The one question you must answer in marketing

There’s so much bad marketing out there: Ads that don’t convince. Unconvincing pitches that get ignored. Generic email marketing that gets discarded.

All of them fail to answer one simple (not easy) question: Why?

Give a reason to make me want to connect on LinkedIn

Recently, I got a LinkedIn connection request from someone I don’t know. She’s a marketing manager at a local service provider. We’ve never met and we don’t have any connections in common. And she didn’t personalize the invitation. In other words, she didn’t say why she thought we should connect.  I clicked ignore. And I clicked ignore on another half-dozen requests I got this month that weren’t personalized. None of those people thought they should provide any reason why we should connect.

A politician who is an outsider. So what?

In the recent Virginia primary, the Republican candidate for governor was running an ad touting his experience and background. Then he said this: “It’s going to take an outsider [to fix Virginia’s issues]” What he didn’t address is why. Why would it take an outsider? What does an outsider bring to the situation?

It’s about answering the why

To market your product or service effectively, you must tell your audience why they should choose your offering. People need to have a reason (preferably a good reason) to act.

Here’s the bottom line: Provide an answer to why, and you will improve your marketing. It’s really that simple.