For businesses serious about growth, marketing must be tightly aligned with strategic vision, customer needs, and measurable results. Yet, too often, leaders either don’t have the clarity they need from their marketing functions…or they’re asking the wrong questions.
Below are 16 coaching questions I ask strategic leaders to uncover clarity, identify gaps, and unlock growth. If you’re a CEO, founder, or executive navigating growth or transformation, these are the questions you need to be able to answer – or work with someone who can help you get there.
Vision & Strategy
- What is your long-term vision for the business, and how is marketing supporting that vision? How do you define success for marketing at the strategic level? What differentiates your brand in the market – and how consistently is that communicated? How well aligned are your marketing and business strategies?
- What is your long-term vision for the business, and how is marketing supporting that vision?
- How do you define success for marketing at the strategic level?
- What differentiates your brand in the market – and how consistently is that communicated?
- How well aligned are your marketing and business strategies?
Strategic alignment between your business goals and marketing efforts isn’t optional; it’s the engine of sustainable growth. If your marketing activity feels busy but not impactful, there’s likely a disconnect here.
Customer-Centricity
- Who is your most valuable customer, and how well do you know them?
- What key customer insights are driving your current marketing strategies?
- How are you ensuring your business delivers a consistent experience across all touchpoints?
A strategy that isn’t built on a deep understanding of your customer is just guesswork. High-performing marketing begins with insight; and not just data, but interpretation and action.
Performance & ROI
- How do you measure the effectiveness of your marketing investments?
- What metrics matter most to you – and why?
- Where do you see gaps between marketing activity and actual business impact?
If you can’t connect your marketing investment to growth or retention, then you’re not measuring what matters. A strategic marketing consultant helps bridge the gap between actions and outcomes.
Innovation & Growth
- What marketing innovations have you explored or implemented in the past year?
- How are you adapting your marketing strategy to evolving market or customer trends?
- What opportunities are being missed due to current limitations in marketing capabilities?
Innovation is not just about technology, it’s about mindset, adaptability, and staying ahead of the curve. Without this, your competitors will outpace you.
Team & Leadership
- What role do you expect marketing leadership to play in driving business transformation?
- How are you empowering your marketing teams to act strategically, not just tactically?
- Where do you see your team needing to grow to meet future challenges?
Leaders set the tone. If your marketing team is stuck in “doing” rather than “thinking,” it’s often a leadership or structural issue – not just a talent one.
Why These Questions Matter
When you can confidently answer these questions, your business becomes more focused, more customer-centric, and more capable of scaling. You start to see marketing not as a cost centre but as a growth engine.
But here’s the truth: Most businesses can’t answer all of these questions and that’s okay. That’s exactly where a strategic and operational marketing consultant comes in.
The Power of Working with a Marketing Consultant
A strong consultant helps you:
- Diagnose gaps in your marketing strategy and execution.
- Connect your brand and marketing activity to bottom-line results.
- Clarify roles, processes, and metrics across your marketing function.
- Build a roadmap that aligns brand, demand generation, customer experience, and team capability.
- Lead change inside your organisation with the right blend of strategic thinking and hands-on implementation.
Whether you’re scaling, pivoting, entering a new market, or preparing for investment, having a marketing partner who thinks like a strategist and acts like an operator can be the catalyst for real, measurable growth.
Ready to go deeper on these questions… and what they mean for your business? Let’s connect and explore how a strategic marketing partnership can unlock the next phase of your growth.
