1.3 What Exactly Do You Want to Measure? Asking the Right Questions

In marketing, everything we do to connect our messages with our target audiences costs money and/or time. And time and money are limited resources, so we want to make sure that every activity we invest in is accomplishing the desired objective. And if we find that every marketing activity is indeed working, can we find ways to make them work more effectively or more efficiently? Let’s see how this plays out in a real-world example.

Let’s say we are launching a new deep-dish pizza restaurant in downtown Chicago. I know, there are already dozens of those. So what makes our restaurant different? Vegan, baby! That’s right, we know from our research, product development efforts, and marketing planning that our new restaurant will appeal to those customers who live within 30 miles or 45 minutes or are visiting downtown Chicago AND love Chicago-style deep dish pizza AND are looking for a full vegan pizza experience. We know that while there are a few “better-for-you” pizza competitors that serve the health-conscious crowd, none of them are truly vegan options. We have only three months and $50,000 to ensure that when we open our doors, we’ll have a line out the door. So, where do we start? What questions do we have that need answers? And how can the marketing analytics available to us through our website (it’s up!) and our social media accounts (and they are up!) help us spend our time and money wisely?

Audience Questions

Let’s start at the beginning. How many potential customers are there for our totally awesome vegan pizzas? Not all Chicago-area residents and visitors are vegan, and not all vegans are residents or visitors of the greater Chicago area. Are there existing deep-dish pizza lovers who will try a vegan option if it’s available? Are there vegans who haven’t touched a pizza in years who would try our delicious deep-dish vegan pies? And what about pricing? Can our audience afford our $35.00 pizza? How will they get to us? Do they have their own car? Will they walk the 10 minutes from the nearest L station? Are they a “get in and out quick” business lunch crowd or more of a “settle in and enjoy” dinner crowd? How can we reach them with our messages? Are they all on Facebook? Is there a “Vegan, Chicagoland, Pizza Lovers Group” on LinkedIn? So many audience questions.

Product Questions

And once we have a really good list of questions that need answers about our target audience—who they are, what drives them, and how do we reach them—we then need to get serious about our product. The focus group research we did last month showed that vegan customers want more restaurant options and that they are looking for “vegan versions” of favorite foods. But what toppings are they most interested in? What side dishes do they expect with pizza? Are they looking for a whole pie to take home or just a small slice? Sit down or take out? Traditional semolina crust or something more “on-trend” like a crushed pine nut/coconut oil crust?

Engagement Questions

Assuming we are asking the right questions about our audience and our product, we next need to understand what type of digital marketing or social media content our vegan pizza-loving audience will respond to and engage with. Are they looking for glamour shots of the pizza or nutrition fact panels? Are they trying to “cheat without cheating” or do they want to fly their vegan banner loud and proud? Will they respond to quizzes on their favorite flavors or share discount coupons with their friends?

Fortunately for our fledgling vegan pizza shop, digital marketing analytical tools make it easy(ish) to answer all of these questions in almost real time. The sections that follow will outline how exactly we do this. But for now, knowing the types of questions we should be asking is a good start.