By Anthony Birch, Platform Communications
As business leaders and marketers, it can feel impossible to figure out which tactics to focus on when trying market and grow your business. This becomes even more challenging when the person (or people) responsible for marketing are also responsible for HR, sales, or some other function.
With the limited time resources for these professionals, it can be hard to figure out what to execute next. Do I post a TikTok or do another Facebook post? Do I blog another case study? Did I forget to email our client list with our new case study? Why aren’t my emails delivering?
Starting with one question – “Why?” – helps in one key way. It makes planning, creating, and executing the content easier because, if you know the answer to that one question, you have a clear message that can be translated throughout your day-to-day execution of tactics.
This idea comes from author and speaker Simon Sinek who explored why some companies succeed and so many others fail. He alleges, in this book and subsequent speech and content, that “Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do what they do.” Companies know and talk about WHAT they do, and some even talk about HOW they do it. Very few, though, know clearly WHY they do what they do. The “WHY” is the inspiration – no matter the position at the company – employees get up every day and go to work to execute a function.
How this translates into helping marketers do their job may seem confusing, but here is an example. Which of these is more compelling, whether for a brand awareness campaign or lead generation campaign or even a sales pitch?
Option A: At our company, we work to build the future of contracting through innovation, enhanced quality standards, and a lifetime commitment to our customers.
Option B: We build things at a competitive price.
I would think all would agree that Option A tells a clearer story, but how does that make it easier for marketers?
Think about all of the types of content and stories you can generate using Option A. You could do a workforce attraction campaign that includes interviews with employees about the latest innovation being worked on at your company. Then, you could create a lead generation campaign that talks about the enhanced quality standards to which your company adheres. Finally, you could institute branding on all sales documents that lists all the ways your company shows a lifetime commitment to your customers – with testimonials from previous customers or by sharing how your lifetime work warranty has been used by previous customers to build trust in your company.
With Option B, a marketer might feel limited to just comparing pricing with competitors, which we all know decreases margins and starts a race to the bottom of pricing.
At Platform Communications, we went through this process of asking “Why?” by sending a survey out to our entire staff asking “Why do you work at Platform Communications?” We then looked at all of the answers and found a common theme – people work at our company because they like telling powerful stories and achieving real results.
My challenge to companies is to embark on a journey to become clear, as an organization, about WHY you exist. This process will make your marketing more efficient and effective.
