Simon starts with WHY. Your marketing should, too.

Google goes beyond the ‘letter’ of every search to figure out its ‘spirit’. They call it INTENT. It is pretty much the holy grail of search, and folks at the Mountain View Headquartered company have it firmly in their cross-hairs.

Why is Intent holy grail at Google? Well, when we follow only behaviour - ignoring the underlying energy and mindset driving it - we usually miss the wood for the trees. And can get our priorities wrong. Desired outcomes happen not when checklists are ticked as a perfunctory afterthought, but when minds meet and purposes embrace.

This makes understanding intent critical to any kind of success. Not just Search.

In the day to day life of an agency or in-house communication team, staying clear on Intent can work wonders, illuminating blind spots and clearing stubborn bottlenecks. With branding sensibilities generally low - what with Marketing now featuring on nearly everybody’s resume and skills dominating empathy - this can be a particularly useful Reality Check. It can add conviction and substance to work, align effort with goal and turn results more meaningful.

Marketing and Communication teams chasing deadlines, KPI's and targets must break for a minute to ask themselves why they are doing what they are doing. Study the brief again, this time not as a Dhobi-list of deliverables. Analyse the expectations again, this time treating it like an SOS from a brand fighting to survive (which is probably the case today). Question the assumptions again, keeping the mind open to the fact that every branding theory and marketing practice comes with an expiry date. If nothing helps, think what the owner would do in a similar spot. Or what you might, were you the Founder. Having a stake and accountability in outcomes can wash away the plaque and clear out the cobwebs of institutionalized, atrophied thinking. When you sense the fear, when you feel the dream, you are far more likely to do the right thing. The best part? You'll do it spontaneously.

When you don't start with Why on the other hand, the game is lost even before it has begun. And sometimes, humorous (though not funny) stuff happens. Here's a random list. Any happened to you too?

WEBSITE

What the Behaviour is: Let’s create a shiny billboard along the i-way.

What the Intent should be: Let’s create a quick stopover for people to recharge with some real answers to real problems.

LEAD GENERATION

What the KPI is: Let’s keep Sales busy all month with a bunch of email ID’s.

What the Intent should be: The client has trusted us and will be grateful with even 30% of the target if the leads are genuine. We don't have to win awards. Let's just help the guy out.  

BLOG

What the KPI is: We need a keyword density of 7.3

What the Intent should be: How about reviving the dead-and-buried Comments section instead? Bouquets and eggs will both be a welcome break from the deafening silence.

BACKLINKS

What the Behaviour is: Too tough. Let’s pay our way through this one.

What the Intent should be: Consider backlinks a hat-tip from a wide-eyed-fan. Do you really want to bring cash into the picture?

DESIGN & ART

What the Behaviour is: Retain that template the client was ‘OK’ with last time around, and just keep changing the graphic.

What the Intent should be: Let’s try the reverse, please.

FONTS

What the KPI is: Let’s make it stylish and cool.

What the Intent should be: Let’s make it easy on the eye (read ‘readable’). Ideally, the reader shouldn’t even be aware it is there.

CALL TO ACTION (CTA)

What the Behaviour is: Let’s crank up the FOMO.

What the Intent should be: How would you invite a new neighbour home? Fear of missing out on cookies you have baked doesn’t work, does it? And even if it did…

BOUNCE RATE

What the KPI is: Are we getting the heat map wrong?

What the Intent should be: No. It’s the story that has gone cold. 

The letter-spirit, or behaviour-intent, gap exists because strategists, designers, writers, SEO pro’s, digital marketers, coders and media planners arrive at the party from very different places. And each focus only on their respective neck of the woods. The common vision that would normally bind them into a cohesive and cogent force - Brand Empathy, which straddles product, market and audience – is largely missing these days. And with it, the holistic ‘feel’ for the mission.

The reasons for this are many and warrants an article all its own, but the short explanation is that with mandates today pared down to leads, tunnel-vision and half-baked perspectives will get the job done just fine. And it'll be hard to tell the difference, till a Me-Too competitor pops up. Thereafter, it’s an inexorable tailspin of price undercutting and blame games, all the way down.

A bit like a camera-guy doing the director’s job, to borrow from a movie reality. Sure, many camera-folks have gone on to become legendary directors (indeed, a knowledge of the nuts and bolts is a critical rung in any ladder of success), but we must remember that what really helped them jump the gap is a passion to master the game from every role and position, not just a solitary skill and angle. And perhaps more importantly, decode the sub-plot unraveling behind that camera, not just in front of it.

Rx? Why not conduct a Marketing & Branding 101 for your communication teams or partners. Workshop or webinar. Twice a week. For 2 months. Before meals. You don’t want the post-prandial power-nap to get in the way.  

Make no mistakes. When Simon says Start With Why, he is talking directly to your marketing and communication team.