Stop Overcomplicating Marketing - It’s Literally Just Answering These 3 Questions

Lots of people in business think marketing is some mysterious science that only gurus in fancy suits understand. 

But really? It’s just answering three simple questions.

If you can answer these properly, you’ll attract clients without wasting time or money. 

Let’s break it down.

Question 1 - What Do You Sell?

Seems obvious, right? But most businesses never go deeper than “I sell X.”

Here’s the real secret: your product or service should do one (or more) of these three things better than anyone else:

1 - Get customers faster results.

Example: A car detailing shop that cleans a full car in 30 minutes instead of 2 hours. It’s the same sparkling car, but done within the time it takes for a lunch break.

2 - Give customers results with less effort or pain.

Example: A landscaping company that offers an “all-inclusive” service -mowing, trimming, fertilising - so the homeowner never has to do it themselves or chase other service providers.

3 - Give customers similar results with less risk.

Example: A roofing company offering a 10-year leak-free guarantee. If something happens, they fix it for free.

When you do this, you create a USP (Unique Selling Point). In other words, what makes your business unique from your competitors. 

It’s not “we’re friendly, we’re local, we’re high quality.” Everyone says that.

A USP is: “We deliver X result faster, easier, or safer than anyone else.”

That’s what makes customers pick you over the guy down the street.

Question 2 - Who Would Need That?

Now that you know what you sell, figure out who actually cares. 

You don’t need an overpriced market research team to do this. You just need four data points:

1. Demographic - Age, gender, income level.

2. Geographic - Where are they located? (Hint: for local businesses, this is gold.)

3. Behavioural - What drives their buying decisions? Do they value speed, price, convenience?

4. Psychographic - How do they think about their problems? Are they stressed? Confused? Skeptical? How can you use that to make your marketing message tailored to them?

   
   

You can even use AI tools like Taskade (£6/month) to get quick market research. No need to pay a market research company thousands.

Just give it your industry, what you sell and some basic customer information and it’ll do it for you in seconds.

Question 3 - How Do I Reach Those People?

You know what you sell. You know who wants it. Now… where are they hanging out?

• Younger audiences? Examples - Instagram, TikTok, YouTube.

• Middle-aged audiences? Examples - Facebook, LinkedIn.

• Older audiences? Examples - Facebook, local newspapers, radio, and even direct mail still works.

Every business has a different audience, so pick the platform your customers already use every day, and put your message there.

Stop Making Marketing Harder Than It Is

Answer these three questions clearly, and you’ve already done most of your marketing:

1. What do you sell? (Make it faster, easier, or safer than the competition.)

2. Who needs it? (Get clear on your ideal customer.)

3. How do you reach them? (Use the channels they actually pay attention to.)

   
   

Everything else, such as logos, fancy websites, and endless brainstorming is just some mental feel-good ‘woo woo’ stuff.

Focus on the three questions, and you’ll get more clients, and save time doing it.

If you found that helpful, check out some of my other articles on this page! This is the 46th, so there’s no shortage of valuable marketing material.

Thanks,

Filip Szemiczek