This is often a very difficult question for a marketer to answer and offers the perfect opportunity to use a surfing analogy.
The overarching challenge for a surfer is, ultimately, to stay on the board and maintain momentum for as long as possible. You may even throw in some flair whilst you're at it.
If you stand up too early, you won't have enough support to keep you going. If you stand up too late, you'll either plunge into the water or go over the crest of the wave - by which time you're never going to really catch up and you'll just have to wait for the next one.
Which part of this analogy is the biggest challenge - the wave? Or shall we think smaller? Is it maintaining momentum? Is it your timing?
Generally speaking, all marketers have one key challenge. To create a demand for products or services that your audience never realised they needed.
You could think of the water as your audience. As long as you're surfing at the right beach, changes in technology, behaviour and trends will create waves of demand.
You are then faced with a whole host of new challenges in order to capitalise on this. Endless changes in digital marketing, as well as new consumer behaviour and the decline of the high street have required us to work smarter.
Take a look at the short video we created during the Southampton Business Show 2015 to find out the biggest challenges for marketers and business owners.
A big thank you to Hand Picked Hotels, iDaC Solutions, Clearsky IT, BH1 Promotions, Bloody Staff, Fasset Limited, Lynbyrd Express Limited, IPO, Eastleigh Borough Council, Hampshire Chamber, Access by Design, 2CL Communications, Silver Lining Convergence and Boom Training for contributing.
If you would like to learn more about identifying your marketing challenges, why not come along to our Marketing Leaders Lunch.