5 Hungry, Foolish, Tiny Marketing Questions That Every Marketer Needs to Ask
Are you looking for some new and useful marketing tips? There is certainly no shortage of marketing advice these days. In fact, for every phase and tactic along the marketing funnel there are 15 great books, 716 posts, 47 podcasts and 3 dozen crazy expensive online courses and mastermind groups being sold by other marketers just like you!
We all know that script by heart — just last year they were working in a job they hated, but now they are miraculously living on a tropical beach or in a giant NY penthouse, selling high ticket courses with information that you could probably glean from just one or two eBooks.
On the other hand, this post is 100% FREE, and basically has just ONE piece of advice for you to read. I should probably charge $497.00 just so you pay more attention. If you do pay attention, it’s probably worth at least $12,997.00! That’s how valuable this advice is — if you actually bother to implement it. (But that’s true of most everything these days isn’t it — as great ideas pile up, the knowing-doing gap grows ever wider).
So, here it is. The one thing, right up front — no scrolling down through long form sales copy to read the oh-so-very-fascinating details of my life story.
Ta-da!
Learn to ask exponentially better marketing questions.
That’s pretty much it. I wish it had more of a dopamine rush to it.
I can change up the font if that helps:
Learn to ask exponentially better marketing questions.
There are some more details below if you’d like to keep reading, but honestly, if you simply stop reading right now and really think about — “How can I ask better marketing questions?” I promise that you will be generally surprised, and maybe even a little overwhelmed by the results. Who knew asking better marketing questions could be so powerful?
You may even wind up filling your garage with books and Lamborghinis. Please send me a selfie if that happens to you. And the jet planes, islands, and tigers on a gold leash. Let’s live that fantasy!
I love to collect great quotes. My garage is filled with them, along with a lot of random garden tools and mysterious bric-a-brac I can no longer identify.
Now I will share a quote from my garage collection with you. I keep this one on the top shelf, next to my totally awesome Ryobi cordless yard trimmer. It’s a very powerful quote for helping to ask better marketing questions. It’s also a powerful framework for thinking about life in general.
A good question is not concerned with a correct answer.
A good question cannot be answered immediately.
A good question challenges existing answers.
A good question is one you badly want answered once you hear it,
but had no inkling you cared before it was asked.A good question creates new territory of thinking.
A good question reframes its own answers.
A good question is the seed of innovation in science, technology, art, politics, and business.
A good question is a probe, a what-if scenario.
A good question skirts on the edge of what is known and not known, neither silly nor obvious.
A good question cannot be predicted.
A good question will be the sign of an educated mind.
A good question is one that generates many other good questions.
A good question may be the last job a machine will learn to do.
A good question is what humans are for.
― Kevin Kelly, The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future
If you are still reading, I will try not to waste any more of your time with quotes, so let’s cut to it:
By “exponentially better marketing questions” I recommend focusing on hungry, foolish, tiny marketing questions.
So, what exactly are hungry, foolish, tiny marketing questions? Well, they have three qualities — they are hungry, they are foolish, and they are tiny.
Hungry questions are ones that are 100% focused on actual performance. “Show Me the Money” kinds of questions. Hungry for credit card swipes and money in your SamCart hungry. Hungry to follow and optimize the great chain of unbroken marketing attribution, and more importantly — staying laser-focused on where all great marketing funnels need to end: with a swoosh into the sales cart.
Foolish questions are crafted to actually make your team and/or clients stop and think more deeply about your end customers. Paradoxically, it takes some mad skills to ask truly foolish questions, ones that “skirt the edge of what is known and not known”.
Tiny questions are ones that are precise, actionable, and measurable. They are so tiny and unassuming that they almost seem too good to be true. But the tinier they are, the more powerful the ROI.
So, by way of example, here are 5 Hungry, Foolish, Tiny Marketing Questions for you consider using and modifying when trying to kick your marketing campaign to the next level. Admittedly they are not perfect for every situation or client, but when the time is right these sort of hungry, foolish, tiny questions can help unlock exponential improvements in your funnel metrics.
1). The Power Outage Question
What if your best customers lost power today, what would be the very first thing they turn to when the lights come back on, and why?
2). The Morning Commute Question
Someone is sitting with their phone on the train going to work in morning, and sees your content on Facebook. Then, during the entire course of their day, will they do anything or talk to anyone about your content? If yes — in what context? If not — why not?
3). The Western Saloon Question
You’re on a dusty road, walking through a small Western town. It is high noon. Tumbleweeds. Rattlesnakes. The saloon door slams open, and out steps one of your customers. What happens next?
4). The Totally Irresistible Question
What would make your offering totally irresistible, and how long until your target customers realize that they can’t wait to buy something else from you? What will they buy next?
5). The Ice Cream Question
Your most ideal customer is ordering ice cream. What flavors and toppings do they order, and how do they pay, and how many napkins do they take?
If you’ve made it this far, then you probably already realize that there are more than just 5 Hungry, Foolish, Tiny Marketing Questions that need asking.
You also realize I cannot tell you exactly what marketing questions you need to ask, but I can tell you that if you want to create the same old marketing as everyone else and be totally invisible in the marketplace, then keep on asking the same old questions as everyone else.
However, if you want to truly stand out, then learn to ask hungry, foolish, tiny and exponentially better marketing questions!
Just one more tiny quote before we wrap things up.
Without a good question, a good answer has no place to go.
- Clayton Christensen
Think hungry, foolish and tiny my marketing friends. There are all kinds of great marketing answers out there just waiting for your great marketing questions!
What have you got to lose?
What do you need to lose?
Now, a Special Bonus Question for reading all the way to the end!
The “If Dogs Wore Pants” Question
Jim Walker is a digital marketer, author and entrepreneur from Philadelphia. His latest book, The Magic of Thinking Tiny, is available on Amazon.
@ThinkingTiny
