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The 10 Questions of Marketing

Guest post by: Lisa Steingold

Article Overview: Why do we as marketers do what we do? To achieve results! But how do we ensure that we are consistently achieving results?

The 10 Questions of Marketing

As an avid reader, I recently came across a phenomenal book called "The 10 questions". Written by psychologist and life-coach Debbie Ford, the book invites readers to evaluate their life choices on the basis of ten essential questions. Her philosophy is very simply that one changes one's life through each and every decision one makes. These decisions become the basis for one's life situation. I couldn't agree more. The book added much value to my personal decision making process and with my marketing manager's cap on, I began to analyse the questions from a marketing point of view. Many of us "marketers" spend our days chasing deadlines, conceptualising campaigns (usually whilst cooking dinner) and writing reports to justify the masses we spend. To what end I ask? Obsessive compulsive by nature, I often challenge myself, trying to come up with more practical, efficient and effective ways of achieving my goals. This usually happens between 4 and 04h30am whilst I am meant to be meditating. On one such day I began to consider if asking the 10 questions in my daily marketing activities would have an impact on both my ever constant mission to deliver marketing results to stakeholders and my career. I decided to rewrite the questions and stick them up on my wall at the office and take a month to measure the results.

1. Will this choice propel me towards an inspiring future or will it keep me stuck in the past? I.e. Am I doing this because it's the way we've always done it or am I doing it out of a need to create a positive future for the brand?

2. Will this choice bring me long-term fulfilment or short-term gratification? I.e. Is this for the long term development of the brand or for short term impact such as to increase sales?

3. Am I standing in my power or am I trying to please another? Am I doing this to please my boss or because I think it's the right thing for the brand?

4. Am I looking for what's right or am I looking for what's wrong? I.e. Am I looking for what results were gained or how it went wrong?

5. Will this choice add to my life force or will it rob me of my energy? Will doing this achieve the brand forward momentum we aim for or will it take more time / energy / budget and staff than is necessary?

6. Will I use the outcome of this choice as a catalyst to grow and evolve or will I use it to beat myself up? Will I use the results both negative and positive to grow and learn or not?

7. Does this choice empower me or dis-empower me? Does this activity empower the brand and its stakeholders or not?

8. Is this an act of self love or self sabotage? Is this choice / activity for the benefit of the brand or not?

9. Is this an act of faith or an act or fear? Do I have a basis for believing that this will work or am I just trying this out of desperation?

10. Am I choosing from my divinity or am I choosing from my humanity? Am I doing this because my mission is to grow the brand or am I doing it because it's easier to do this than something else?

Many of the questions come back to the same point; are we making decisions for the benefit of the brand because we believe it's right or because we've always done it this way and it's easier to just do things the way they've always been done than to question. I've decided to blow them up and frame them on my wall because whenever I'm doing something it brings me right back to the focus of what I'm doing, why I'm doing and what I expect to achieve.

Just a thought I had.

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Article Tags: boss, campaigns, decision making process, decision one, decisions, ford, fulfilment, gratification, life choices, life coach, life situation, marketers, marketing manager, personal decision, phenomenal book, philosophy, point of view, psychologist, term impact, writing reports



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