Ask These 3 Questions Before Trashing That Unsolicited Marketing Idea

As I’ve written about in other posts, marketers are asked to do a lot of “stuff”. Some of it makes sense, a lot of it doesn’t. Frequently a colleague outside marketing will approach you with a very specific tactic in mind. It’s likely something you’ve already considered and is either not an option or simply not a priority.

You want to say yes. You want to be viewed as a team player. But if the suggestion doesn’t make sense, you’ll just be spending time, money and resources on “stuff” to make someone happy.

Don’t get me wrong. You want to receive these suggestions graciously. At the same time, you don’t want to commit to a tactic that’s inappropriate, poorly timed or just wrong. So how do you proceed?

Rather than flatly say no, you might try engaging the requestor in the vetting of their unsolicited marketing idea:

1) Help me understand. Which strategy will this activity support?

It’s likely your colleague hasn’t considered the bigger picture, and this question will catch them off guard. It’s an opportunity for you to inform your colleague about the goals and strategies for marketing. It’s also an opportunity to drill down to better understand your colleague’s thought process. The result can be a fruitful exploratory discussion that demonstrates your willingness to consider new ideas. And you might actually end up with a great new (albeit unplanned) tactic.

2) Sounds interesting. What kind of resources do you think this will take to execute?

Based on your experience, you probably have a pretty good idea already of what is entailed. This question is an opportunity to encourage your non-marketing colleague to think in these terms. As you walk them through the considerations of manpower, time and budget, their own view of their proposal may change or align more closely with yours.

3) What would success look like?

This is a nice way of saying, “Why the hell would we do this?” In any case, asking the question forces your colleague to consider the end goal, how it would be measured, and how it would tie back to strategy. It is a way of asking them to look at the suggestion from your perspective and share ownership of the practical realities of their proposal.

Tactics are ideally already planned and executed as part of a strategy. If an unsolicited marketing idea doesn’t align with strategy, it’s liable to be “noise”. Nevertheless, you never know where a good idea will come from. Asking questions is a way of fostering dialog and a partnership with your non-marketing colleague.

Check out my post on purpose-driven marketing.