So I’m gonna dedicate this blog to the legend that is Simon Sinek. Now, if you’ve been around the marketing world, or even just the business world generally for any period of time, then you’ll probably have come across Simon before. And if you haven’t heard of him (well, first of all, do yourself a favour and just Google the legend) but I’m pretty sure that you’ll have come across his most famous accolade, the question that all new business owners get asked….

“What’s your Why?”

In his ground-breaking book titled ‘The Power of Why,’ Simon explains how great leaders and brands inspire action by inverting the traditional sales and marketing model, moving away from talking about the ‘what’ (their product or service) to their ‘why’ (their mission and beliefs).

One of the biggest mistakes that I see a lot of new business owners making is that they start creating content focusing based upon a really old school and outdated style of selling and marketing. They tend to focus on all the ‘features and benefits’ of their products and services, shouting from the rooftops about why their product or service (what they do) is the absolute BEST out there.

And well, to be blunt, when you do that, no one really cares.

What people really care about is WHY you do it.

They care about the bigger picture.

They care about the WHY because it goes deeper into our human psychology and speaks to our basic human need to connect with others. We want to feel like we belong to a bigger purpose, a collective of similar like-minded people or tribe that ‘get us.’

Who think like we think. Who believe what we believe. 

Think about this for a second….Martin Luther King had an ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. He didn’t have an ‘I Have a Plan’ speech because he knew that if he really wanted to create a movement, then people have to believe in something BIGGER. A cause they can get behind. A vision they want to be a part of. A mission they want to be on too.

If you want to galvanise people into action, you’ve got to give them a bigger reason than simply listing the one-dimensional surface-level benefits of the product or service that you want them to buy. 

Let me give you another example…Apple’s marketing message always leads with  ‘we believe in thinking differently.’ So anyone who also thinks differently or sees themselves as a ‘misfit’ or a ‘challenger’ to the norm, often wants to be a part of that tribe. And guess what. Because of that tribe mentality that Apple has been able to create, people are willing to queue up for 12 hours before the latest iPhone is released or quite simply, buy anything at all that has the Apple logo on it. Crazy when you think about it logically right? But great brands aren’t created through logic. They’re created by evoking emotion.

And Apple has cracked the code.

Apple knows how to build a tribal brand.

Apple knows how to galvanise action.

And how do they do it? 

They start with WHY.

So let me just repeat a fundamental truth of brand building….

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. 

So rather than marketing all the features and benefits of your products and services, you want to be speaking to your audience’s beliefs and desires. You want to be connecting to them at that deeper emotional level. At the level that activates a response, ie. that makes them want to take action and buy from you.

Truly great brands understand this distinction. 

So if you want to build a powerful impact-driven brand, then you need to understand The Golden Circle and market yourself from the inside-out. From the Why, to the How, then through to the What.

WHY – Why does your business exist? Why does it matter? Why should anyone care?

HOW – How do you bring your why to life? How do you show up and serve?

WHAT – What do you actually do? What products and services do you offer?

So I’d love to hear from you in the comments, have you been doing it wrong this whole time? Do you focus on the what or have you already cracked it with your WHY?

Speak soon,

Melissa x