On Market Research And A Request For Help

I was a tad excited when my favourite Trading Card Game of all time was released on the iPad – Magic The Gathering

OMG – YOU GUYS – IT WASN’T JUST THE BEST DREAM EVER- I WOKE UP AND MAGIC THE GATHERING IS STILL ON MY IPAD!!!!

— ed dale (@Ed_Dale) June 20, 2012

It got me thinking…

Hey, MTG (That’s what us cool kids call Magic The Gathering) would make a pretty cool magazine with MagCast!

Now, the Challenge method of researching markets for online businesses has become the gold standard method.

So, I started thinking, what’s different and what’s the same about researching a magazine on Apple’s Newsstand?

One thing I know – the fundamentals of market research do not change because of the media – the places you research will change!

Onward, I busted out my timer (set to play Phil Collins iconic drum fill in “In The Air Tonight”) set it to 10 minutes and fired up iThoughts HD, my mindmapping software of choice and created the first cut of a mindmap outlining my market research strategy.

I then recorded this video to show my thinking on my first draft and also ask for your help!

I’d love to get your feedback and any suggestions you would add to the process. Pop them in the comments below and I’ll add them to the main mindmap. My intention is to shoot videos showing each step of the research process once I get your feedback.

Here are some of the links and sites I mentioned in the video (Pre-Loaded with my Magic The Gathering research)

• PDF of the MindMap
• iThoughts File of the Mind Map
• Google Insights For Search
• Google Search – Magic The Gathering
• Magic The Gathering Affiliate Search (Turns out there’s a lot!)
• I’d link to the newsstand research but there are no magazines.
• How to identify the Top 20 influencers and follow them (Without being Stalky!) Actually, all of Module 5 in the Challenge is awesome.
• Gary Halbert on Collecting Interesting Facts – You could do a lot worse than read every single one of these letters. I still miss him dearly.

Now I Want Your Help

What have I missed, What could I add? What order would you put this in? If you’re a Magcast Member head over to forum on the Immediate Edge (We emailed you your sign up link yesterday) and throw in your suggestions.

If you’re reading this on my blog, i’d love to get your feedback below in the comments.

If you like what I’ve written, I’d really appreciate a +1, retweet and Like. It all helps!!

Ed

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