W questions
The W questions of digital marketing
In order to get the necessary information for a good story, journalists use the so-called W-questions (for example: who, where, what, how, when and why). Answering the basic questions will help journalists write a good story. These questions can also be used in digital marketing, but it is not uncommon for the catalog of questions to be expanded to include up to ten Ws (with what, by what, why and why).
According to homethodology.com, these nine W-questions (also called interrogative pronouns) are also an effective tool in digital marketing. Marketing professionals who ask these questions will get all the information needed to tell an effective story for success. This method can be used to create a text that contains added value for all users.
Frequently used W questions
You can use these six W-questions to steer a content marketing strategy and incorporate the right question words and question phrases into the text. Use these questions to make sure that when the audience sees the content, they want to read about it.
Important question words:
- Who?
- Where?
- What?
- As?
- When?
- Why?
Who? – or who is my target group?
This is a relatively simple, but very crucial, W-question that marketing professionals must ask themselves on a regular basis. Who exactly am I trying to reach? The answer to this question will affect everything else the expert does.
Placement, formatting and desired results can revolve around the target group for this W question. The desired audience should be kept in mind to guide the entire process and effectively reach that audience.
Marketing is all about the audience. The point of content creation is to provide useful information to the people you want to reach. That’s not possible if marketers don’t know about the target audience. This of course includes demographic and psychographic information. Psychography is about age, gender, interests and other statistics. After all, an ad is only effective if it reaches the right audience. Marketers can use unique characteristics to segment their ideal audience.
Where – or where are the people being addressed with the advertisement
With the W questions, it is important to think about where the target audience sees the message. As a result, search ads often put a company in the spotlight. If users are actively looking for something, this can help the advertising company by improving the ranking of a post. Display ads in various forms of form can appear pretty much anywhere on the display network depending on the parameters set.
If you decide to place an ad on a social media platform based on the W questions, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and Co have all the options not only to set up ads for their platforms, but also to allow the freedom to do so choose where on the page these ads will be placed.
As the general public becomes more and more dependent on their mobile technologies , options that are specifically tailored to mobile users are also being offered. Facebook, in particular, has developed several interesting flavors to enable marketers to reach their target audience on mobile devices with messaging designed and optimized for those devices.
What – or what is the target group looking for?
Through this W-question, you will find out what your audience wants and needs by searching for keywords and searches. Search engine queries are direct expressions of what is most important to your audience. Content marketing is what is searched for on the web. If your content doesn’t meet these requirements, you’re not doing content marketing.
Display and search ads offer the ability to reach large numbers of people. Google has dominated search engine usage since 2017. According to experts, Google dominates 74% of the search engine market. Other search engines like Bing and Yahoo also offer search ad options, although the reach is obviously not as great as it might still be a viable option for some with less competition from other marketers.
Other search engines like Bing and Yahoo also offer search ad options, although the reach is obviously not as great as it might still be a viable option for some with less competition from other marketers.
Search ads allow businesses to pay to have their website featured in search results based on keywords or topics. These “sponsored” search results rank at the top of the first page and can give a company a competitive advantage.
How – or how do we best reach the customer?
In general, companies and brands are most successful when they use content to build audiences by:
- Choosing a specific audience to focus on, for example by choosing a platform to post the content on, such as a blog or video series.
- Consistent publication of the content for a longer period of time
- Focusing on one type of content makes it possible to truly understand the needs of customers.
With this W-question you can see whether and how you can reach your customers.
When – or when should the audience see the ad?
This W question is about timing. Timing can be just as important as anything else in the campaign. Some criteria can be determined by answering the other questions.
Those who chose to use native Facebook ads will only show their audience the news when they are on the social media platform. But sometimes it goes beyond that. Is there a frequency you want the audience to see these ads?
It’s important to stay consistent and avoid disappearing from the radar entirely. However, the campaign should never cross the line and become annoying or make the audience feel that the ads or content don’t suit the company.
Why – or why should the ad be shown?
Marketing professionals should never lose sight of why they want to advertise. With this W-question you can see what is to be achieved with it? Why should the target audience see this ad?
Every advertisement or message placed should have a purpose. When the ad goes live, those who see it need to be given clear guidance on how to achieve the goal.
Whether it is online form filling, clicks, or phone calls, it is important to convey the “why” or the purpose to the audience. Knowing why something is being done can move the whole process forward and shape the shape of the marketing approach. Those who do not lose sight of the purpose of the campaign will be successful.
Further W-questions and supplementary questions
In a marketing campaign, answering these W-questions can help steer each step towards the right future. Marketing experts who ask themselves these W-questions can keep an eye on their goals and know better how their overall strategy or campaign is structured. However, there is still the option of adding the following W questions as supplementary questions for a campaign, although the questions partially overlap:
- by which
- through which
- how come
- why
What – or what should a product be introduced to?
This W-question relates to all activities that are undertaken to promote the product or service to the user and the trade. Advertising, price incentives, word of mouth or press reports are often used for this purpose. The campaign may also include direct marketing, contests, sweepstakes and consumer programs.
What is the best way to present a product or service?
This W-question makes it clear that content marketing is a marketing technique for generating and disseminating relevant and valuable content. The purpose of content marketing is to gain a transparent audience and promote profitable customer actions. Here are a few examples of how content marketing works:
- Infographics – These are generally long, vertical graphs that contain statistics, charts, graphs, and other information.
- Websites – SEO-optimized websites that, in addition to providing content and discounts, call the interested party to action.
- Podcast – A podcast gives a company visibility in a world that is difficult to reach with normal advertising.
- Videos – Videos and podcasts are a largely untapped form of content marketing because many people think that it is expensive and difficult to create. But with the cost of professional equipment falling, creating high quality video and audio content is easier than ever.
Why – or why is the marketing campaign so important?
Traditional advertising and marketing are great tools for branding and generating sales. This W question opens up the first two phases of the buying process by raising awareness of solutions. It also educates consumers about a product they may never have considered buying before.
Why – or why content marketing?
Content marketing is the process of delivering really relevant and useful information to prospects and customers. This W question is about supporting interested parties or customers in overcoming important challenges. This differs from traditional marketing measures such as sales materials and other product-specific information. Content marketing includes things like educational articles, e-books, videos, and webinars that answer specific questions that people have.
Asking the right questions – this is how you can use W-questions
Asking the right questions and getting the right answers is the difference between random content and strategic content marketing. So take some time to get to know your audience and determine when, how, and where to reach them, what correct question phrases and question words should be in the text. Let the W questions lead to a great ROI.
