The Top 10 Questions to Ask from Your Marketing Program

Originally Submitted on 10/8/98.

Probably the most difficult challenge facing any business is how to increase revenue over costs. While there a number of ways to do that, customer acquisition, maintenance and relationships are going to be essential means of accomplishing that task. Here are ten questions with brief joggers to begin the awesome task of discovering that potential.

1. Who is your ideal customer?

The world is too big, time is too short and there are too many people in the world for you to influence them all. Short of this, what can you do? In my opinion, the best thing to do is to market to your ideal customer. This takes some time to figure out as I'm sure most of us can envision who our ideal customer might be, but can we fully clothe them, tell you what they look like, who they talk with, what they visit, where they go, what kinds of needs they have, where they are likely to get information and solutions to their problems?

2. What are the solutions that your ideal customer is looking for?

What makes our ideal customer happy, satisfied, want more, need more? What benefits are they looking for in their lives? To what degree will they go to achieve these states of wellness? What kinds of challenges do they have that require a solution outside of their present awareness?

3. What kinds of information does your ideal customer need?

How will they respond to your attempts to provide these solutions? Can you talk with them in their phrasing, can you get their attention, is what you are doing visible to them, does it jump out and offer the solutions they need? Will it be analytical, logical, creative, ephemeral, direct, indirect, full of possibilities or to the point and step by step?

4. What type of message would your ideal customer be likely to respond to?

How are you going to position yourself in the marketspace? People are everywhere, where will your ideal customer be when they bump into your benefits, your solutions? Will they hear it, will they see it, will a friend tell them, will they recognize it when they come into contact with it...what would that message communicate to them at that instant? Will your message be direct...or will it be subtle? Will your message be loud, or will it be quiet? Will your message be bold, or stoically professional? What will determine how your message is configured--your ideal customer research!

5. How many exposures to your information does your ideal customer need?

In how many places, how many times and how often do they need to see, hear, feel, touch or be near your information to understand what you offer and how it will provide a solution or benefit to their needs? Will they need a combination of methods? What type of credibility must they perceive about you and your information in order to make a mark in their psyche about you or your business? Is Avis really number 2? Does it matter anymore, or do we all know that Avis tries harder?

6. Where is your ideal customer likely to be (hang out, read, listen, watch)?

Now that you know what kind and type of information and message you need, where will you place it? Will you have to learn to speak in front of groups, hold seminars, telemarket, direct mail, do TV interviews, have a radio show? Where are they and how can you get your message to them? If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did it really fall? Remember this metaphor.

7. What kind of relationship would your ideal customer like with you?

Do your customers want you to be aggressive, be available at all times, need continuous information about new products and services? Do they want you in the background until they need you? Do they want you behind the curtain, in the audience or on a billboard? Do they want flexibility in payment options, discounts, early pay plans? Do they want to stay on the cutting edge or are they comfortable waiting until the newness wears off? All of these issues clarify your present and future actions towards your customers.

8. What kind of relationship would you like with your ideal customer?

Most people forget to ask this question because of the question above. It's a two-way street. If you identify your best relationships and what you like about them, you will further identify the best part of your business and enhance the relationships that you have that can be more fulfilling, more profitable over time and more enjoyable. Do you need promptness, direct or indirect communication, more or less synchronous time with your customers? When we discover what we need and what our customers need, those relationships that are held within that intersection are the most valuable assets we have and concurrently we need to nurture and guide them carefully over time.

9. What is the best way to communicate and learn from our ideal customer?

This may appear redundant, but listen for the distinctions. Once we have the attention of our ideal customer, can we keep the lines of communication open and really learn from the relationship? Learning takes us to the next tier of service. When we can anticipate the needs and desires of our customers--creating products and services--before the need surfaces, we create a competitive advantage in the marketspace. We increase switching costs (the costs of our customers switching to other providers) and promote relationship longevity. This can only be done with an ear towards our customers and an ear in the marketspace. How we communicate and learn will be more critical than any other strategy we might employ.

10. When is your relationship with your ideal customer likely to be win-win-win?

The third win, often unknown, often unconsidered, yet the third win is the key. Yes we want a win for our customers, a win for ourselves, but the third win is crucial to collaborative advantage. The third win is for the system that surrounds our markets. The third win is the key to longevity, not just the present win-win scenarios we have all been taught to embrace, but the third win that propels our system forward, creating each new wave of benefit, new wave of service offering. This third win is created out of relationship with our customers and the marketspace--our non-customers. It is a dialog with the past, present and future. It is knowledge and the management of knowledge towards a deeper relationship with our ideal customer. It is evolutional and interdevelopmental--it represents the third win.

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