Answering All of Your Customers Questions with Marcus Sheridan
b"\\u201cThe art of the question has fundamentally been lost.\\u201d As a global speaker and consultant in digital marketing and sales, Marcus Sheridan has made name for himself and his business by answering all of the questions. I couldn\\u2019t wait to talk to the content marketing legend and author about all of this, on this week\\u2019s On Brand podcast.\\n\\xa0About\\xa0Marcus Sheridan\\nCalled a \\u201cweb marketing guru\\u201d by The\\xa0New York Times, the story of how Marcus Sheridan was able to save his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications, and stories around the world\\u2014and is also the inspiration for his newest book, \\u201cThey Ask, You Answer.\\u201d\\nToday, Sheridan has become a highly sought after global speaker and consultant in the digital sales and marketing space, working with hundreds of business and brands alike to become the most trusted voice of their industry while navigating the ultra-fast rate of change occurring within consumers and buyers today.\\nEpisode Highlights\\nThe 20-second version of Marcus\\u2019 story.\\xa0\\u201cIn 2008, I was going to lose my business. I had two consultants tell me to file for bankruptcy. I started reading about inbound marketing and content marketing and created a four-word philosophy.\\u201d\\nThey Ask, You Answer. This philosophy applied to content marketing helped Marcus save River Pools. It\\u2019s also helped countless marketers who have read his story and heard him speak. \\u201cIf you can\\u2019t explain it \\u2014 if you can\\u2019t answer the questions \\u2014 it\\u2019s no good.\\u201d These four words are also the title of his new book. They Ask You Answer, which is full of case studies of \\u201cdigital Davids\\u201d like River Pools. \\u201cIt\\u2019s 50% marketing, 25% sales, and 25% implementation.\\u201d\\nThe most important social media question. \\u201cIt\\u2019s not \\u2018how can I be great on Facebook today?\\u2019 It\\u2019s \\u2018how can I be great on Facebook forever?\\u2019 You do that by solving customers\\u2019 problems.\\u201d\\nHow can you cultivate a culture of questions?\\xa0\\u201cBusinesses need to think more like buyers and less like businesses. Marketers aren\\u2019t subject matter experts.\\u201d You have to get out of your bubble and seek the expertise of leadership, engineering, and sales to effectively answer your buyer\\u2019s questions.\\nWhat question is Marcus asked most often?\\xa0\\u201cIt\\u2019s not, \\u2018I\\u2019m a leader/business owner \\u2014 how do turn my business around?\\u2019 It\\u2019s \\u2018I\\u2019m in sales and I need leadership\\u2019s buy-in.'\\u201d Marcus recommends getting leadership re-acclimated with customers\\u2019 needs for a better connection between the business and the buyer in your sales and marketing execution.\\nWhat brand has made Marcus smile recently?\\xa0\\u201cI\\u2019m gonna use this example because it would be easy for them to say, \\u2018but we\\u2019re too big\\u2019 \\u2014 Home Depot.\\u201d Citing their \\u201cexceptional blog where they teach, teach, teach,\\u201d he noted that it features products without being too sales-y.\\nTo learn more, go to The Sales Lion website, check out his book They Ask You Answer, and\\xa0follow him on Twitter.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices"