by John Hall
The nonprofit sector, in contrast, is explicitly cause-driven. NGOs link their existence to their missions and visions. That’s why many executive directors will tell you that their goal is to put themselves out of a job because that would mean that the organization had fulfilled everything it existed to do.
This selfless focus on purpose is at the core of great communication. When you center the why, you aren’t pushing a sales agenda onto your audience; rather, you’re engaging your reader in a way that aligns with your mission.
Unfortunately, this is rare. According to one study, 75 percent of marketers use product mentions as a regular component of their content strategies.3 This means that the vast majority of marketers still see content as a platform for brazen self-promotion rather than as a vehicle for establishing meaningful connections with the audience.
To treat content like traditional advertising is to start from the what because it privileges your company’s desire to sell its products over your readers’ desire to learn something meaningful. But at least with advertising, consumers know they’re being sold to—if your content is overly promotional, your audience will likely feel that you are trying to trick them.
That’s not to say that any time you mention your product you’re subjecting your audience to a ruthless sales pitch. In fact, there are times when a well-placed mention can be relevant, appropriate, and beneficial to the story you’re telling.
So where is the line between the what and the why in content? It can be a tough one to figure out. There are a few dead giveaways, however. Content that begins with a pitch, focuses primarily on the features of a product that the author is selling, and generates minimal social shares is probably what-driven. Nobody is going to spend valuable time reading this kind of content.
Here’s a quick checklist for identifying content built around the why:
1. Does it offer substantive insight into issues and topics other than the highlights of your product?
2. Does it provide the reader actionable tips and analysis?
If the answer to both is yes, good—you’re probably not stuck in the what. Unfortunately, that doesn’t guarantee that you’re in the why.
Why the Why Works
In his TEDx Talk, Sinek points to Apple as an example of a company that starts from the why:
If Apple were like everyone else, a marketing message from them might sound like this: “We make great computers. They’re beautifully designed, simple to use, and user-friendly. Want to buy one?”
To which you, the consumer, might respond: “Yeah, maybe. But there are so many companies designing beautiful computers out there, I’m going to have to do some major research and get back to you.”
Sinek continues:
Here’s how Apple actually communicates. “Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use, and user-friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?”
Now, for people who are apathetic about (or happy with) the status quo, the above statement won’t have much resonance. However, if you believe yourself to be a critical thinker—someone who lives life with intention rather than just accepting that things have to be the way they always have been—hearing this statement will be immensely validating. Here is a company that shares the values and beliefs that you hold dear. The invitation is clear: You want to change the world, and so does Apple. Together, you may just be able to.
This is the power of starting from the why in your content. By foregrounding your core purpose, you can activate the deeply held beliefs and values of your target audience. This fosters a deep, identity-driven connection between your audience and your brand. When your why motivates your content, you’re taking a principled stand—and you’re inviting your audience to stand right next to you. And that kind of connection is what truly engages your audience.
To create why-driven content, there is a simple (if obvious) starting point. Why? (It’s a loaded question, as we’ll soon see.) Specifically, apply that why to the following questions: Why am I creating this content? Why does my company exist? And, most important, why do I do what I do?
Why Am I Creating This Content?
In her post “5 Powerful Rules for Women Entrepreneurs to Live By,” Sumi Krishnan, the founder of K4 Solutions, says this:
When I became an entrepreneur, I was motivated by one thing: freedom. I wanted the flexibility to follow my dream. Entrepreneurship allowed me to do work that was engaging and empowering. … But there’s no magic formula for entrepreneurial success, of course. Stepping into the unknown is scary—and many women doubt their abilities, feeling like impostors. “I believe that no matter how thoroughly prepared a woman might be, she will feel unprepared, whereas a man will feel even more prepared than he really is,” [CEO of Pearl Aqua LLC Linda] Shesto says. Unfortunately, research supports this notion. Here, then, are five strategies to help you crush these types of entrepreneurial fears and succeed even as you step into the unknown.4
Why did Krishnan create this content? Her purpose is crystal clear: to equip her fellow women entrepreneurs with strategies for conquering their most common fears. She knows her audience and is speaking directly to them on both an emotional and a practical level. Notice that Krishnan shifts the spotlight, making room for voices other than her own. By sharing lessons gained from personal experience—both from her life and from the lives of other women entrepreneurs—Krishnan’s fundamental message to her reader is “Don’t worry. You’re not the only one struggling with fear. As women, we can understand, support, and nurture each other, because we’re all in this together.”
Krishnan is a thoughtful, emotionally intelligent writer who clearly cares about the needs of her audience. Her sense of purpose shines through in her content, and it clearly resonates with her readers. By writing to enhance the lives of her audience, Krishnan earns their trust—and for many of them, she will likely become top of mind.
Why Does My Company Exist?
Yvon Chouinard is the founder of iconic outdoor apparel company Patagonia. His reflective piece “On Corporate Responsibility for Planet Earth” opens:
As an alpinist who set out to make gear for my friends and never thought of myself as a “businessman” until long after I became one, I’ve wrestled the demons of corporate responsibility for some time. Who are businesses really responsible to? Their shareholders? Their customers? Their employees? None of the above, I have finally come to believe. Fundamentally, businesses are responsible to their resource base. Without a healthy planet there are no shareholders, no customers, no employees. As the conservationist David Brower liked to say, “There is no business to be done on a dead planet.”
But what does behaving responsibly to the environment mean? It took me nearly 25 years in business to learn how to ask that question. It has taken another 15 years of trial and error to uncover the process that Patagonia—or any environmentally minded company—has to go through in pursuit of answers. I think I know how to break that process down to five steps. These steps apply to individuals as well as to companies who want to reduce the harm they do and make a difference.
Reading this piece, it’s immediately clear that Patagonia is, first and foremost, a group of people devoted to mitigating the impact that humans have on the natural world—they just happen to do this by selling environmentally sustainable outdoor gear. However, the piece explains that business is just one avenue for creating positive change: Chouinard argues that any company striving to be sustainable must not only reduce its environmental costs, it must also nurture civil democracy by giving direct support to frontline activists, as well as lobbying for industrywide changes toward fairness and sustainability.
Patagonia’s purpose serves as an invitation for readers who are passionate about the environment to join the company in fighting for the Earth.
Why Do I Do What I Do?
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sp; My friend Dustin McKissen is the founder of McKissen + Company and one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Management and Culture. Hilarious, devastating, and enlightening, Dustin’s writing demonstrates the power of knowing yourself and your purpose. Consider this excerpt from “Five Reasons Why I’m Not Sleeping in My Car Anymore”:
When I was 18 I could no longer live under the same roof with my dad (who, at the time, was mutually deciding with my mom that they could no longer live under the same roof together). I moved out with no money, no place to go, and no plan.
I moved into my Geo Tracker.
Living in a Geo Tracker is nothing if not an adventure. … I would often sleep in the parking lot of a gym I belonged to. I could wake up, work out, and shower. One night I forgot to lock my car and woke up because my door was open, and a man was just watching me sleep. It was alarming.
So, while I recognize the absurdity of a guy who is just a normal person writing a “How I Got Where I am Today” post, it’s a long way from these stories to where I am now. …
This year I’ll spend Thanksgiving at home for the first time in a couple of years, and that’s awesome too. I’ll spend it with—all due respect to Seth Godin—the only tribe that really matters to me.
I met my wife when I was 22, we got married two months later, and by 26 I had three kids, one of which was her daughter that I adopted when we got married.
Even when stuff goes seriously wrong in my career, I know the basics like love and having a home are taken care of. And by home, I don’t mean our literal home (though I like having a bed). I mean a place to call home. Five people would be a lot to fit in a Geo Tracker, but even if we have to do that one day, it will still be a home in the way that my prior Geo Tracker wasn’t.5
Why does Dustin work? Why does he write? Why does he do what he does?
“My main motivation for work, my writing, and my career choices is a desire to be heard,” Dustin recently told me over e-mail. “At one point growing up my mom supported us by working at McDonald’s and earning the minimum wage, for a time we received food stamps, and at one point we lived in a tent. I know what it’s like to not be heard, and that motivates why I write, and what I write about.
“And I know what I’m doing is working, and I know it because last week my son (who is 10) wrote a letter to his elementary school’s administration about the lack of sportsmanship on the soccer field. He offered some solutions, and I was proud of him for caring about others and demonstrating empathy, even for the kids who were being ‘bad sports.’ But I was even prouder that my son felt like he had an opinion someone should listen to. He wanted to be heard, and believed he should be heard—and he beat me to that realization by 20 years.”
I find Dustin’s clarity and conviction inspiring. Reflecting on my own purpose, I realize that everything I do—in terms of content, leadership, and all other aspects of my life—I do for my family. My family is my purpose and my foundation, and my role as provider goes deeper (much deeper) than simply bringing home an income. I want to help my kids live up to their full potential as learners and doers, and I want to help my wife live with satisfaction and joy. I work to nurture the bonds that connect all of us to each other so that each of us knows we are part of something bigger than ourselves.
Clearly, starting from the why is not only a strategy for creating effective content. When you live with a sense of purpose, everything you do is infused with meaning. You’re able to keep challenges in perspective, and you make intentional choices. Success becomes something intensely personal. You become connected to what matters.
It also keeps you on top of people’s minds—in the right way. How do you want people to think of you when you’re top of mind for them? Do you want to live in the shallow end, driven more by the what? Or do you agree that being top of mind in a way that clearly communicates who you are and why you do what you do is more important?
Obviously, factors such as familiarity and likability play into how people think of you. But don’t for a minute think that they’re not also considering your why when you’re on top of their minds.
I’m reminded of an introduction I once got from one industry influencer to another. When he introduced me, he didn’t just say, “Here’s John. You should talk to him.” Instead, he said that my team and I are the best at what we do: helping clients build industry influence and authority by working with them to create and distribute content.
It was something I’d struggled with myself, so I knew how important it was, and I’m committed to helping others overcome those barriers, too. And I had content out there that dived deep into who I am and why I lead this company. Together, those elements reflect my why and help me earn top-of-mind space.
Finding your purpose is your life’s work, and it never ends. The search makes you the best person you can be, and communicating it to your audience can put you top of mind.
9
BEYOND THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT
AT AN EVENT this year, I ran into the head of strategy for one of the country’s biggest hotel chains. He was excited. As a marketer, he had long known that a major investment in his personal brand would yield benefits for both himself and his employer. He had recently brought this up in discussion with his leadership team, and everyone was in agreement. Thanks to this conversation, the company would be investing in personal branding for leaders across the entire team. The head of strategy recounted all of this beaming with pride.
At that point, everybody I knew seemed to be looking for a new job, so I asked this person how long he planned to stay with the hotel chain. His response: “They’re treating me right. Why on earth would I leave?”
Same event, next day. I’m talking to another head of strategy; this one was with a major restaurant chain. She had also brought up the importance of personal branding with her team, but the response she had received was far less enthusiastic. The CMO said something to the effect of “Do whatever you like, but you’re on your own in terms of funding.” Understandably, this head of digital was angry.
I asked her whether she would stay with the restaurant company in the long run. Her response: “If you were me, and you always had to pay out of pocket to invest in yourself, would you stay?” By the end of the month, she had quit.
Leaders who won’t fund personal branding efforts usually argue that doing so would be an unnecessary expense. And while they may well be concerned about the budget, there is often a deeper fear at play that nobody will admit to—what if we invest in our people only to have them turn around and leave us?
It’s a scenario I know well. When we hired our first VP of sales, we were thrilled. He was a perfect fit for the position, and he had tremendous potential to take the company forward in the long run. We poured a ton of money, time, and energy into training him and helping him develop a thriving personal brand. He worked with us for four years, then went to work for one of our partners.
Was I disappointed? Sure. We were losing a good employee. But was I angry with this person? Not at all. I was happy for him because I genuinely cared about him, and I knew he’d be successful in his next position. In fact, we made sure that we continued to invest in his training up until his last day. And because there was never any bitterness or acrimony, he’s now one of Influence & Co.’s biggest brand advocates working for one of our largest partners. He continues to create opportunity for us on a regular basis.
This experience cemented our belief that an investment in our team is an investment in our company. Recently, two of our employees decided to leave. The transition was a hard one emotionally—these people are like family, after all—but again, we were all excited to see what great things they would do next. One had secured a job at Facebook, and the other at Lyft.
From an opportunity-creation perspective, I’m so grateful to have Influence & Co. alumni advocating for us in such innovative places. And on a personal level, the pride I feel in seeing some of the world’s most innovative companies hire our people is overwhelming.
Employees will leave and pursue other opportunities. Still, it’s important that you don’t let this prevent you from investing in them. Richard Branson once said, “Train people well enough so they can leave; treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” When you invest in your team, your organization becomes a place where people can become their best selves and do their best work. They benefit, you benefit, and your brand benefits long into the future.
A Team Full of Thought Leaders
Your team consists of a diverse and ever-evolving collection of perspectives, experiences, and insights. All of your team members have something valuable to say, and each of them has a trusted position within his or her own networks and social circles. In other words, every employee is a potential thought leader.
And yet so many companies restrict thought leadership efforts to the exclusive domain of the C-suite. In many cases, only one person (usually the founder or CEO) is allowed to publish content in the brand’s name. The logic goes like this: if there are more than one or two voices speaking for the brand, we won’t be able to control the message—and that’s a scary thought. Plus, as I previously discussed, many executives are afraid that strong employee personal brands will make it easier for competitors to poach their top talent.
If you think that rigid guidelines will ensure a unified brand message, I’ve got news for you: your team is your brand, and your brand is your team.