University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
They Ask, You Answer
Book

They Ask, You Answer

A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today’s Digital Consumer

Marcus Sheridan
Wiley, 2019
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
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  • Engaging

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When his swimming pool and spa business tanked during the Great Recession, Marcus Sheridan found himself facing bankruptcy. This disheartening experience prompted him to consider how consumer buying patterns had transformed. Rather than folding, Sheridan pivoted: He saved his company by focusing on the needs of digital consumers. In this practical text, Marcus shares this “They Ask, You Answer” approach to growth, which values customer centricity and quality content creation above all. Learn to thrive in the digital age, and why successful entrepreneurs say goodbye to outdated sales tactics.

Summary

Thriving in the digital age requires winning consumer trust.

Consumer buying behaviors have transformed over the past 10 years – a period during which the boundary between “marketing” and “sales” eroded. Today, 70% of customers make purchasing decisions before speaking to the company, making traditional marketing and sales tactics obsolete. Embrace “inbound” marketing – providing consumers with valuable content that inspires them to seek you out – as opposed to relying on outmoded “outbound” tactics, premised on chasing targets with unsolicited sales pitches. 

Marcus Sheridan applied inbound marketing when he saved his pool company from bankruptcy during the Great Recession. He repositioned his brand as an expert voice. Whether publishing reviews of swimming pools or answering buyers’ frequently asked questions, Sheridan leveraged quality content to win consumers’ trust, and their business. Share, as he did, content that helps consumers solve their problems.

“They Ask, You Answer” is a customer-centric philosophy that centers your business around your target customers’ goals, questions, feelings and fears. Your...

About the Author

Marcus Sheridan is a keynote speaker and a partner at IMPACT, a firm helping companies thrive by embracing “They Ask, You Answer.”

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