TEN ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS FOR COMPANIES WANTING BETTER MARKETING RESULTS.
What do we sell? What are the main services or products we sell? How much do we sell of each so which are the most important? Are some of these products/services more profitable than others, and if so, which?
Who do we sell to? Who are our most important customers? Do we have a usable database of these customers and what does it tell us about them? How do these differ from the other customers. How can we find more of them?
Who are our main competitors? What share of the market do we have? What are the strengths/weaknesses of our competitors?
How are we keeping in contact with our customers? Do we send them regular emails, mailings? Do we thank them for their business? Do we encourage them to visit our website regularly?
Why should customers buy our product/service rather than the competitors’? How price competitive are we? How does our delivery compare? After Sales service? How much confidence do we engender? What benefits are there to the customer to use us rather than a competitor?
How are we going about finding new customers? Do we target our advertising to those most likely to buy? Do we have an effective sales conversion process?
What is the message we are delivering in our advertising? Is it consistent across all media?
Is this message telling them why they should use us? In other words are we promoting the same benefits as we identified in 5 above?
Is my advertising budget spent in the best way – is it targeted? Are we concentrating on those potential customers who offer the most profitability? Are we using the mnost cost-effective media to reach them? Have we agreed how many times they will need to see our message before they can be converted? Are we including ‘call to action’ in our ads, brochures, mailings? Are we measuring response, conversion?
Is our communication material distinct enough, eye-catching enough, persuasive enough? How does it stack up against the best companies in our sector?
Editor: Laurie Rogers, The Brandmakers Company
