An important
part of any marketing cycle is reviewing progress. This is to understand
whether the activities being undertaken are producing expecting results and
meeting their objectives and a return on investment.
The review
process also gives a structured time to determine why results are more or less
successful than anticipated. It can identify new opportunities; early changes
in market conditions and spark new ideas.
It’s for
this reason that there is no such thing as a daft question. When I worked for a
manufacturing firm supplying the car industry, we often had multi-functional
teams involved in review meetings so that all sorts of questions would be
asked.
Often the ‘Why
do we do that?’ type got the product development and manufacturing teams
looking at their processes to see how they could improve methods that had been
the same for years just because they’d always been done that way.
Who/what/when/where/why
type questions enable marketing teams to drill down to understand the results
of their activities; generate new ideas and evaluate the ever-changing array of
marketing tools.
These can
typically include:
- Why isn't our marketing engaging potential clients?
- Are we getting the wrong type of business?
- How do we open up new markets?
- Where do we find new customers for our existing products and services?
- How can we improve our marketing?
- Will social media / advertising / email marketing / PR / direct marketing help us to gain more customers?
- Who should be responsible for our marketing? Are we using the right person? Do they have the right skills?
When I undertake
marketing consultancy and
training sessions, I ask many questions to gain a full understanding of a
company, its market place, customers and the people who make it happen. In my experience,
seeing something from a different perspective allows the companies I work with
to objectively evaluate what they do and why.
Often, this
process verifies it is the right thing to do. Sometimes it hightlights a new range of customers to
consider or a need to reconsider objectives of the budget allocation between
different marketing tools.
Top Tip! Invite team members from other departments to
review marketing campaigns before they are launched. A different point of view
is invaluable to highlight an angle that needs to be addressed; wording that
could be improved and if something isn’t as obvious as you thought.
If you’d
like to know more about the questions to ask in marketing review sessions, call
us on 01283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com.
Written by Hannah Sookias, Founder of Sookias Media www.sookiasmedia.com
