“I have a question” has been my new mantra since beginning my Account Coordinator position at Insight Creative. Many people know starting a new job leads to questions flying from all directions in your mind … Am I doing this right? What is the process? Why is this important? Often, people are afraid to ask questions because they think it will make them look underqualified or stupid. While most people consider asking questions to be a sign of weakness, I consider it to be a sign of strength. Asking questions shows that you are smart enough to dig deep, challenge the system and most importantly, do things right.
I encourage you to ask questions in all aspects of your life especially in the way you market your business. Don’t just assume you are doing it right or that other people will have the same opinion as you. You may think you know your target audience, but you could be ignoring a key demographic in your marketing.
The power of asking questions can be seen in every successful ad, but Kraft Mac & Cheese is my favorite example. In the past, they marketed solely to children, branding it as a kid’s food. But they shook things up in 2010 and started targeting parents in their ads. They had enough guts to ask if they were missing out on any audiences, and after quite a bit of research, they found adults love Mac & Cheese just as much as kids do … so much that they found parents actually steal the tasty treat off of their children’s plates. Kraft embraced this knowledge and applied it to their marketing strategy, making clever and effective ads. Take a look at their brilliance here.
As proven by the success of Kraft, there is reward in asking the right questions. I encourage you to consider:
Asking questions like these can lead to great strategy, which leads to great marketing, then leads to a thicker wallet for you. So, next time you sit down to a marketing meeting, don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions and remember this quote from Jef I. Richards, “Creativity without strategy is called art. Creativity with strategy is called advertising.”
