“Marketing without data, is like driving with your eyes closed.” – Dan Zarrella

Now there’s probably not anyone out there that would recommend driving a moving vehicle with your eyes closed, so why would anyone want to begin marketing a business without first looking into some key data?

Just like driving a car, you need to know where you’re boundaries are.

You need to know when to go on green, stop on red, stay in between the white and yellow lines, know when to pass another vehicle, when to put gas in your vehicle, and when to stay in your own lane.

So just as many of us have learned to drive a car; you need to learn to drive your business. 

Driving your business starts with analyzing what’s working and what’s not working then setting boundaries to help guide you to your goals.

Being that voice of reason here… we have to be realistic; to be great business owners.

As we gave you a list of questions to apply to your business in the SWOT Analysis, we want to dive deeper in, and give you some top questions we ask business owners or apply to a business we are working on…

Sometimes business owners are so close to their business working in the day to day grind, they forget to take a step back, and work on the business by taking time to look at the facts.

Now you maybe thinking you are far too along in your business to slow down for just a second and spend time answering these questions. 

We want to let you know in on a little secret… 

Every question we are suggesting you apply to your business will come into play when you, your team or head marketing person is having conversations networking, building relationships, creating marketing assets,and even selling your product. If you can’t be clear with this information, it’s going to be hard for you and your team to differentiate the brand and sell your product or services.

Can you answer these questions, clearly?

• What is the mission of your company?
• What is the vision of your company?
• For the next twelve months, what are your two most important goals?( your answer can’t be to increase sales, that is almost a given.
• Dive deeper into it and get more granular. Is it to increase market share in a territory, is to increase registration at events, is it to grow your brand awareness in a new community?
• What are the benefits of the product you sell?
• Can you communicate clearly what you sell?

Of the marketing efforts you are currently doing, what do you feel is working?

• Word of Mouth? 
• Referrals?
• Networking at events
• Social Media Content?
• Social Media Advertising?
• Traditional Marketing
• What do you feel your largest obstacle is? (Your answer cant be marketing in general; even though that’s what you maybe feeling… its normal but lets dive deeper).
• Work through your current marketing plans..
• Do you know where you are acquiring your customers from? Where did they hear about you; social media, someone referred you, networking opportunities, from a sponsorship?
• Have you reached your operational capacity, with your current size of team and the amount of customers you are currently serving?
• Do you need to grow your team?
• How much of are you investing back into your business to grow or sustain your customer experience and base?
• Do you have a marketing budget?

Just like learning to drive a car, and having a manual or checklist of things you need to know; you have to use this information as a beginning part of your business strategy manual to work on growing to the next phase in your business.

Reminder… Be the Leader Your Business Needs Today!

Without analytics, companies are blind and deaf, wandering out onto the Web like deer on a freeway. – Geoffrey Moore