The Marketing Kick-Off: 3 Questions to Ask to Uncover Meaningful Insights

The best part of any project is the kick-off. Spirits are high, ideas are plentiful, and the mood is light. Anything is possible, because everything is possible.

I like to think about projects like ice sculptures. We start with a big block of ice and as we learn new things, as we trim the ice, the true shape of what we are creating begins to reveal itself. By the time you leave the (Zoom) room from the kick-off, you’ll have begun to see the form of what you might be working on take shape.

I’ve read some ice sculpture artists think that the material has a shape within its essence that is just waiting to come out, if only you will listen. Listen, and you’ll create something incredible. Don’t listen, and risk creating something that lacks the integrity to stand.

What makes listening possible? Asking the right questions. That’s why the kick-off meeting is such a beautiful thing to me. At Digital Natives Group, our team channels our new project enthusiasm into developing a comprehensive set of questions for client interviews, questions that, we believe, will allow the true nature and opportunity of a project to reveal itself.

To inspire your project kick-offs, I want to share some of my favorite questions for doing so.

If you could change one thing about your industry what would it be?

This is my absolute favorite. I love to hear what our clients love about their work (or their fields), but I like to know what they dislike even more. Why? Because it drives me closer to their true purpose. Because it means something different to hear that they champion their business not to put their product in every American’s kitchen, but because of a pain point or frustration they experienced in their own lives. It helps us to better know how to emotionally connect with the people we’re working with, and to start to better envision the experience customers might be having. Their answer also highlights what they believe to be the key points of differentiation with their competitors.

What excites you about this project?

The easy first answers we always hear to this question are about sales, promotions, and profit. But that’s not what we’re looking for. Really, we’re hoping to get to know what the world looks like for these people if their project takes off.

We always prefer this question to asking them what success looks like, because success pushes them towards answers that focus on KPIs and metrics. And we already know this is what they’re looking for because it is what every business or project needs: more sales, more donors, more customers, more awareness.

But asking them what excites them subtly nudges them towards more emotional answers. It lets us know what about their work resonates with them, and what might resonate with their audiences. It helps us understand what’s different or unique about their company/product, and about the way they do business.

You overhear someone telling their friend about your company. What do you hear them saying?

Talking like real people is something most of us in the business world often forget to do. We get so stuck in our insider knowledge and talking points we forget that most consumers don’t think of their favorite drink as a thirst-quencher, memory-maker, or game-changer, but as, if you can believe it, a drink.

This question forces those in the room to stop thinking about the product as they have defined it in briefs and decks, and to start considering it in ways real consumers might. They are forced to find words that explain their relationship to the product on a tangible or emotional level in the same way any of us might when referring a beloved product to a friend.

There are also insights to be had here about what those in the room actually believe the stickiest elements of their product are, as those are the crutches they’ll turn to when answering this question. Now you’ll know what they actually think consumers will perceive as valuable as opposed to what their briefs tell them it is.

Hope you can put these to good use in your next project kick-off!