Business Magazine | BABM | Marketing

At least once a week we receive a phone call from a business owner or marketing director with a “great idea” they need our help to execute. The people on the line are usually very excited, barely able to contain themselves. They speak quickly as they describe this great idea, their words erratic and off balance like a three-legged pinball machine. The best part is the new and “improved” ideas that are developed even as they ramble. Energy being the contagious force that it is, my blood starts pumping and my team’s minds race as we start to draft on scratch paper our interpretation of this grand vision. After all, these people believe without fail that this is the master of all ideas and in their excited state are eager to put money into our hands to deliver the product and fulfill their vision quickly.

STOP. Has anyone bothered to ask WHY?

As business owners, entrepreneurs and marketing directors, we believe we are pretty darn smart and we would like to believe we are creative, too. After all, being creative kick-starts the most enjoyable part of the business - coming up with a name, a brand, all the fun promotions, ad campaigns, products or services we can develop and later expand. The problem is when being smart and being creative don’t blend to create that truly profitable and harmonious state of “smart creative.”

Asking why before we figure out the how gives us the edge in producing smart creative. Everything we do in the world of marketing should tie back to the core goal of the campaign. If you draw a circle on a piece of paper and put your goal in the middle of that circle, all of your ideas, campaigns, or promotions should be able to directly connect by a single straight line back to that core goal. No interruptions. Nothing to add in between.

Often times a great idea can actually cause what I have coined “brand schizophrenia and the running of the bulls.” This is when you come up with an “idea” that is very creative and fun, but it doesn’t really align with who you are, what you do, who you target, or even how you are accustomed to servicing your clients. That great idea can send your business off into a wild spin. From a branding perspective, your customers become unsure of you. They thought you were one thing, but maybe now you are another (here enters schizophrenia)? Worse than what others may think is your own self-perception after running with this great idea. You open the door to see yourself differently, yet it may not align with your own company’s overall vision and operations which further perpetuates the downward spiral. You become lost. As you progress, you may be offering a new audience a different way of doing business, but it is probably without shifting your entire operations to sustain this adjustment, which results in a chaotic business environment and probably poor customer service (now we release the bulls).

Best correction? Ask yourself why before you advance that great idea into production (How). If you can’t link this great idea directly back to the core of your goals, it may be an idea best tabled. At my agency, we store our ideas in a “box” and pull them out to review them from time to time as our goals have shifted and needs inevitably change. However, back to the “box” they go if they still don’t align with the core point of messaging needed.

A simple checklist of your ideas could help you decide if this is the best idea in your collection to advance.

1) Does this idea align directly with your mission or goals (use the circle graph)?

2) Does this idea align directly to answer your existing target markets needs?

3) Does this idea require less than one administrative adjustment to existing operations?

4) Is there a way to directly track and monitor this ideas success to measure ROI?

About the Author
Jenn Greacen is the founder and Executive Director of Red Frog Marketing, a 6 year old creative marketing company in Clearwater. Red Frog has helped companies grow brands or product lines and reach targets marketing effectively by focusing on the big picture of their clients businesses and goals which involves asking WHY before figuring out HOW.

Ask Why Before How