Never ask a question if you don’t know the answer.
on Sep 09 in Frivolity, Random tagged by Peter BlackmanIt’s a famous legal expression. Never ask a question if you don’t know the answer. Why? Well, in a courtroom cross examination, the last thing you want to be doing is experimenting. It’s safer to avoid the question than to chance that the answer will harm your case.
The same is true in advertising. I’m looking at a piece of print from a new business prospect. It says:
‘Who has time to go the gym anymore?’
Now the answers to that are myriad. From ‘Well, actually I do’ to “I know what you mean, but I make time’. From ‘I tried a gym once, you won’t get me there again’ to ‘I’ve never been to a gym, I find the whole idea of them repugnant’. Only a very small section of the audience might respond with the answer that the client wants. No, I’m not saying what that is….
Asking open questions of consumers is fraught with danger for brands. If you’re having to ask the consumer what you stand for, or what your consumer insight should be, then at least do it in a research environment, not in public media.
I suppose some social media consultants might argue that simply getting consumers discussing your brand with you is ‘valuable’ and ‘building a dialogue’, but from my point of view it just means that the PR or journalist sat at home in his underpants running your twitter and facebook is simply chatting to people who won’t ever buy your brand.
No, if you must ask questions, better to make them closed. Ones which you know the answer to, and which if the consumer answers yes to, immediately creates a desire in them to want to know more. As the people at The Fast Show so memorably asked…
“Do you like cheese?”
“Do you like peas?”
“Then you’ll love new cheesy peas!”