreat in the woods to listen to what your soul wants. (although it can be)

It simply means to better know yourself, for to know yourself means also to know more of your ideal clients. Those are the type of client(s) who do not just buy your offers based of logical reasons, but because they have a deep emotional connection to you through your creations. Ideal clients are the type of clients who value your work because they see the value of your offer that cannot be found anywhere else— just as how they can’t find a soul like you anywhere else.

This is especially important because in today’s day and age of social media, there is no shortage of products/content that are shoved at our faces and constantly pitching at us. However, what I see is more rare is a deeper soul connection we have to a specific creator of a product/content.

This is why I believe that soul-searching within our selves helps us also create this soul connection to our potential clients/audience.

I’d like to think of soul-searching as a form of market research because by knowing more of ourselves and creating things that speak to our souls, we are then able to also create products/content that also ‘speak’ to your people’s souls.

What this means is, our content/offers aren’t just using another common bro-marketing tactics like “you-need-this-product-to-get-xyz” etc. Rather, our content/offers gracefully penetrates deeper than the external logical reasons of why people need what we offer. Instead, it goes into the inner realms of connection via the heart, through words, expressions, and truths that carry your unique essence (aka Unique Value Proposition)….

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At this point you may be wondering how to really know what the Unique Value Proposition (UVP) of your soul is.

What I’ve realized is that we find our UVP through 1). acknowledging all of you and 2). expressing all of you.

That includes:

• your desires,

• your beliefs,

• your values,

• your unique gifts,

• your observations (of your niche),

• your story

• and even your insecurities! (to turn them into lessons)

In essence, you allow all parts of you to shine through in your creations which gives your content a soul (a character) that is distinct to you. From doing so, you become easily differentiated from what’s out there in the market, thus making it easier for your right people to find you.

This is one of the reasons why I love content marketing so much because you get to explore who you are from holistic angles. In fact, soul-searching (market research) can be a powerful spiritual practice just like meditation and journaling. They can all go hand in hand.

Below are a few example of how I go about finding my UVP:

my desires: to live a deep, meaningful creative life and help my clients do the same
my beliefs: living an abundantly creative life (+building a business from it) is totally possible, you just have to be patient and trust your intuition
my values: being authentic and expressing our true selves
my unique gift: being able to listen to my client’s heart (and what she wants to create through my psychic awareness)
my observations of my niche: people are not living their full creative potential because they seek for immediate gratification of social media, business owners are sacrificing their authentic creativity through applying forceful, inauthentic marketing tactics
my story: I used to be one of those business owners who felt limited+unfulfilled by masculine (yet spiritualized) marketing strategies that hinder my prolific creative flow
my insecurities that I had to overcome: comparison with other people, impatience, feeling the need to showcase a perfect life like an instagram influencer

From knowing these, then I get to know even deeper of my ideal client’s deep desires, such as:
- She desires to live a deep, meaningful, creative life where she feels fulfilled creating what she loves in her business
- She desires to be authentic yet feels like she had to wear a “mask” to make her look more put-together online
- She desires to find peace within herself yet feels by energetically disrupted by social media+ the ‘noise’ from other people in the industry
- She desires to create content by pouring everything from her heart without having to overthink and judging herself
- She desires an intuitive, sustainable business that thrives long-term by simply creating content/art she loves

Above is just a snippet to showcase how knowing your soul can give you an in-depth analysis of you ideal client. Through being even connected to+ aware of your soul (and your thoughts, values, feelings, etc.), you get to know even more deeply of the people you desire to serve, in ways that are even more insightful than a formal market research.

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Of course, conducting a market research (such as interviewing potential clients) can be tremendously helpful for refining your creations+offers. However, having a deeper connection to the souls of your potential clients also depends on connecting to YOUR own soul, for your soul is a bridge in itself that leads to transformation of your people. Through having a firm knowledge of the uniqueness of your bridge (i.e. soul), you then get to know more of how the people who walk on that bridge are special too.