Just a Few Questions
Who, what, why, how much… Is it really that simple?
The heart of your business can be found in the answers to these Big Questions:
What problem are you trying to solve?
Who are you trying to solve it for?
Do they want it solved?
Do they want it solved so much that they are willing to pay (or change or sacrifice) for the solution?
I was reminded of the Big Questions in the Nonprofit Planner 6+4 System this week when I had the privilege of judging college marketing majors’ final class presentations. The students did a great job and demonstrated a great deal of mastery. But it was the ones that clearly answered the Big Questions that stood out.
Notice that “How” is missing among the Big Questions. How answers exactly what you do and how you want to do it. Of course that’s important. That’s the product piece if you are a for-profit; the program piece if you are a nonprofit. You probably know the How. The How is what got you into this work.
The danger is that the allure of MAKING the product or PROVIDING the program can lead you to ignore the Big Questions. We are so proud of what we do and how we do it that we often forget to ask why we are doing it and for whom. Without clarity around the problem you are trying to solve and the preferences of those you are solving it for, you’ll find yourself creating work that doesn’t resonate.
Back to the college kids… The Achilles Heel of this assignment is the product. Each team needs to come up with a product or business and then create a thorough marketing plan that pulls in all the topics they learned about marketing throughout the semester. Choosing “the product” is a trick question. This is a marketing class, not industrial design. They shouldn’t spend too much time inventing a product. They should spend more time looking for a problem.
The product itself should be the least of their concerns - it barely makes the grading rubric:
Describe the product in terms of the problem it solves.
Identify the target market.
Research their persona and buying habits.
Choose the right sales channels.
Differentiate yourself against those with whom you are competing for wallet and attention.
Address all 6Ps of Marketing (product, price, place, people, promo, presentation).
How cool the product is, its awesome brand, its functionality - none of this gets at Why. Why is this necessary? All those features exist in a vacuum if the product doesn’t solve a problem for a specific group of people.
One team focused on presenting their product as earth-friendly in order to appeal to Instagram Influencers. They got so caught up in the sustainability of the product that they neglected to describe the product itself. Sure, they had a nice brand to promote…but I wasn’t clear on what the product was or why I would want it. What problem are you trying to solve?
Another team suggested that wholesale business-to-business (B2B) was its most important sales channel, and then recommended a brand strategy and packaging designed to appeal to retail buyers. Who are you trying to solve this problem for?
Yet another team dropped in every tech buzzword they could ascribe to their fancy tool, but forgot to explain why institutional buyers would want to spend millions purchasing their product. Does your target market want this problem solved and are they willing to pay to solve it?
The winning team provided a fairly straightforward, almost nondescript product. But they knew what it was, who it was for, and exactly what problem they were solving for their well-defined niche. They understood the pain point and the right price people would accept to make that pain go away.
It was super impressive. Clean, clear, and focused on the Big Questions. What problem are you trying to solve? For whom? Do they want it solved? Will they pay for a solution?
Nonprofits in particular have to be careful about that third question: do they want it solved? For those in the programmatic world, making sure the clients you are serving actually want the solution you are offering is not only sensible, it’s respectful.
For those in the nonprofit development world, aligning your mission to donor preferences is another reason why the Big Questions matter. Do the donors you are soliciting actually care about the problem your organization addresses? Do they care enough about it to make a donation?
Too many nonprofits are so focused on the change they want to see (the product) that they forget that successful businesses are structured to solve problems for people who will sacrifice for solutions.
The winning team knows the answers to the Big Questions and how to position their product or program accordingly.
For more: Simon Sinek’s famous line is “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” (If you can’t manage to read his Find Your Why book, check out his TEDx Talk on YouTube.)
