the one question to ask after all marketing (action types) of questions

I have a list of about 200 questions I need to have answered to do a pretty good job marketing one’s business. This isn’t something we discuss during the initial consultation which is a usually free and lasts 30 minutes or so. These questions are answered in subsequent meetings as needed and as things develop so not to overwhelm my client and also to slowly “empower” the client. I coach and direct the client through these questions which yield positive and tangible results indicated by increased customer contacts, sales and profits.

There are two types of questions with answers that need to be addressed. There are the “data” types of questions explaining physical and similar attributes such as location and owner name, etc. Then there are the “action” types of questions. I tell my clients that “marketing is a verb” and that marketing requires action. Marketing could be creating a website, getting people to it, and then getting people to buy from it, as only one of many examples. We need to follow up action questions with another question to create true “success” in my consultations.

I will reveal my follow up question soon, but first here are some questions I would ask in the initial interview. These are valuable and I invite readers can ask them right now to get a real good start in marketing products and services or to get “started” again.

These first two “data” questions I seldom find in most consulting so this is a gift to my readers. (Aren’t you glad you are reading this?)

My first question I ask is “Who are you?”

Really; who are you??? I can go on with this for a while, but for now just know that if you don’t know who you are, you won’t be able to tell others.

My second question is “What is it that you sell?”

Again, you may think that this is obvious; and maybe it is to you but it’s “in your head”. Get it down on paper so you can let others know. For instance, you may think that you sell drills but you are really selling holes. See what I mean?

What are your goals?

I usually leave this as an open ended question and let the business owner offer the area that the question brings to mind; sales, contacts, etc. This gets me closer to what the client needs, whether they have it on their list to ask or not. Then I offer areas to consider and pin down specifics.

Who is your audience?

What makes you so special?

Translated as: why should someone buy from you and not someone else?

What marketing vehicles are you now using?

Now we are getting to the “action” questions. These are areas of marketing that I can help with and will benefit when adding my second question that I’ll share with you in a moment (I haven’t forgotten). Do you have a website, are you using social media, signage at your physical place of business, imprinted pens, local sponsorship of baseball team… the list can literally go on forever.

Let’s say that we mutually determine that you want help to increase walk in traffic on Thursday afternoons (what, you’ve never been that specific before?). I would bet that many of your media reps have never helped you on such a level, right? Now, if and for those times when one did, did you check to see what results you got by doing the “marketing action”? If so, you are almost where I think you need to be to get the most (or at least much more) from your marketing actions. You need to do one thing additional and it needs to be done at the outset. It is this.

Here comes my follow up question…

The consultant (and you media rep, and you) should ask this question and all need to mutually agree to have an understanding on this; to know if your marketing was successful when completed. Here’s the question; ready?

What is your definition of success; what needs to happen for this marketing action to be considered a success?

Let’s say that a client wants me to create marketing to increase walk in traffic. If we say that a successful result would be to have 100 in the store and 101 stop in, that marketing has been successful. If we determine that an ad needs to increase sales by 25% and we only increase my 20% then we weren’t as successful as hoped or planned. By doing this, we have an intention and can see whether results occurred.

1. ·         Make a list of your most pressing “action” questions and create marketing actions to address them.
2. ·         Decide what defines success for each.
3. ·         Do them.
4. ·         Evaluate the results.

By first determining what defines success when starting your marketing you’ll have a clear direction and know what works and what doesn’t. Tweak it and repeat!

Ter Scott, known as the “Bricks to Clicks Marketing Consultant” has taught marketing courses on the college level at a business university and continues to consult privately via the web and in person; including speaking to large groups at events. Please direct your questions to: www.terscott.com/contact.