When we were young, our family took a lot of car vacations. To pass the time, we would play 20 Questions. You know the game. You ask a series of questions, with the questions based upon the information you already had. The objective was to guess the subject in 20 questions or less.
The following list of 20 questions does not lead to a specific answer. But any marketer should make sure he or she can answer them before embarking on any major marketing initiative. For example, people have become so obsessed with the latest thing (social marketing), that they are rushing into tactics before figuring out how, or even if, social marketing can work best for them. And how social marketing fits into the overall marketing mix.
To make sure you are doing the right things, here are 20 questions you need to answer. One caveat: the questions assume that you can deliver on your brand promise. If you can't, you need to fix that first.
Comments, as always, are welcome.
Who are your target markets?
Who are the decision makers you are trying to reach?
What is your company positioning statement?
What core attributes drive people to make decisions about purchasing products/services such as yours?
How do you rate relative to the competition on those core attributes?
What is your sales process, from generating leads to closing sales?
What trade shows do people in your target market attend?
What publications do they read?
How do they use the Internet do obtain information (i.e., Websites, search, social media)?
What tactics do you use to generate awareness for potential new clients, and do you believe they can be improved?
What tactics do you use to enhance your firm’s credibility to potential and existing clients, and can they be improved?
What tactics to you use to generate leads, and can they be improved?
What tactics do you use in the sales process once leads are qualified (i.e., proposals, sales presentations), and can they be improved?
What tactics to you use to generate direct sales, and can they be improved?
What tactics to you use to retain and enhance existing client relationships, and can they be improved?
What referral sources do you use, and how do you communicate with them?
What tactics do you use to recruit new employees, and can they be improved?
What tactics do you use to communicate with your existing employees, and can they be improved?
Would you say the quality of your marketing deliverables (online and offline) are of the same quality as or better than the deliverables of your largest competitor?
How much money do you think you should spend on marketing?
You're not alone. My parents are still getting mail and it's been 5 years since they died!
ReplyDeleteI like this, but I think that ther is a reasonably large universe of people who will stop reading after "company positioning statement" or "core attributes". I belive that many small business owner don't think in those terms.
ReplyDelete