Sick of hearing about “The Why”? Here’s why you shouldn’t be.

We all know about the Gartner Hype Cycle, and it would be fair to say that Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” and the associated bandwagon has trundled through the Peak of Inflated Expectations and the Trough of Disillusionment.  

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However, don’t forget that next stage of Slope of Enlightenment – don’t let the hype distract from the incredible usefulness of the “Why” when it comes to brand.

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The real power from leveraging the understanding of your why comes from the practical implementation (as do most things), which is why I especially love the follow up book with Simon, Peter Docker and David Mead – Find your Why.

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Why it matters

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The purpose of a brand is to immediately communicate to people who you are and what you stand for, so that people with similar values are attracted to your company.

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That matters because the more similar minded your customers are to you, the more likely they are to see your value, and in turn pay their bills.

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The company is not a faceless machine (I’ll admit some brands are but this article isn’t for them, “ahem” a certain courier company that shall remain nameless here), but is made up of people.

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Regardless of what the marketing machine says or does, these people are the brand, this is the brand customers experience and therefore is your brand.

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Therefore it makes sense to start with those people, or at least a group of stakeholders that represent those people in order to get to know what’s driving your business, what people are experiencing day to day.

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What it delivers

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The process (which is not what I’m going to cover here) helps you discover the real contribution your company is having in the world and what impact that contribution is having on people day to day.

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Once you unlock that it’s powerful, and more interestingly it’s objective.

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Which means you have a perfect starting point for the rest of your rebrand, which will now be based on actual, solid insight and should be a strong reflection of you’re the company your customers experience.

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Ice Blue Sky is an account-based marketing agency and member of the GO! Network.