They Ask You Answer

7The Ostrich Marketing Strategy

Before we dive into They Ask, You Answer, it’s important to note here another sales and marketing strategy, one that you likely weren’t taught in business school but is commonplace around the world today and is the literal opposite of They Ask, You Answer: I call it “ostrich marketing.”

Why is it called ostrich marketing? Look at it this way: An ostrich, when it has a problem, does what?

It buries its head in the sand (which is a myth, but we’ll go with it anyway).

And why does it bury its head in the sand?

Because it thinks the problem will go away.

But does the problem ever go away? Of course, the answer is no.

Now, you’re probably wondering what an ostrich has to do with you, your business, and the way you communicate online and offline.

Look at it this way: How many times have you been asked a question from a prospect or customer and thought to yourself, We better not address that issue on our website. Let’s just wait until we are talking face to face with the prospect and then bring it up.

My guess is this has happened to you many times. And if you can’t think of an example, you will. As you read the following pages, you’ll find many examples of subjects you have very likely shied away from talking about on your website simply because you thought it would put you at a disadvantage, and you wanted to be able to control the conversation.

But therein lies the entire problem with ostrich marketing: consumers (you and I) don’t like it. To put ...