This weekend I noticed the mums in front of my house were looking a bit sad...all droopy and discolored. Apparently, they were in dire need of watering.

What do dying mums have to do with marketing communications? Let me tell you.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought these mums at the farmer's market (where I go to every Saturday). I asked the farmer/vendor how long they would last. She told me that mums are hardy and should last through Thanksgiving, andwould provide some color to as the flowering annuals die. But at the rate my mums were going, they wouldn't make it to Halloween. So this past Saturday at the farmer's market I asked the vendor about the mums. Should I water them or would it be ok to wait until it rained on Sunday. She told me that I should definitely water them as soon as I got home,<em> that mums need a lot of water. </em>

Well, then.  If she had mentioned that to me when I bought them, I would have watered them more regularly. But she hadn't and this is exactly the type of information I needed to know. I had made the incorrect assumption that because mums are hardy plants, that meant they needed little water.

<strong>You are the expert...not the customer
</strong>

Customers  don't know your product or service as well as you do. You are the real-life expert on your product or service. You know what it does, how it does it and why it does it.

So, ask yourself this one simple question:

<em>What does the customer/ client have to know about my product or service?</em>

Once you have the answer to this question, your content marketing, copywriting and especially your customer/client interaction will all go much better and be more productive. Your customers will know exactly what they need to know.

<strong>Customers don't know what they don't know. Period. </strong> It's your job as a marketing/communications  person (let's make sure to include sales under marketing here) to make sure they have the information they need to use your product or service appropriately.

If the customer does not use your product how it is supposed to be used or doesn't take a necessary safety precaution or u

The consequences of not doing this are huge.

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