• Describe your product or service in simple terms that any potential customer would understand. Detail comes later.
• Is demand increasing, declining, static or shifting? In other words, how much could current market conditions affect your sales regardless of the quality of your marketing?

• Name your three closest competitors.
• Name at least one up-and-coming challenger. What are they doing differently, and who are they targeting?

While research has proven how significant brand size and creative quality are to advertising profitability, what the statistics don't account for is the relative performance of the product itself. Which is unfortunate, given that for long-term sales, product quality is the most important factor by far.

So, this section is about what you do or make. And nothing else.

• What are the comparative strengths and weaknesses of your product or service? This is where the detail comes in.
• Even the slightest difference could provide enough material to find a creative edge - particularly in sectors largely filled with products or services that are functionally identical.
• Here’s the harder question: do your customers actually perceive these differences - or do they mainly exist in your own mind? If it's the latter, that's important information too.

• How does your pricing compare to each of your main competitors? Are you premium, mid-market, or value?
• Is that positioning a deliberate strategic choice - or something that has simply evolved over time?
• Do your customers believe they are getting fair value at your price point? Where do you and your competitors sit on a price vs perceived quality map?

• With brand trust being the number one influence on buying decisions when there is product parity, where does your brand sit in relation to your competition?
• What makes your potential customers discriminate between the brands in your category?
• Is your brand well-known enough, and well-regarded enough, to positively influence buyers? If not, is the quality or price of your product sufficient to compensate for that disadvantage?
• Or are you relying on standout creative work alone to do that job?

• What are their biggest fears or frustrations about products or services like yours in general - in other words, their current points-of-view?
• What do they like and dislike about you specifically? What do they comment on most in reviews, on social media etc?
• What do they like and dislike about your closest competitors?
• Now look at behaviour, not just opinion. How do your customers actually buy? What typically triggers a purchase - or delays one? How often do they switch?

• What have you communicated to your target customers in the past - and why? What have been the main themes and ideas in your advertising: rational benefits, emotional promises, social proof, humour, fear of loss?
• Has there been one recurring message or promise? If so, what is it, and how long have you been saying it?
• What tone of voice do you use: serious, playful, expert, rebellious etc?
• How much does this differ from what your competitors have been saying?
• Have you ever directly addressed customer fears or frustrations?
• Have any of your competitors?
• What haven’t you said to them that they might actually want to hear?

• What media have you been using - and why those choices specifically?
• Where are your competitors most visible? Are they in channels you have ignored, and if so, why?
• Are your business objectives realistically achievable with the media budget you have available?

• Which marketing communications have been most successful for you in the past? What do you believe were the reasons for their success?
• Which haven’t worked - and do you know why?
• What do you think your competitors have done well?
• What do you think your competitors haven't done well?