Yeah yeah yeah, these lists are usually kind of bullsh*t. As marketers, we know how to create headlines that get you intrigued to click a link.

And once you get here you are like….. dude, I knew all of this. This is dumb.

So what do we think are the two questions you need to be asking, focusing on, and keeping top of mind each time you have any conversations around marketing?

  1. What do you ALREADY know about your audience?
  2. What can we do to create demand for products and services while adding VALUE to our core audience?

And sure, you could know that we were going to have these 2 questions in this blog…… but what are you DOING to continuously focus on these 2 questions when you and your marketing team meet? Are you in the ring, after hours, training and focusing on flexing your marketing muscles and creating habits that help you master your marketing, or are you just winging it?

Are you spending time focusing on answering these questions continuously or hoping that when you show up to the ring, you are ready for the fight? 

You can’t run a marathon after training once or twice, you can’t win a boxing match just punching a bag, and marketing strategies and campaigns aren’t successful because you only spent one afternoon thinking about your customers.

Okay, let’s focus on those two questions and why they are so important to your marketing strategy and initiatives.

2 questions to ask in your marketing meetings

Why is it important for you to focus on what you ALREADY know about your audience?

This is where lead generation comes in handy. Analyzing your current customer base, documenting how they got to your site/content/in your funnel, their behaviors, their experience with your brand, and more is so helpful in determining how you can duplicate working tactics and save time and stress.

Lead generation works on both the capturing of interested people before they purchase and understanding your current buyers. This is helpful for a sales pipeline and to nurture people to re-purchase and interact with you again and again.

Why not take the data you have already and reverse engineer what is working, and work on ways to duplicate and scale those campaigns and strategies? Work smarter, not harder!

top 2 questions to answer in marketing

Now on to the next question – What can we do to create demand for products and services while adding VALUE to our core audience?

This is where a lot of people struggle. There is a lot of “old-school” sales and marketing strategies that businesses still use that may be hurting their sales in the long-run.

Consumers are interested in doing their own research before they interact and consider transacting with brands that have products and services that can help them. Consumers are very educated and tech-savvy and know their way around internet searches.

Post-COVID, consumers are very comfortable scouring the internet, polling peer groups, asking their social groups, finding applicable digital communities, and watching content from their favorite influencers to determine the solution to their own problems and then finding the right business or brand to buy from.

If you aren’t adding value and finding ways to “give away” information for free, you are losing customers.

a group of millennials discussing something at a computer inside a well lit office space

Seems bold, seems brave – but it’s true. And as millennials continue to flex their spending power, you are up against a group of consumers that may go out of their way to NOT interact with your brand because you’ve gated your content, you require a phone call, or you don’t have an easy contact form that allows for an email exchange. (If you really know your audience, you’ll know if these things are important to you or not!)

The pandemic ushered in an unprecedented level of channel switching and brand loyalty disruption. A whopping 75 percent of consumers tried new shopping behaviors, with many of them citing convenience and value.

Consumers aren’t staying with brands if another brand is more convenient – and millennials and Gen Z aren’t brand loyal because they are focused on finding businesses that align to their values. This is very important to them as consumers and creates a unique consumer landscape that won’t go away any time soon.

millennial getting money out of her wallet at a desk

We Can Help!

Small and mighty team, but no bandwidth to create a marketing strategy? Need some help understanding what you should do for your marketing strategy? Need guidance on a new brand look and feel? Need someone to facilitate a meeting with your team to unlock what makes your business great and why your customers should know?

We can help! Contact us today so we can learn more about you and your business, and how we can help you create smart and sustainable marketing strategies to help you reach your target audience and help tell your story. Every business has a story – what’s yours?