26 Universal Questions for Brand Positioning

Setting the Stage

The first 10 questions deal with the context in which the brand can be positioned. They set the stage of the brand story, if you will.

  1. Redefine your business: What other categories satisfy a similar need or provide the similar emotional reward that yours does? And what opportunities would this new perspective offer for building your brand and your portfolio? (Example: Cirque

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13 Critical Questions to Answer about Your Startup’s Product Marketing

  1. What is our company’s story? What is our pitch?
  2. Which market segment should we pursue?
  3. How do we differentiate our product from competition?
  4. What is the best way to assure a successful new product launch?
  5. How should we respond when customers ask for discounts?
  6. How much customization do we offer?
  7. How can we reduce or maintain cost of customer acquisition?
  8. How can we retain our customers for longer?
  9. Which of our

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3 Marketing Effectiveness Questions

For marketing, metrics should tie in some way to the ability to acquire, keep and grow the value of customers. For example, how well is marketing:

  1. Driving share of preference in order to positively affect consideration and consumption, to grow market share?
  2. Influencing share of wallet in order to positively affect customer lifetime value?
  3. Accelerating the adoption of a new product or service to impact market

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Multi-Channel Marketing Questions

In order to serve the channel-savvy, highly mobile, multidevice-happy consumer, chief marketing officers (CMOs) have their work cut out for them. These CMOs need to have an accurate understanding of consumers—their intentions, impressions of products and services and their behavior; to pinpoint exactly which marketing channels—online or offline—are yielding maximum MROI.

For example, knowing the impact of paid search engine marketing (SEM), online display media, natural … [ Read more ]

Social Media Questions

  • What is the business case for investing further in social media? Where and how much should we invest?
  • Fundamentally, how much is consumer behavior changing? What are the biggest opportunities and threats? How aggressively are my competitors investing in these tools, and are they capturing differential advantage?
  • What are the best practices in deploying social media strategies? What are the pitfalls to avoid?
  • Should we build or

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5 Key Marketing Questions

  1. What exactly influences our consumers today? The digital revolution and the explosion of social media have profoundly changed what influences consumers as they undertake their purchasing decision journey.2 When considering products, they read online reviews and compare prices. Once in stores, they search for deals with mobile devices and drive hard bargains. And after the purchase, they become reviewers themselves and demand ongoing

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Copyrighting: The Sucking Wind Checklist

  1. Do you offer a clear message and value?
  2. Have you established Trust & Credibility?
  3. Have you answered all the main objections?
  4. Have you addressed the emotional “ownership” of the sale?
  5. Have you substantiated your claims?
  6. Have you made the next steps clear?
  7. Could you have said the same thing in a 1/3 of the words?

Big Data Collection and Use Questions

Real opportunity exists to create differentiation and set new “community standards in honoring the spirit of personal privacy and property rights while enhancing and protecting the value of a brand and enterprise. Some policy questions to be considered:

Transparency

  • Do customers understand how our company uses the data gathered from their interactions and transactions?
  • If customers knew the full extent of its use, would they agree to it?
  • Does

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Big Data Public Policy Questions

The potentially all-knowing capabilities of companies and organizations that collect data raise questions.

  • What are an individual´s privacy rights given the particular and dynamic dimensions of the digital world: the amount of data, the real time processing of and actions taken based on the data?
  • Should there be limits as to how data can be collected or used?
  • Who owns the data?
  • Who should benefit from the value it

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Multi-Channel Marketing Questions

In order to serve this channel-savvy, highly mobile, multidevice-happy consumer, chief marketing officers (CMOs) have their work cut out for them. These CMOs need to have an accurate understanding of consumers-their intentions, impressions of products and services and their behavior; to pinpoint exactly which marketing channels-online or offline-are yielding maximum MROI.

For example, knowing the impact of paid search engine marketing (SEM), online display media, natural … [ Read more ]

9 Questions to Ask Before Presenting

  1. How does this individual perceive the problem I intend to solve?
  2. What is the pithy summary of my idea that will appeal to this person?
  3. What roles does this person play in the decision-making process?
  4. What is my goal for this encounter?
  5. What is the basis for my credibility

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Segmentation Questions

At the very minimum, a segmentation should answer the following questions in order to be successful:

  • Which consumer segments represent the largest profit pools in our category?
  • What is our share of wallet across segments today?
  • How should we prioritize the various growth opportunities within and across segments?
  • What messages and offerings will command the attention of these consumers?
  • How can we position our brands and sub-brands for

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Questions About SKU Count – Reduce or Not?

  • In your portfolio of brands, which ones are candidates for SKU reduction and which are not? In each case, you must use market analysis to make sure you understand the nature of the category and the motives of the consumer.
  • What drives complexity and costs in your product line? It may be SKU proliferation, and it may be trade deals or manufacturing and logistical

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Product Adoption Questions

Use these six questions to gauge the speed of adoption of your product or service:

  • Does the target perceive that the product/service adds value?
  • Is the product compatible with current practices and processes?
  • Is the product/service easy to understand and use?
  • Can the product/service be sampled and/or trialed?
  • What is the risk factor in buying/using the product? (Tip: lower is better.)
  • Is it easy to communicate the advantages of

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Positioning Questions

  • What business are we in?
  • What market(s) do we serve?
  • What are our customers’ special needs?
  • Who is our competition?
  • What makes us different from our competitors?
  • What benefits do clients derive from our services?
  • How can we get everyone in our company to tell the same story?

Source:
A Road Map to Advertising Results
by Jeff Propper
MarketingProfs.com

Miscellaneous Marketing Questions

  • How will marketing in cyberspace change your distribution channels and internal business systems, and how rapidly and effectively you can manage those changes?
  • What are all of the ways that one of our customers or potential customers can form an impression of our brand, our company or our products/services?
  • How much does it cost to acquire a new customer?
  • How does your business determine the true

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Marketing Event Planning Questions

The continuum begins with the development of a detailed plan. The plan should answer the following questions: 

  • Who will manage the various aspects of the event?
  • What are its objectives (qualitative and quantitative)?
  • Who is/are the target audience(s)?
  • What is the theme?
  • Which marketing messages do you want the audience(s) to walk away with?
  • In which cities will you hold the event (you will

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Market-Driving Checklist

Market-Driving Mind-Set

  • Does our top management continuously reinforce the need for market-driving ideas?
  • Do we actively seek to cannibalize our own products?
  • Is the pursuit of competing emerging technologies permitted?
  • Are new ideas routinely imported from the outside?
  • Are time and resources allocated for curiosity-driven explorations?

Market-Driving Culture

  • Do we tolerate failures when people are attempting something really new?
  • Are processes in

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Lead Management Questions

  • Is there a consensus from sales and marketing to what a “qualified” lead is?
  • Does Sales complain about (or neglect) the leads it receives?
  • Can you confirm that Sales has followed up with each lead it has received?
  • Is there a process in place for Sales to provide feedback to Marketing?
  • Can you differentiate between what type of leads close the fastest, and for the highest amount of

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