When I first sat down to explore what digital products I could offer, I knew I wanted to approach it with both creativity but backed by research. I wanted to identify a need, shown interest, and where I could add value and my own expertise to that product. That meant committing to a thorough research process to find out what exactly I should pursue.

The Market Research Process

My starting point was broad ideation: I brainstormed three potential product concepts: email newsletter templates, ADHD dopamine menus, and insertable journal pages for hiking or tracking your reading. Each idea spoke to a different interest of mine: marketing, neurodivergency tools, and journaling.

From there, I wanted to find out more on which path I should follow. So, I started Googling. “Insertable journal pages,” “ADHD Dopamine Menus,” “newsletter templates.” By far the most comprehensive one was the newsletter route. But I felt that something was missing, and decided to dive deeper. Finding a niche to target within email newsletter templates came easily: agriculture and farming templates. I want to help farmers promote themselves and the hard work they do to get their consumers quality food.

Between all of the choices, I looked at marketplaces like Etsy and Creative Market to understand how competitors sold their digital products. I also looked at different applications and which ones did better for certain groups. For agriculture related businesses, farms included, there seems to be a big presence of them online via Substack in my region.

Analyzing the Three Ideas

1. Agriculture Email Newsletter Templates
The agriculture-based industry is slowly embracing digital communication, but many farmers’ markets, cooperatives, small CSAs, and ag-related nonprofits lack design expertise. Competitors like Canva’s template library serve general audiences, but they don’t address agricultural-specific needs such as seasinal crop updates or updates on the CSA shares. The opportunity here lies in offering specialized, customizable templates that matches the the tone of agricultural businesses in my region.

Before I started researching agriculture specific newsletter templates, I first researched just newsletter templates. There are so many that are out there for general businesses, but rarely did I ever see any that matched the tone for farms. That lead me to start researching ag specific templates, and eded up finding two, while seeing that other ones were for print media.

2. ADHD Dopamine Menus
The ADHD community is vibrant and supportive, with a strong appetite for tools that make daily life easier. Dopamine menus, a list of stimulating activities that can help with focus or mood regulation, have gained traction on platforms like TikTok and are being reposted to Instagram. However, I found that competitors are largely individual creators selling printables on Etsy, such as these ADHD planner inserts. While this could be a promising product, this niche may be harder to scale without building a broader brand first.

3. Insertable Journal Pages for Hiking or Reading
Hiking journals and reading logbooks are a small but passionate niche. On Etsy, there are thousands of printable journaling pages, but most are generic and non-specific. A differentiated product could focus on long-distance trail prep, a general hiking log, a bookshelf themed page for tracking books read, or a page dedicate to a full review of the book. Competitors like Monkeys & Mountains show there’s a definite demand, but the market feels highly saturated already and best suited to physical products rather than digital.

Choosing the Top Opportunity

After comparing these three, the agriculture email newsletter templates stood out as the most realistic and scalable option. The need is clear, competitors aren’t directly specialized, and the audience is underserved. Small farms, cooperatives, and local food networks are looking for ways to improve communication without hiring an additional person to do just their marketing. That’s where customizable, professional templates could provide immediate value while minimizing time spent on this area of the business.

Finding the competition or at least products that are similar was difficult. There were print media templates available, but really only two email newsletter templates.

As an example, this one is focused on just the agriculture side of businesses. It’s a good base for what the farm could start with if they have nothing, but it will quickly need a revamp.

Identifying the Target Audience

The target audience is small-scale agricultural organizations that want to strengthen customer relationships. This includes:

• Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs
• Local farmers’ markets
• Agriculture focused nonprofits
• Farm-to-table businesses or establishments
• Family operated farms and small-scale producers

These groups already rely on email as a primary communication tool, and they benefit from designs that highlight authenticity, seasonal freshness, and trust. By creating templates tailored to their specific needs, I can support them in telling their stories and growing their communities.

Moving Forward

This research process not only gave me clarity but also direction. By narrowing in on agriculture newsletter templates, I’ve found a perfect opportunity to mix my passion and skillset. I need to further research CSA’s and how people in the region market those, if they have a newsletter, and if so which platform they’re using. Following that, my next steps will involve prototyping designs, testing with farmers and CSAs, and continuing to refine the products based on feedback.