What sort of questions will you be asking me during our onboarding/kick-off meeting?

During our kickoff meeting we will be asking you around 96 questions in order for use to get better acquainted with your organization and also ensure clear alignment right from the beginning.

ABOUT YOU (WHY ARE WE HERE?)

1. What excites you? 
2. What concerns you? 
3. What answers are you looking for? What else do you need to know? 
4. What is the true business issue you are having? 
5. What does success look like?

ABOUT THE COMPANY*

1. What is your company/organization/product/service name?  
2. How long has your company been established? 
3. Describe your business and an overview of the market.
4. Why was your company started in the first place and what was the motivation?
5. If you had to describe your business in one word, what would it be and why? 
6. Who are your 3 main competitors?  Provide 3-6 worthy competitor URLs.
7. What sets your company apart from the competition?  
8. How do your competitors market themselves? 
9. What services or products do you provide? 
10. What are the price ranges for your solution?
11. How does someone get started using your product or service?
12. Please send us your documented sales process if you have one
13. How big is your company? (Number of employees? revenue?) 
14. What are the strengths of your company? 
15. If you have a webpage and/or social media accounts for your business, provide URLs for each.
16. What are some of your bragging rights?
17. What are your weaknesses? 
18. Re-define business goals (short-term 1-3 years)
19. What are the long-term goals of the company? Where do you see your company in 5 years? 10 years? 30 years? 

ABOUT THE TARGET AUDIENCE/MARKET

1. Who is the primary target audience?
2. What is the target audience's age group?
3. Where do most of your audience live? 
4. What is the average household income of your target audience? 
5. What markets would you like to break into? Why? 
6. If your customers had to describe your company in one word, what would it be and why? 
7. How will most customers find out about your company?
8. How do you plan to communicate with your target audience? 

UNDERSTANDING YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

1. What are your main personas/sub-personas? 
2. Tell us all what you know about your customer needs and wants.
3. Explain the problem that you solve - expand a bit on the problems that you assume the customer has.
4. Explain typically what triggers a company to start looking into a solution more seriously.  What's a typical trigger event?
5. How do you solve it and how is your solution unique - specifically highlighting things that are resonating with the customer, exactly as you would present them to a customer.
6. What hesitations or push-back do you hear from consumers?
7. What's the expected impact of your solution to the consumer’s life/ business?
8. Tell us what you know about your buyer's buying process, how these kinds of decisions are done customer-side and explain their different roles.

ABOUT THE BRANDING (Logo, graphic line, webpage)

1. What are the values and/or mission statement of your company? 
2. What is the current logo? Please share the art files. 
3. Do you have a Brand Manual/Guidelines? If yes, please share.  
4. Are you happy with your current logo and brand?
5. What do you like and dislike about the current [logo or webpage]? 
6.  Why are you looking to change [the logo or webpage]? 
7. Do you have a strapline or slogan that goes along with your logo? 
8. What words describe how you feel when you look at your current logo and branding?
9. What do you want the new [logo or webpage] to accomplish? 
10. How do you want your customers to feel when they see your logo and branding?
11. What three attributes would you like your target audience to think of when they look at your branding? 
12. Which of these words is a better fit for your brand? Traditional or modern? 
13. Which of these words is a better fit for your brand? Friendly or corporate?
14. Which of these words is a better fit for your brand? High end or cost-effective?
15. Which of these words is a better fit for your brand? Consumer or Trade?

DESIGN PREFERENCES (Logo, graphic line, webpage)

1. What color palettes do you like and why? 
2. Where will the logo be mainly used? Print, web, etc.? 
3. In your opinion, what defines a successful logo (or webpage)? 
4. Are there any restrictions to consider when designing [design piece]? 
5. Is there anything that must be included, like existing brand elements, words or icons? 
6. Looking at other people's branding, what [logos or webpages] do you like and why?  Please provide 5 references. 
7. Are there any [logos or webpages] that you particularly dislike and why? 
8. What will be the first 3 elements where you will be applying your logo and graphic line? 
9. Design files are created in Illustrator please specify if you require other editable formats for your designs. (additional cost may apply) 

CONTENT PREFERENCES

1. What current content (if any) do you produce, and with what frequency?

• Blog Posts
• Written Downloads (ebooks, PDF guides, etc.)
• Email newsletters
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Graphics (billboards, signs, publications ads, mailers, door knockers/yard signs, infographics)

1. What does your brand’s voice sound like?

• Humor: Geico (funny) or CNN (serious)
• Formality: M&M’s (casual) or Jack Daniel’s (formal)
• Respect: Wendy’s (sassy) or Rolex (respectful)
• Enthusiasm: Red Bull (upbeat) or UBS (dry and matter-of-fact)

1. What does your company’s tone look like?

• Jargon: common wording or industry terminology?
• Sentences: long and explanatory or short and to-the-point?
• Velocity: Loud and outspoken or quiet and reserved?

1. Who are your trusted sources to get information about your industry (company names or URLs)

1. What nouns do you use when referring to your brand? 

• General: _______ is the right solution for you.
• Collective: __________ can help you.
• Personal: We are _________.

1. Are there any company name variations you would like us to use?

OTHER

1. Who will be the internal decision makers on this project? Giving feedback and approvals? 
2. Is there anything else you'd like to add that we haven't already covered? 

PPC Questions

1. Times you want ads to run
2. Areas you want to target your ads
3. Are there any special offers for your campaigns?
4. For call tracking, do you want a toll free number or local number?
5. Do you need your calls recorded?
6. Are there any brand keywords we should use in your ad?
7. Are there any keywords to avoid?
8. When running ads, are there any things we cannot / should not advertise, claim or say?
9. Who are your main competitors? 
10. What is your monthly budget for Google Adwords?
11. What actions do you want visitors to take from advertising?
12. What is the value of these actions?
13. How many actions are you looking for each month?
14. What languages should your ads be running in?
15. What are the most important products/services you will be advertising?
16. What is your approximate margin on these products/services?
17. Do you have any dedicated landing pages discussing these products/services? If so, what are the urls?
18. What are the features of your product/service?
19. What are the benefits of your product/service?
20. How often do you want to be updated with account results? (weekly, monthly, quarterly)
21. Are there any trademarks, copyrights or other information we should know when writing ads?
22. Are you aware of any keywords related to your products/services that draw in customers?
23. Who is the billing contact for your Google Adwords account?
24. What is the level of approval needed for adding keywords and ads to your account?
25. What number should be receiving the leads?