Better Questions = Better Marketing Results
I don't think anyone who knows me would be surprised that I think "more questions" is the answer to most things. Especially when it comes to generating results.
And it's always been curious to me how people seem to get stuck on asking the SAME questions over and over, and then those questions end up becoming mostly irrelevant. But we're still convinced that we're asking "good questions" and so we don't stop to think about how the questions we're asking add value (or don't).
I asked my trusty Perplexity.AI side kick for some of the most common marketing questions that add little to no value, and let's have some fun getting curious about WHY they aren't doing for you what you're hoping they'll do 😉
Let's Go!
Questions That Lack Strategic Focus
This is a SUPER common place for Marketers to get stuck with their question asking. We get focused on exploring things like, "how to optimize my email subject lines", "what latest marketing trends we should try", or "how to go viral". But the fact of the matter is that NONE of these questions are actually tied to a strategic objective, or what I like to call a Performance Challenge (thanks Doug Smith for the meaningful verbiage).
Let's break one of these questions down to the strategic level to help you see WHY they don't perform at that level with one of my favorite exercises, The 5 Why's.
"How can I optimize my email subject lines?"
Why 1: Why do we care about optimizing our email subject lines? Perhaps it's because we want more people to open our emails.
Why 2: Why do we want more people to open our emails? Perhaps because the content inside our emails can help them keep their product or service running smoothly. Perhaps because we're trying to sell / upsell them things. Two VERY DIFFERENT WHY'S. Let's go with the first one in this example, solely because I think it's the more productive job for email.
Why 3: Why do we think people NEED this information? Perhaps we have some email stats that are telling us our open rates are lower than industry average, but is that aligned with how people are using our products? It may or may not even need to be distributed at all.
Why 4: Why is email the best way to get this information to our clients? There's always more than one way to distribute information. But what if, perhaps, it's that you haven't built up enough of a status as a Trusted Advisor for people to believe your email will help them? A subject line probably isn't going to change that.
Why 5: Why do we think that "optimizing" an email subject line will solve the real problem of our revenues not growing? This gets to the guts of the matter. If your marketing program is about generating revenue, then this is where the rubber hits the road. Because unless we understand why we think this effort has value, we really can't assess it fully.
Now, we could probably play this game all day, but I am all about results. The point is that, with exercises like The 5 Why's, you can identify if your questions are strategic or not. And narrow the focus down to what IS strategic, so you can spend your time asking questions that matter.
Metrics-Related Questions (that miss the mark)
Oh, Marketing KPI's. How you have been leading people astray.
I think most people are familiar with vanity metrics (like post likes or followers), yet STILL they are SO common from a tracking perspective. And when we track things, we are more likely to ask questions about them.
So, we can ask questions about likes, the number of pieces of content, or ROI, but is that what we REALLY want to know?
Again, if we pull our questions up to the strategic level, we need to know what we're trying to ACHIEVE as a brand. We need to know WHO we are being in the market and HOW that leads to sales and client retention.
So how do we track 👆THOSE👆 things?
We ask questions like, "what area of the market do we want to LEAD?" "How do we track if we are showing up " on brand"?" "How do our efforts funnel into sales?" "Which customer retention strategies actually contribute to keeping clients?"
And, of course, there are many MORE you can ask based on what YOU are specifically trying to accomplish. And the larger point is, if you're only asking OTHER people's questions, are you getting the answers that are right for YOU?
Overly Broad or Vague Inquiries
Ugh, I get these ALL the time as a marketing advisor.
"How can we improve our marketing?"
"What do customers want?"
Like there's ONE answer for these?
Honestly, I always think it's the BEST marketers that will come back at these questions, not with an answer, but with some questions. Because there is NO ONE WAY to improve a marketing program...especially if you don't know the nitty gritty of how it all goes down.
What do you want to improve about your marketing?
Why do you think that marketing is even the problem?
What about that change do you think will improve things?
The answer never lies in the BROAD question. The answers ALWAYS lie in the specific questions you ask about YOUR business because you know WHY you need to know them.
Questions That Ignore Context
Gah, another set that drive me crazy. Mostly because they are almost always related to CHASING something instead of CREATING something.
"Why aren't we on TikTok?"
I don't know! Why aren't you on TikTok? Maybe because it doesn't match your brand? Or your team isn't at all interested in performing that way?
"Can't we just copy our competitor's strategy?"
Yeah, you can. If you want to look exactly the same as them and compete directly on price.
Come on, people. This is just lazy question asking at best.
And yes, it's harder to figure out what YOU would do than it is to copy someone else. But you'll also never reach YOUR full business potential by doing that. You'll only reach the potential of whoever you copied. So if you're fine with that, go ahead.
I don't happen to be fine with that.
Igniting Questions in YOUR Organization
If you read through this entire article, you've probably identified some of the questions you've asked. And if not, you're lying, because even I've gotten caught up in these types of questions.
The secret is to notice and decide to do something DIFFERENT moving forward.
And then, to ignite the ability for your entire team to ask questions at the strategic level.
You see, in Marketing, we often leave the question asking for the highest level role; a CMO or a VP of Marketing. But what if your entire TEAM 1) knew where you were all going (from a marketing vision perspective, and 2) consistently asked questions that would keep you on track to getting there?
Sounds pretty good to me.
And as a CMO or VP Marketing, you have that opportunity.
To INSPIRE your team towards the goal.
And to CREATE SPACE for them to take you there.
But you CAN'T go those things if you're spending too many mental calories on the questions that DON'T matter.
So pull yourself out of it.
And lead the way out for the rest of the team too.
And just LOOK at what can happen 💖
P.S. If you're looking for a team mate to help you take that first step together, let's chat 😊
