Is your marketing working for or against you? In any case, you are the judge.

I recently took a college course on “The Art of Debate.” It was by A Wake Forest Professor named Dr. Jarrod Atchinson. It contains over 24 half-hour lectures and digs deep into the history, purpose, and strategy of debate.

In any debate, there is an argument or topic that will have an affirmative side and an opposing side. It has three parts:

1. Warrant – The change of the status quo that you are debating based on the claim and the grounds
   
2. Grounds – Evidence or Facts that supports the claim
   
3. Claim – An argument position
   

I think that marketing is much like a debate. There is one key point to be argued, “How do we increase sales?”

It has a warrant “We need to change the status quo.” It requires us to research to provide evidence (grounds) to support our claims (selling points).

In the case of B2b marketers, the audience is a culmination of two different perspectives…prospects and current clients.

The status quo for current clients may be, “How, when, or how often do we need to upgrade, or repair our products, services, and equipment.”

The status quo for prospects may be, “How, when, or how often do we need to change vendors or suppliers.”

In this episode, we will explore how learning how to debate can improve your marketing and your business.