What challenges currently face your business? An agency should ask this pivotal question, as it gets to the heart as to why you’re looking for marketing and communications help.
We’ve experienced a variety of responses to the question.
The ideal reply is when the client clearly outlines their challenges. This is the best-case scenario. Clear objectives, such as increasing outreach to a specific demographic or industry segments; improving sales lead generation; or making the company website more effective or up to date. This allows the agency to conceive of and deliver highly tailored approaches.
Compare this to more limited responses, such as “we need more sales” or “we want to grow our business.” Replies could also slip into unrealistic expectations, like wanting overnight success or a guaranteed ROI on marketing spend.
In these cases, the agency can ask clarifying questions to understand the root cause behind these desires. For example, if the response about customer targets elicits a response like “We’re targeting everyone”, follow up questions could include:
- “Who is your ideal customer? Can you describe their demographics, interests, and pain points?”
- “Are there specific market segments you’d like to focus on?”
- “How do you currently reach your target audiences?”
Some issues will be obvious, while others may lie beneath the surface. A broad range of questions, coupled with probing follow-ups, can uncover challenges that clients aren’t even aware of. It wouldn’t be the first time “hidden” issues are the ones that turn out to be far more pressing.
Most marketing issues face outward. But internal issues are not unexpected. Lack of resources is a significant concern, like arms and legs to execute content marketing and social media or being more consistent with email marketing campaigns. Presently, getting a handle on using generative AI, and how to properly manage these tools, is high on clients’ minds.
Whatever your challenges, be open and honest with the prospective agency. Pinpointing and prioritizing challenges allows the agency to tailor their services and strategies to address specific pain points.
This ensures the proposed marketing strategies avoid predictably common solutions, but rather confront your unique problems directly and effectively. It alters the all-too-easy path of doing generic and ineffective marketing “stuff”.
