Where to Start With Marketing? Three Questions We Ask First

Start with three plain questions: what your business is really about, who exactly you want to reach, and where you stand next to your competitors. Answer those and the marketing gets a lot easier to plan.

Marketing is a confusing word. It's so broad that people hear different things when they say it.

To some, it means advertisements. To others, it means posting content every day of the week and hoping more people come in. Then there's virality: if it didn't go viral, it didn't work. And sometimes marketing gets tied straight to sales.

So before we talk about posts, packages or platforms, we ask three things. Here they are.

One: What Is Your Business Really About?

Start with the basics. What do you sell? How do you make money? What problem does your product or service solve for the people you want to reach? And what's the story behind this business of yours?

That last one matters more than it sounds. Your answers tell us where the strategy fits in and what we're trying to solve with you. Our suggestion: write your answers down in plain sentences before you speak to any agency. It makes the first conversation much easier.

Two: Who Are You Talking To?

If your answer is "the general public", that's the first thing to fix. If you talk to everyone, you end up talking to no one.

Pick a certain group of people and own it, so that whatever you make for marketing is aimed at them. That's one layer: their interests. What about a layer for their pains and needs? That's a deeper level of understanding your audience. Then go deeper still. What does their life look like, and where does your offer fit in?

Only then can we create marketing or content that actually fits them.

Three: Where Do You Stand in the Market?

You have competitors, and some of them probably sell the same things you do. So how are you different? What can you offer that they can't?

There has to be something. Whatever it is, that's what we'll amplify in the marketing or the strategy.

The Bonus: Marketing Brings Leads, Then Sales Take Over

This is the idea that trips people up: marketing equals sales. It doesn't. Marketing equals leads.

Leads can come as enquiries, DMs, texts and so on. What happens next belongs to your sales team, or to you if you run the business solo: nurture those leads and turn them into sales. Marketing's job stops at the lead. So when you check whether your marketing is working, start by counting leads.

A Few Quick Answers

Where should a Brunei SME start with marketing?

With your business, your audience and your place in the market. Get those three clear first.

Is marketing the same as sales?

No. Marketing brings in leads. Turning them into sales is the sales team's job, or yours if you run it solo.

Does marketing have to go viral to work?

No. Going viral and working are different things. Leads are what marketing is responsible for.

Hope this helps! If you'd like to talk it through, have a look at our SME page or just say hi on our contact page. Any project starts with a conversation.