Powerful Messaging Part 3:
The Golden Circle

We all can say what we do at our jobs. Most of us can say how we do it. But when it comes to why we’re doing, it gets a bit more complicated. And when we talk about why, we’re talking about something more than just making money. So what is your company’s why? And why is it vital for B2B marketing?

Check out our video and find out why your why is important.

Some of you may have heard us and others talk about an idea made popular by Simon Sinek in his TED talk: The Golden Circle. This idea proposes that most marketers start with explaining what they do. We all know what we do — the products and services we sell. Then we go on to explain how we do it — these are the things that make us different, why our product is better than others. But after that, most marketers get stuck.

Why is your purpose, your cause, your belief. Why is what drives your company. It drives your career. It drives everyone who has ever worked on the product you are marketing. And it drives your customers. It’s actually what makes us loyal, makes us buy a certain brand over and over again, even though it may not be the cheapest. So as marketers, we need to start with the why.

Why start with why? When we look at the brain, it makes perfect sense. The outer layer of the brain — the neocortex — is where we process the what information. This is our “rational” brain. It’s the part that’s responsible for understanding, for example, features and benefits. The limbic system, which is at the middle and back of our brain, is the part that produces feelings — like trust and loyalty. It’s actually the part that is responsible for our behavior and for our decision making. What’s interesting is that this part of the brain does not have any capacity for language. That’s why we humans ultimately make decisions with our “gut feelings,” which isn’t really in our gut, but in our brain.

So the why is ultimately what drives us to do anything. Even when we don’t realize it. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to discover your why. It can be a struggle to bring the elements of powerful storytelling to the product marketing level. Let People Productions help you discover and articulate your why.

We’d like to leave you with the following thought that appeared in the Harvard Business Review. “When you want to motivate, persuade, or be remembered, start with a story of human struggle and eventual triumph. It will capture people’s hearts by first attracting their brains.”