Every market has its “lighthouse customers” - those that are going to be out ahead of all of the others (and ideally the ones that will show everyone else the way). The challenge - how do you find them?

One easy way is to submit your product to ThisNext. It’s a community of people who are such enthusiastic shoppers that they want to tell the world about their latest purchase - ranging from what’s a good baby gift to where should you buy tires. The site lets its users engage in shopcasting - a combination of shopping and broadcasting.

In any case, if you are looking to introduce your product to potential buyers, you can submit your product to the site and they will consider sharing it with their mavens (their most enthusiastic shoppers and reviewers).

This is an easy way to engage in some targeted sampling that may help give your new product a little more oomph in the marketplace.