What is They Ask, You Answer?
They Ask, You Answer is a phrase that has been coming up in marketing discussions more and more over the past several years. Companies who have harnessed its power have seen transformative results in their sales and marketing processes. It might do the same for you.
Where does They Ask, You Answer come from?
They Ask, You Answer is a concept created by Marcus Sheridan, the owner of a fiberglass swimming pool company who saved his business from the Great Recession by harnessing one of marketing’s fundamental concepts: transparent communications. As the name suggests, Marcus discovered that by answering his customers' biggest questions publicly on his website, he became the most trusted company in his space.
Since then, hundreds of businesses have applied Marcus’s framework and seen similar results. With AI changing the way people find information, Marcus has re-released They Ask, You Answer as Endless Customers to address modern tactics for becoming a known and trusted brand.
How does it work?
At the core of They Ask, You Answer/Endless Customers is the call to transform your business into a media company. The marketplace is highly-competitive and buyers are more informed and empowered than ever before. The secret to success is to meet them where they are in ways that others aren’t.
Endless Customers breaks this approach into 4 core tactics:
Say what others in your industry aren’t willing to say
Most companies define their marketing based on the standards of their industry. If no one else addresses the “elephant in the room” problems with a certain solution, then why should they? If none of their competitors publish their pricing online, then they don't either.
While this approach plays it safe, it doesn't provide buyers with much of a reason to trust your company over a competitor. If you want to stand out, then publicly answer your customers’ most pressing questions that your competitors save for the second or third sales call. And yes, for you B2B companies, that means publishing your pricing on your website.
Show what others in your industry aren’t willing to show
How often do you watch videos about a product before making a significant purchase? Probably quite often, right? Video is a much more intuitive way to communicate than reading text on a page. It makes sense that so many people include it in their research phase when shopping for products or services.
Publishing thoughtful video content doesn’t just educate your audience, it also shows off the expertise of your team. Buying from a likable personality featured in a video is much easier than spending money with a faceless sales rep.
Sell in ways that others in your industry aren’t willing to sell
Because buyers have more access to information than ever before, they also have more leverage. Acknowledging the power of your buyers by selling in a way that breaks the mold of your industry doesn’t just increase your close rate, it gives your customers more reason to like you. Be willing to “Assignment Sell” by slowing down your sales process to walk your buyers through your content, and even give them the ability to generate their own quote with pricing calculators.
Be more human than others in your industry are willing to be
AI and digital technologies are fantastic, but we all know the downside: sterile and inhuman experiences. Even as your great marketing transforms you into a tech-savvy media company, you need to stay human. Show your team in more videos. Attach intro videos to your employee’s email signatures. Show your audience that you are real people who actually care.
What does They Ask, You Answer look like in practice?
If those 4 pillars make you think that They Ask, You Answer/Endless Customers requires a lot of work, you are right. In practice, this approach involves a constant flow of written and video content to your website and other digital channels. Teams that implement Endless Customers need to spend time identifying the biggest concerns of their audience, addressing those concerns with compelling content, and activating that content through smart marketing and assignment selling.
What happens after They Ask, You Answer?
They Ask, You Answer isn’t a tactic that is implemented once and then forgotten. Instead, it is a philosophy that should continuously guide your marketing. Even after you have significantly increased the volume of content on your website and answered your customers’ biggest questions, your work isn’t done. Review all of your oldest pieces of content and refresh them. Creat blog posts and videos that address changes in your industry. Increase the amount of interactive research tools available on your website.
To truly become a known and trusted brand, your marketing cannot fall stagnant. You must constantly find new ways to empathetically address your customers with the information that they are looking for.
How has They Ask, You Answer influenced USDP’s approach to messaging?
From creating the content strategy for a new website to crafting the right tag line to use for a display ad, US Digital Partners places clear messaging at the heart of every marketing initiative we undertake.
While the foundation of our approach to messaging is clear brand storytelling, your content strategy can’t stop there. Once we have helped our clients craft their core message, we develop a plan for ongoing content creation consistent with the They Ask you Answer/Endless Customers approach. We push our clients to engage their sales team in the marketing process through the generation of content topic ideas as well as assignment selling. As full-service partners, we then either serve as guides for our client’s in-house writers, or we employ our content strategists to create blog posts, emails, and other content on a monthly basis.
If you want our help producing content that builds trust with your audience, check out our copywriting page.