What’s Your Why?
Simon Grainger
helping growth-based businesses optimise their marketing | tedx speaker + mentor
If you haven’t seen Simon Sinek’s TEDx talk or read his Book ‘Start with Why,’ I highly recommend them both. For context, Sinek is an author, speaker and marketing strategist and offers a simple yet effective framework to build your brand. His philosophy centres on the Golden Circle principle which is premised on three interlinked questions i.e. Why, What and How.
While these questions may seem obvious, the sequencing is where the real power and value lies for your brand.
Simon stresses that business, non-profits and even individuals need to articulate their ‘Why’? Why refers to your brand’s cause, belief or purpose. The question ‘why’ in my view, isn’t always the easiest one to answer, and in my experience requires reflection. A great example Sinek shares is Sir Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech. In his speech, King emphasised his belief of racial equality by reiterating ‘I have a dream.’ As Simon points out, King was not communicating a mission statement but rather a belief shared by the audience listening to him. As Simon states, ‘People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.’ Global examples of brands who understand this include the likes of Apple and Harley-Davidson.
‘What’ speaks to the specifics of your offering i.e. shoe manufacturer, medical insurance etc. This question I think most brands can answer.
The last question is ‘How’. How refers to your method(s), systems and processes that underpin the mechanics behind executing your product and/or service. Again, I believe brands should be able to communicate this.
The Golden Circle promotes a reengineering of how we go about building our brands from the inside-out. As marketers, we constantly bombard consumers with features and benefits to boost sales and increase market share. This strategy isn’t sustainable. By articulating your ‘why’ and placing this philosophy at the core of your brand, you strengthen your cause, attract the right staff who subscribe to your beliefs and cement your relationship with your core audience. This creates brand equity and an unwavering customer loyalty that no competitive marketing can intercept.
Which brands do you feel have understood this principle?
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