What’s In It for Me? The Importance of Asking Questions on the Job

The number one thing I do at work is ask questions. Usually I ask, “why?” Why are we doing this? Why now? Why are we talking to this audience? And, most importantly: why will they care?

Before we can make something beautiful, we need to create a thoughtful strategy. Sure, our clients have kickass products and services we believe in—but maybe the rest of the world isn’t on the same page yet. That’s why we do what we do.

How do we show our audience that your product is exactly what they’ve been looking for? Especially when, oftentimes, there are 10 other products that are also exactly what they’ve been looking for.

What makes a product or service compelling? What lights a fire in consumers’ hearts? How do we make someone feel so passionately that they hand over their hard-earned money, right this very moment?

The best advice I have ever received in my career was to pause. To take a moment and put myself in the consumer’s shoes and ask, “what’s in it for me?”

Because if there’s nothing in it for the consumer, then what are we even doing here?

As marketers, it’s so easy to get wrapped up in the craft. We create gorgeous designs and craft witty headlines to grab eyes from every corner. It’s our job to be fast, efficient, trendy and in-the-know. We need new. We need exciting! We need emotion. Sometimes we even need controversy.

But, at the end of the day, if it’s all for show—then it’s for nothing.

You can build the most beautiful, thoughtful campaign. You can have gallery-worthy art, award-winning storytelling and you can plaster it everywhere from billboards to television or even personalized social ads. You can cross every t and dot every i, but if it doesn’t resonate with your audience then it doesn’t matter.

At BatesMeron, we take pride in amazing work that resonates with consumers.

We sit down with every new client for a Discovery session. We do a deep dive into the landscape of your brand—from competitors to consumers. We get to know your brand inside and out.

And we ask a lot of questions.

Join us on our journey to craft compelling work that speaks to your customers—and shows them all the amazing reasons they need your brand in their lives.

Before I go, let me leave you with a non-exhaustive list of questions to ask as you start planning your next marketing project:
• What is our goal?
• Who are we talking to?
• Where and how does my audience spend their time?
• What do they need?
• What do they love?
• What do they hate?
• How can I grab their attention and make them care?
• Is BatesMeron the right team for the job? (Trick question! Yes, we are!)

Want to keep asking questions? Download & print this poster to keep our project planning questions top-of-mind.