Top Marketing Questions - FAQs
Seasoned professional marketers will ask you, the business owner, a few questions. So before you meet with an agency or interview your next rockstar Chief Marketing Officer applicant, be prepared to answer these top most frequently asked marketing questions.
1. Do you have a marketing budget? This question is widely interpreted by clients and companies to mean, "how much are we willing to pay you the person or you the agency." But that's not really what the marketer or agency is asking at all.
They are asking you, do you have a budget beyond what you will be paying the marketer or agency for brain power, labor, and creative services.
Before a marketing professional can decide if your company's funds are best spent on sales incentives, experiential marketing, OOH, billboards, print ads, commercial placements on TV or radio, podcasts, charitable donations, micro-influencers, partnerships, celebrity endorsements or digital ads, we need to know how much is in your marketing budget.
Your agency isn't being nosey and they have likely signed an NDA already if you are this far down the line in talks.
An effective proactive marketing team will walk you down the right path and maximize your brand's reach for the amount of funding available.
For example, if you have $100,000 available to spend in Q1 on a Google ad click campaign, you may assume that it should be divided in thirds evenly. That may be the best solution, or it may not.
Why?
If your company is selling green food coloring, you will do the majority of your sales in Q1 leading up to holidays like the big football game and St. Patrick's Day. Valentine's day sales probably go to your competitor that sells red food coloring. Therefore, your spend campaign should ebb and flow at appropriate times to stimulate sales.
Which brings us to the next marketing frequently asked question.
2. Are you open to innovating in a white space? Above of course, we used a simple silly example about a specific food coloring. The obvious suggestion here would be to expand your color offerings. If you're selling a super comfy black hoodie, creating the matching pants would be just as obvious a suggestion.
You don't need a marketing agency to point this out to you.
Moving beyond the obvious places, this is where creative agencies and top marketers can help you rethink your product offerings and how to increase top line revenue.
Think about how much of your production, operation, innovation and marketing budget you are willing to spend to branch out. A strong marketing campaign can leverage the power of your strong branding to expand business.
For example, let's say you own Note-Perfect Wines, and it is a top seller. People ask for it by name in restaurants and stores. The name is associated with cutting edge style. A compelling innovation to compliment it may be to launch an indie Note-Perfect music label. Signing some strategic artists that can reach your consumers would increase brand reach and open up new audiences, as well as increase your customer base for email marketing.
3. What is your deadline? Set your marketing team, agency or executive up to succeed. Give them the time they need to properly conceive, develop, build, cross-check, problem solve, fund and source your new launch.
Every project requires a different amount of time. Allow the marketing team the time to:
identify the goals
secure supply chains
create marketing assets
state the key performance indicators
define attribution
educate internal teams
implement sales incentives
set parameters for success
4. Do you have a brand style guide? Every properly trained marketer and communication expert will ask you this question straight out of the gate. What is your brand voice? Do you have a brand style digital tool kit?
Don't be afraid to say no, if you don't have it. Do be prepared that marketers will suggest you create one stat.
Marketing teams can help you create one based on marketing campaign history and digging through the essence of your brand. They may also suggest you update brand voice based on new goals and corporate mission evolution.
If they ask you about your favorite animal or any number of the odd questions clients report to be asked during these annoying corporate marketing agency intakes, it may not be the right marketing team for you.
That said, they do need to get to know you and your brand. Spend some social time with them. Do let your marketing team get to know you. Send them campaigns you love and ads you think fell flat. Let your marketing account executive know where your company stands on issues you are unwilling to waiver on.
***Maybe you came here because you have questions for us. We promise, we want to hear your questions. And we want to answer them. Please reach out.