As a Digital Marketing consultant I spend a lot of time discussing a company's content, messaging and social media. During this process I often find that I need to introduce some essential branding questions. These questions have either been ignored, forgotten or sometimes never even asked. It's even common to find partners within the same company who have very different answers. Today I will lay out some of the decisive questions every company needs to answer before they embark on any marketing efforts. It will help in multiple areas of your business, but from a marketing stand point it helps create focus, consistency and targeted messaging. These are the keys to a successful marketing campaign.

Branding Questions You Should Answer Right Now!

1. Who is your Audience?

This question needs to be developed; who are they? Where do they spend their time? What are their interests? You need to align yourself with them, to create trust and loyalty.

2. Who is your Business?

It's often helpful to first think of your company as a persona. This should be as authentic as it can be, that will always be most effective. However the target customer and your "persona" need to be symbiotic.

3. Who is Your Competition?

Knowing your market and who you are up against is essential for being able to ascertain where you want to fit in the picture.

4. What Sets You Apart? (What's your value?)

This is in some ways a combined analysis of all the above. Establishing this picture should help you realize what you want to offer your audience and why. It should also set you apart from the other options in the market.

These 4 questions will bring you a huge amount of understanding and focus. It will help you streamline your marketing and create much better content. There is obviously much more that will develop from this and these questions themselves require work and deliberation. It's often overlooked but in the long run will cost you more time and negatively affect your impact if you do not give these questions the attention you should. With a clear understanding of these 4 questions you will have a solid foundation from which to produce your marketing content on every platform. It then becomes the litmus test for everything you intend to communicate.

If you have any questions about how your business should be engaging in its online marketing efforts I would be glad to answer them. If you need to align with an expert in the social and content marketing field we are here to assist. Email me: mark@111webstudio.com or call 615 370 1530 ext 705