5 Questions to Improve Your Marketing
Having all the answers would seem a good goal to achieve. But as a coach or consultant, the key to improving your marketing is to ask the right questions.
You might think you know what’s important to communicate, the talking points that will make you stand out in a crowded marketplace. But it’s easy to get lost in the details (and your own perspective) and lose sight of what’s really important to your ideal client.
If you want to shake up your marketing and get out of the rut of repeating yourself over and over when you talk about what you do, here are five questions to ask yourself…
#1 What’s one thing you wish more people knew about your business?
This is about identifying the unique aspects of your business that you’re not communicating. Maybe you think you are and it’s just not getting across, or maybe you’ve assumed that everyone already knows. The answer to this question is often a gap in your current marketing strategy. It’s often what differentiates you and would help you attract clients who truly value what you offer.
#2 Looking back at your marketing so far, what’s one thing you would do differently and why?
This may seem an obvious one, but very few people actually take the time to learn from experience. Evaluating your past strategies shows you what worked and – often more important – what didn’t. With this information, you can optimise your marketing, making informed decisions about what to focus on next.
#3 What would the world’s best coaching/consultancy business do?
If you’re going to hold yourself to a benchmark, why settle for anything less than the best? Yes, it may not always be possible to work at that level (we all have to start somewhere) but this is aspirational thinking and strategising. Pushing your marketing to equal the best in the field will inspire innovative ideas and motivate you to do things differently and better.
#4 What do you want people to think, feel or do?
You know you want people to respond positively to your marketing, but what exactly does that response look and feel like? Clarifying what you want from your audience helps you tailor your messaging more effectively. Are you aiming to inspire, to inform, to prompt action…? Knowing your desired outcomes ensures your marketing is more purposeful and therefore more impactful.
#5 What is the change you are trying to make, or help people make?
What’s the impact of the service you provide? What’s the end goal or objective? Often, marketing focuses on what you do (because that’s easier and more tangible to talk about) but what are the results of what you do? Understanding the change you seek to make (and support clients to make) clarifies what you want and need your marketing to communicate. When you focus on change, the message resonates with potential clients seeking to make that change. That makes your marketing more attractive and compelling.
These five questions are ways of delving deeper into your business’s unique value. By learning from past experiences, aspiring beyond how you’ve marketed yourself before, and clearly defining your impact, your marketing strategy becomes clearer, much easier to do, and gets more effective results.
If this blog post has got you thinking, you can find more ideas and content like this in my Monday marketing motivation email below, podcast and YouTube channel.
