As the world changes rapidly, so too must your marketing strategy evolve to stay relevant. That doesn’t mean you go after every shiny new marketing trend because other brands do. What it means is you continue to ask the same tried and true questions. You ask them repeatedly, inquiring from diverse viewpoints, to confirm whether your strategy is still on point, or if you have some important work to do.
Here are key questions to ask as you develop your next marketing plan or campaign.
WHO
Who are your audiences? List all types. Be sure to include employees. Remember to add current and former clients/customers, and not just new ones. Dig deep. Look into demographics and buying habits. Now ask yourself, are all audiences created equal? Can you assign percentages to each audience in terms of their value to your company? Have you neglected certain types? By reverse, have you spent too much emphasis on others?
WHAT
What do you offer them? Is there a disconnect between that and what they want from you? What do you stand for? What’s your role in bettering society?
WHERE
Where are you? Are you everywhere you should be? (Sorry, Visa®) Look at brick and mortar and online operations. Are you limited by geography? How else can you bring your product/service right to your clients/customers?
WHEN
When do people need your products/services? Is your business seasonal or cyclical? Are your products/services evergreen or specific to a time of life? How greatly do economic swings impact you?
WHY
Why should your audiences choose you? With every purchase, with or without hard currency, people are choosing you and not your competitor. Why are you different? Why do they keep coming back? More importantly, why aren’t they coming back?
and HOW
Poor How. Always last on the list, if included at all. Most think of How will you execute your plan? How will you break through the clutter to communicate with your audiences? How will you craft messages that resonate? How will you develop the right tactical mix?
All are valid but how can take a more meaningful role by asking, how do you know? Which naturally flows into the most fundamental element of all plans: How will you measure? Anecdotes are nice, but numbers rule the day. Proving ROI helps justify your marketing investment. You really do need to spend money to make money.
Now you know what to ask, brainstorm the answers with diverse teams. While you can’t create a marketing plan by committee, a group looking at the questions from different viewpoints will ensure that the final plan will consider multiple facets of the business. If you need assistance in putting it all together, CMO for Hire can be your guide.
