Collective Wisdom of the Word Sell Community
If your business is launching a website or blog, how do you determine what to write about and how to write it? Taking it a level up, what are you trying to accomplish?
Questions like these are not as simple as they sound. We had a recent discussion here on marketing discovery, and readers suggested all sorts of wonderful questions we can ask to ferret out the answers.
The Nine Pillars of Marketing Wisdom
1. Customer focus is a resounding theme. Andrew suggests, “What do our customers and key stakeholders want to achieve from a visit to our site or blog?” Whenever possible, ask them directly. Their answers may surprise you.
2. Identify your audience. Joanna Young asks quite simply, “Who am I talking to?” Sustainable packaging specialist Dennis Salazar expresses it in b2b language – “Who is my target audience?” Multiple readers? Keep in mind a website or blog is made up of pages. It’s not necessary to make every page speak to every reader. Trying to do so dilutes the message and often results in saying nothing to everyone.
3. Define expectations. Cath Lawson poses the challenging question, “What am I hoping to achieve through doing this?” Barbara Ling – “Where am I NOW? To where do I want to GO? How do I get THERE from HERE?” As I contemplate these vastly important questions, it occurs to me that people who criticize the discipline of marketing for being nebulous often fail to precisely determine the results they seek. In such cases their marketing is bound to be imprecise and marginally productive.
4. Where is my uniqueness? Tara Joyce asks, “What makes my business unique?” To have a compelling message, you must identify your compelling difference. This involves knowing your competition as well as your own business.
5. Analyze everything in detail. Karen Swim and Steve Sherlock advocate asking “Why?” over and over. Karen observes, ” (Clients) think through their business and (discover) holes (or lack thereof) in their strategy. Many clients have focused on a tactic(s) without having a clear strategy.” When a series of “why” questions leads to a dead end, you’ve found a marketing tactic that serves no strategic purpose.
6. Identify customer needs. Alina Popescu says, “One very important question for me is why do they come to the site. How they find it and who they are is important, but why they are there helps determine what answers (solutions) they are looking for.” Do you notice how much web content is inward focused? Comes off rather flat, doesn’t it? We must always think and write from the customer’s point of view.
7. Reconcile customer and company needs. Dennis asks a rather arresting question – “Is what they want and what I want (them to get) the same thing?” If you’re selling quality and customers are buying wide selection, something has to give. Where are your inside-outside disconnects?
8. Boil down the message. Mary-Lynn Foster makes a crucial point – ”’Can I tell my viewers what I’m about in 10 words or less?’ This advice is so important because if your website viewer doesn’t get how you can help them, and quickly, they’ll leave.” One of the first things I do with my business blog consulting clients is ask them to write a 3-4 sentence “elevator speech” describing their blog. Once it’s written, a good deal of the marketing and writing decisions flow naturally. Free SEO services guy George Ajazi stresses the importance of keywords in the online message. Perhaps it’s summed up best by Terry Heath, who asks, “What’s it all about, Alfie?”
9. Don’t start marketing until you’re ready. Bill, a former colleague, poses the question – “…is this the most effective use of time and resources for what I want to achieve?” Fred H. Schlegel asks, “What am I passionate about?” Wow! I couldn’t have orchestrated these comments any better, because Bill and Fred tackle the “head” and the “heart” of what makes online marketing worth doing at all. If your answers are anything less than an emphatic Yes!, you’re not ready to launch anything yet.
More Marketing Discovery Ideas?
What have we missed? What other marketing discovery questions should we ask ourselves?
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Wow – what a collection of wonderful questions to ask!
I must say that I particularly the extremely simplicity of Joanna’s response, and the process of defining your target audience, as per Joanna and Dennis’s response, would be one which I would have thought would be especially critical in terms of guiding the design of any form of corporate web site.
That said, this is not to take away from any of the other responses – they all sound like important questions to me.
Andrews last blog post..Should the illicit drugs industry be legalized?
Fantastic round up, Brad. Well done.
Joanna Youngs last blog post..7 Ways You Helped Me Write a Book
I really like what you quoted from Joanna, “It’s not necessary to make every page speak to every reader.” That’s so right and holds true for SEO purposes as well.
I also appreciate the quote from Dennis, “Is what they want and what I want (them to get) the same thing?”
As a matter of fact, it’s a stellar bunch of tips. And how totally appropriate mine would be the somewhat-odd one; I guess I’m finding my niche. It’s good to be
kingtagged.Terry Heaths last blog post..A Rant About Actually Being Qualified To Do Stuff
Brad, I really enjoyed your post. You truly demonstrated the art of asking questions. Your question really started a productive discussion that gave me greater insight. I learned so much from the collective wisdom that was shared here. Thanks for including me in the roundup!
Karen Swims last blog post..It’s All About You
Terry, A consensus is forming that Joanna’s quote could stand as a post in and of itself, which goes to the point about brevity.
Karen, Fourteen or fifteen heads are better than one!
Yikes! I just realized I quoted Dennis Salazar’s contribution and not Joanna’s. Oh well, they’re both good.
Terry Heaths last blog post..On Being Lord High Everything Else
This is an important topic because it asks ‘HOW’ – and not just the usual ‘just do it’.
I must declare that (amongst other things) I teach marketing. And customer focus; but privately I wonder if:
- customers know what they want
- can differentiate between what they want and what they end up buying
- can articulate what they want in such a way that it actually helps the marketer (I doubt the contribution of so-called research for this reason)
And my experience in running my own businesses has taught me that getting clarity about your own business model is THE foundation of everything that follows. I sense the same sentiment in some of the ‘pillars’ – but it is worth expressing it I thought. Great post.
Denniss last blog post..20 things you can negotiate – other than price
@Dennis, I completely connected with your “wonder if” statements. I am a marketer and over the years I have found that for many clients the answer to all of those statements is “no.” It is for that reason I rarely agreed to write copy without first assessing the overall strategy. Your questions are excellent and perhaps Brad will explore those further too.
Karen Swims last blog post..It’s All About You
Hi Dennis, Karen – Yes, I’m with both of you that a crystal clear business model is essential. I’ve tried to jump into a project writing copy with a minimal understanding of strategy, and frankly I’m not very good at it. Whatever I write ends up sounding like total bull. What’s strange is that sometimes, the client likes it, which tells me they aren’t really clear on what they’re trying to say. It’s definitely a topic I’ll come back to. On the issue of whether customers know what they want and want what they buy … I think it depends on the customer. Some know, some think they know, some don’t know. Sellers have to assume their customers will fall into any of those three categories and organize their website accordingly. Amazon does a nice job of appealing to all types by offering user reviews, expert reviews, product synopses/specifications, etc. And yet they make it easy to execute an impulse buy.
Brad Shorrs last blog post..9 Ways to Discover Your Marketing Purpose
Brad, your comment about Amazon sparked a thought that I think will be useful for the book! You are so right Amazon functions as an information portal appealing to those who know what they want, those who have an idea and those who may be browsing. They manage to do it all in a way that isolates no one. I have studied other aspects of their business model (fascinating) but this is a new perspective. Brilliant discussion Brad!
Karen Swims last blog post..It’s All About You
Great conversation going on here Brad. I have to agree with others that Joanna’s question probably drives all others.
Your comment about writing when strategy is unclear strikes home. I always get nervous when there are no arguments, changes or discussion when implementing against strategy or proposing the strategy itself. It feels like that can indicate an idea so bland that there is no emotional commitment or a strategy so vague that it doesn’t require hard decisions about execution. I’m getting to the stage where I prefer a violent negative reaction to a neutral one. At least that guides my next effort.
Fred H Schlegels last blog post..Creativity is Messy — Walk In A Great Creative’s Shoes
Karen, Cool! I can’t wait to hear what you have in mind … we must talk.
Fred, Thank you for your very active role in making this conversation click. Your comment here speaks volumes to me. My immediate reaction – the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. There is nothing that saps the strength of an organization more than apathy. You’ve got me thinking one of its causes is bland, superficial, safe thinking. Ugh. I hope you provoke scores of violent reactions next week. It’s just what the economy needs.
Brad Shorrs last blog post..9 Ways to Discover Your Marketing Purpose
Hi Brad – Thanks for the link. This is great advice. I really like the last one. I’m tired of reading folks saying “just jump in and do it – don’t wait until you’re ready”. And half the time those people wind up trying to sell crap that nobody wants.
Cath Lawsons last blog post..Do You Give A Toss If You Offend People?
Cath, We have a very wise group here. Sometimes it’s good to jump right in, but for sure, wait if you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish.
Brad Shorrs last blog post..Spiritual Renewal Monday
These are all really great points, however for me, probably the most important point has to be the final one. Online marketing/social media takes time and effort to get right. If you do not have the resources or the know how, you are probably not ready to get started and be successful.