Marketing So Cool, It Cares: How We Set Ourselves Apart Through Asking Clients The Right Questions

The best content marketing cares. We ask our clients the right questions to create brand and marketing strategies that care. That is, that care for our clients' goals and care for their target market.

One of the many ways Brandshake shakes out differently from other content marketing agencies is our genuine investment in getting to know our clients and their potential customer (target market).

We *know* that we can never really know a brand or business quite as well as the business knows itself, but we can ask all the right questions, teasing out deep, contextual information directly from the source. This makes for better marketing. 

Enter the Shakedown form

When we onboard our clients, we ask loads of questions.

When you become a client, we send you a 'Shakedown Form' (see what we did there?). That is, unless we've already done a brand or social strategy for you. Our Shakedown form gives you, our incoming client, a chance to reflect on what is working in your current marketing mix, what isn’t, and what it is you'd ultimately like from our working relationship.

Then we meet to ask any questions we have on your answers, go away and write our strategy, create any design, community engagement tips, sample content etc. Usually, this process takes about a month from our engagement starting, to us presenting our strategy, design and first pieces of social content.

Will some of your time be required to help us get started? Yep. Is the Shakedown form lengthy? Yep. Can we help you write the answers if you don't have the capacity or need help to answer some questions? Absolutely!

[Ps. if your marketing partner doesn't require any input from you or any time to put together a plan - run. Check out our '10 red flags' blog that could indicate you need a new marketing partner].

You're The Experts, Why All The Questions? 

Good question. We're subject matter experts in content marketing, content design and content strategy.

We know what works and why and when, but we're strongest when we have insight and contribution from our clients. Collaboration is key. It ensures we're working towards your sales objectives. It means we're working towards your marketing and brand goals. Sometimes other goals like recruitment and culture, too. It makes sure we're brand safe and that we'll have the buy-in from stakeholders (like C-suite and Marketing Directors etc) we need. 

The Power of Asking Questions To Make Content Marketing Work

So, what are these onboarding questions we speak of? Well, let us share a few. More than that and we’d have to… you know the rest, so here is just a peek.

1.  Irrespective of budget, if you could dream up three (real) influencers or brands to do collaborations with you, who would they be and why? Why would you want to associate your brand with theirs?

2.  What are some frequently asked questions you get from your target market? 

3.  In what ways are you superior to those strongest competitors?

4.  In what ways will you never be able to (or want to) compete with them?

5.  What are some barriers to people engaging your services or buying your product? 

6. What industry tropes do you actively avoid / overcome?

Clever, considered questions like these give us the answers we need to build a nuanced, personalised plan that reflects your brand well and attracts your target customers. 

[Ps. If your marketing partner hasn't asked you questions like this - run]

Why It All Matters

OK, OK, we've harped on about how much we care about the businesses we work with. How much we align with their teams and their goals. But our industry is so driven by deliverables and scopes and transactions - what are we actually all working towards? Dunno about some of the bigger agencies in cruise control, but we're working towards long-term partnerships and improving our clients' bottom lines or at least furthering marketing objectives.

We aim to be, not just a business partner but an extension of our clients' teams.  Our clients' feedback reflects this dedication. Just take a look at our reviews to see the impact our content creation and incredible content marketing efforts have made. 

At Brandshake, we don't just talk the talk; we ask questions that care, and caring about content and our clients is cool. Reach out to get started with the team.