This week I want to share a tip that I learned in a workshop a few weeks ago:

As you develop your marketing plan, develop informal focus groups. Many people often view focus groups as an organized, select group of  people that you gather and ask a specific set of questions.

Well, as long as a focus group achieves the goals you set and answers the questions you have, it can take many forms. It doesn’t have to be a group of people in a room.

It can be a group of people on a conference call. You can conduct individual phone interviews. You can also use Survey Monkey, Zoomerang or many of the other free online survey tools. Social media sites can also be vehicles by which you can gather the thoughts and ideas of your target market or any group of people. Twitter, a Facebook Group or even a LinkedIn group can serve this purpose.

As you brainstorm and develop ideas, run them past a group of people to get real, live feedback. 

These examples are easy, free ways to develop informal focus groups that can be as effective as formal focus groups.