The "So what?" shakeup

February 2010

“So what?” is just a little question but it can have a whopping impact on your marketing.

Asking “So what?” can help you to clarify all sorts of things. It’s a question you should ask, for example, when you’re thinking about asking respondents to disclose any information in a market research survey. Is there any point in having that information? If you haven’t got a means of segmenting your customers using that data, or if it doesn’t inform your marketing mix, then you don’t need to know it. It fails the “So what?” test.

“So what?” can help you figure out lots of things, such as:

• what you are trying to achieve
• why you’re trying to achieve it
• what you can offer that others can’t
• whether what you want to say is interesting or important
• what your audience gains from it, and
• why editors should print your story.

Take the “So what?” test

If you find you don’t have a good enough answer to the “So what?” question, it’s probably best to bin your idea:

• If your survey question fails the test, omit it from your research – it won’t tell you anything useful, or anything new.
• If the messages in your brochure fail the test, strip them out so they don’t confuse your readers or deter them from reading more.
• If your article pitch fails the test, try something different so your target publication doesn’t deem your news irrelevant to its readers.

Applying the “So what?” test makes your communications more meaningful, more engaging, and more likely to help you achieve your marketing objectives.

Please contact us if you’re ready to give your communications the “So what?” shakeup.

 

Back to stuff