Front FootMARKETINGFront Foot Marketing, independent marketing advisory

ANSWERS

Better answers start with better questions.

Marketing leaders rarely have a shortage of information. They have questions. The difficult ones. The commercially important ones. The ones that don't get solved by another dashboard, agency presentation or spreadsheet.

Explore the questions behind better marketing decisions.

Every business has marketing questions. But the question you're asking isn't always the question you need to answer. Front Foot helps CEOs, founders, CFOs and marketing leaders get to the issue underneath the issue, using better questions, better evidence and better judgement.

The Front Foot Answer Formula

A useful answer should make the next decision clearer.

  1. 01

    Find the real question

    Get underneath the issue that first walked through the door.

  2. 02

    Give the straight answer

    Say what I think in plain English, without hiding behind caveats.

  3. 03

    Name what we don't know

    Separate the evidence from the assumptions and the gaps.

  4. 04

    Make the decision

    Turn the thinking into a clear next move.

Value

Is marketing creating value?

01

Value

Is marketing actually creating value?

Revenue isn't customer value, and activity isn't commercial impact.

02

Value

Are we growing the right customers?

Not every customer is equally valuable, and not every source of growth deserves more investment.

Investment

Where should we put, and stop putting, money?

03

Investment

Where should we stop spending?

The hardest marketing decision isn't where to invest more. It's what to stop.

04

Investment

How much should we invest in marketing?

There isn't a universally correct percentage of revenue to spend on marketing.

Effectiveness

What is actually working?

05

Effectiveness

Is this actually a marketing problem?

Sometimes the problem wearing a marketing hat isn't a marketing problem.

06

Effectiveness

What should a CEO expect from marketing?

Not more activity. Better commercial clarity.

07

Effectiveness

What should our marketing dashboard actually tell us?

A dashboard should help you make a decision. If it doesn't, it's probably just reporting.

Decision

What should we do next?

08

Decision

How much evidence is enough?

You rarely get perfect information. The goal isn't certainty. It's confidence good enough to act.

09

Decision

What happens when the numbers disagree?

Don't automatically believe the number that looks most precise.

10

Decision

What are we assuming that we haven't proved?

Every marketing strategy contains assumptions. The danger is forgetting they're assumptions.

11

Decision

What happens if we're wrong?

Good marketing decisions consider downside as well as upside.

12

Decision

What decision are we actually trying to make?

This is often the question that should come first.

Still working out what the real question is?

Sometimes the hardest part isn't finding the answer. It's knowing which question to ask.

Talk to Front FootTake the Customer Value Diagnostic