Top Marketing Questions - FAQs

We are your marketing agency support, working alongside you and your marketing leadership. Great partnerships start with the right questions.

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." That is 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 is simply doing its homework, 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 another split may serve you better.

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. So 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, we used a simple example about a specific food coloring. The obvious suggestion would be to expand your color offerings. If you are selling a super comfy black hoodie, creating the matching pants would be just as obvious a suggestion. That is the kind of idea you likely already have covered.

Moving beyond the obvious places is where creative agencies and top marketers help you rethink your product offerings and grow 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, 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 complement it may be to launch an indie Note-Perfect music label. Signing strategic artists who reach your consumers would grow brand reach, open up new audiences, and expand 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?

It is perfectly fine to say no if you do not have one yet. Be prepared that marketers will suggest you create one right away.

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 the questions wander into odd territory, like your favorite animal, look for a team whose questions clearly connect to your brand and your goals.

Getting to know you and your brand matters. Spend some social time with them. Let your marketing team get to know you. Send them campaigns you love and ads you feel missed the mark. Let your marketing account executive know where your company stands on the issues you hold firm on.