The other day, an interesting thought presented itself to me.
All I ever needed to know about marketing, I learned in journalism school.
Well, maybe not all … but a lot.
It struck me that marketing (yes, even modern digital marketing) is deeply rooted in a time-tested framework that is the basis for all journalism – a way of getting to the heart of a matter that many people know as the “five Ws.” Say it with me:
Who, what, where, when, why, and how?
( I never understood why the “H” was left out. Perhaps it’s the apparent absence of alliteration.)
Moreover, as I pondered this notion, it actually seemed to make sense from not just one, but two different perspectives – branding and campaigns. Of course, there are subsets of questions associated with these questions, and certainly more than one answer for each. But fundamentally, the parallels are undeniable.
First, let’s look at this from a brand perspective.
Who? – Who are you, and what do you stand for? Who do you aspire to be? Who are your competitors?
What? – What do you do? What products or services do you provide? What goals do you want to achieve?
Where? – Where do you operate? What is your distribution model?
When? – When do prospects need you (i.e., at what point in the buyer journey)? When should you go to market?
Why? – Why should people care? What makes you different or better than the competition?
How? – How does what you do improve people’s lives? What benefits do you provide?
Now, let’s look at it from a campaign perspective.
Who? – Who is the target audience? Who are the personas with whom we need to connect? Who is in charge of the campaign? Who is on the team?
What? – What’s the problem? What pain do these people have that our products and services can address? What kinds of information are most relevant and engaging to them?
Where? – Where are they? Where do they get their information?
When? – When do they need us? When do we contact them and how frequently?
Why? – Why should they take action and convert? Why would they choose us over others?
How? – How will we engage current and future customers? How will the plan come together (e.g., strategies like inbound marketing, email marketing, direct response, PR, etc. and the tactics such as content, emails, landing pages, pay per click, retargeting, programmatic, etc.)?
These days, brand strategy and modern marketing campaigns are considerably more sophisticated than this. But it’s a good reminder that regardless of trendy books and despite the seemingly endless stream of advances in technology, the fundamentals of great storytelling still apply.