I attended a webinar yesterday where the presenter spoke my language! It was with John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing.   Here are three questions that we should all be asking before we spend money on marketing. Once you are clear on your responses to these questions, your marketing strategy will be much more effective.

1. Why do we do what we do?

This is your mission question. Until you get very clear about the one overarching purpose for your business, you will waiver in many decisions that come along. Once you know your “Why”, you’ll have the basis for every decision you make and a thread that can define your brand and help to build your tribe of followers and loyal customers.

Let me share with you the most frequent response I get from our clients – “for the money”. When I dig deeper and ask if there are easier ways to make the money they make, most agree that it’s not really all about the money. There is typically a bigger reason. Ponder this for your business. What are you proud of that you bring about as a result of doing business with a client?

When you know your Why, you’ll have something unique, your story, your mission. The competition can’t copy it, it is what you stand for. Dig deep and work on this one until it is clear and you have no doubts about your Why.

2. Who do we do it for?

The best answer for this should be as narrow as possible. Once you know your Why you’ll know that some percentage of the world won’t be attracted to it. That’s OK. When you dig deeper and get even narrower in your ideal client definition, you’ll start to really understand who you can help in your business and who gets the most value from your unique approach.

How do you start to narrowly define the entire world of potential clients and customers? Look to your most profitable customers that already refer business to you. Find what is common among this group and you should be able to develop a very narrow ideal customer profile that entails both a physical description and ideal behavior and possibly even more specific details of their profile like their household income, area they live in, and more.

3. What do we do that’s both unique and remarkable?

What is it you do? It’s not simply stating the business you’re in. This important step is to find and communicate how your business is unique in a way that your ideal client finds remarkable. In a way that allows you to stand apart from everyone else that says they are in the same business you are.

This isn’t an easy step. Most business owners don’t fully understand what their customers truly value. It’s not good service, fair pricing and a broad selection. Those are expected and everyone usually claims them as their advantages. The difference is in the details, the little things you do, the way you do it, how you treat people, how you make your customers feel. It’s in the surprises, the things that exceed their expectations and they speak about with their friends.

Of course this assumes you provide something that is actually unique and remarkably done. You probably do, you just don’t know how magnificent it is and how you should make it the message you lead with.

You can’t answer this question at your computer screen. Go talk to your customers. They know what you do that’s unique. They know why they do business with you and not your competition. Ask them why. Listen carefully and don’t be afraid to embrace the little things you do that they point out, that’s where you are different in a way that matters to them.

Spend time answering these three questions. It does not have to be an academic process, but it is perhaps the most important thing you can do for your business and certainly something you should do before you consider implementing your next great marketing idea.

I look forward to hearing your responses to the three questions. I’ll look for them in my inbox at hansonha@roanestate.edu.