I’m a firm believer that, sometimes, the most innovative thing an agency can do to accelerate growth or improve performance is to get back to taking a hard look at the fundamentals – whether an internal business process, or an approach to client needs. 

On a recent episode of The Innovative Agency, my guest Jeff Swystun joined me to share 3 questions he asks every client every time.

Too often, Jeff sees agencies and companies jumping straight to marketing tactics (like social media), without understanding their strategy. But if your agency asks these 3 basic questions first, you’ll never start implementing a campaign without first understanding the client or its customers’ needs.

1: ‘What does your company offer that is unique?’

When you ask clients this question — what do you have that’s unique? —  often times, clients note a bunch of things they have, that their competitors also have (such as product features or great talent). Those first few ideas a client comes up with usually aren’t the real differentiators. 

Drill down further — find what your client has (usually a basket of things, not just one single item) that no else has.

2: ‘Who wants or needs it?’

Who wants want your client has, and who needs it? (Those are very different questions, by the way!)

Case in point:  a client of an agency may need advertising, but they don’t want it because they don’t know it’s effective.

The answers to these questions help you segment the audience and determine who you should be talking to.

3: ‘How do those people like to be engaged?’

Is your audience (or your client’s audience) on LinkedIn? Are they at conferences? Do they use Facebook?

This is where tactics finally come in, and you decide which channels you are going to use in your dialogue.

A quick note on positioning (sell success, not razors)

When it comes to positioning, it’s all about solving a problem, not just offering a product. This goes back to question 1 to your client:

What does your company offer that is unique?

Usually (and hopefully), there are more than just one single differentiator. Positioning and branding is made up a basket of differentiators, that, when you package them together become your client’s unique offering(s).

Remember, Jeff says, that you aren’t marketing your offerings, you’re marketing the solution to someone’s problem. (Which goes back to question 2: Who wants or needs it?)

So, position everything (internally for your own agency, or for your clients) as a solution to a problem.

King Camp Gillette is a perfect example. He came up with an innovative product, but had little success. He only sold 51 razors his first year, but then, he buckled down his branding, and positioned the razors as timesavers, more hygienic, and a path to personal success. (Spoiler: Gillette became a pretty big company, selling for about $57B.)

Gillette found a way to solve issues (hygiene, time, and success) — not just “sell razors.”

If you want more from Jeff…

If you’re like me, you probably want to hear more from Jeff. Check out his book, Why Marketing Works.

This blogpost is based on an interview with Jeff Swystun from Swystun Communication.

To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to The Innovative Agency Podcast.

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