Defining your “why”. Simon Sinek said it best when in his now famous Ted Talk he tells the audience that “we don’t buy products for what they do, but why they do it.”. Think about that. We don’t buy anything for what it does, otherwise we’d buy the cheapest everything, every time. We need to unlearn some traditional branding ideas.

Not just consumer products, almost every industry you can breakdown to “why” people buy from you.

Simon Sinek Start With Why

Using your “why” to develop the how of your company/organization. Processes, policies, how you get things done. This is all a major part of your marketing and core strategy. We look at what you’ve done in the past, what’s worked and what has not.

Simon Sinek The Infinite Game is the required reading for this class.

Using your “how” to create “what” you’re going to take to market. Is it a social strategy? Is it a search engine optimization strategy? Is it a website strategy? Is it a video strategy? Or an online or offline strategy? You must first define your why, how and by then the “what” should be obvious.

Jim Collins’ Great by Choice required readings (specifically the 20 Mile March, Productive Paranoia, and Empirical Creativity).

We’re now several weeks into your campaign. What new data are we seeing? Anything we can test or learn so far?

We start learning the counterintuitive world of brand marketing. Rory Sutherland has some amazing material on this topic!

Alchemy by Rory Sutherland is the required book for this week.

What does the first impression of your brand tell customers? Are there moments that people lose trust in your brand? Why? What’s one thing you could do to increase the trust in your brand?

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and Extreme Trust by Don and Martha Rogers

How are you measuring results? What does the data tell us? Using Google Analytics and Moz software to paint a picture of what people use your website for. How does your company culture affect your marketing?

Brand Delusions by Bill Leider is the recommended reading for this week.

Signs of a successful campaign. What are some things that signal you’re on the right track? We’ll look at some case studies of successful campaigns. We use major companies and local groups to show how a successful campaign should be run and reported on.

What are people searching for the find you? Let’s do a deep dive using Google Ads to understand better what people are searching when they find your website.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Wrapping your strategy up with the most important part, your “caring” strategy. How will you out-care your competition? What do you have that no one else has? What can you do that no one else can do?

We look at what separate many people who are doing well from exceptional. Hint, it’s about if you’re a giver or a taker.

Eat People by Andy Kessler and Give and Take by Adam Grant are the required readings for this week.