The Power of Why

Targeting is impotent.
That wasn’t a misspelling.

If you want to waste a lot of money on advertising, just target exactly the right audience and then make an offer that fails to move them.

Targeting isn’t the answer.
Having the right message is the answer.
Bad advertising is about you and your product.
Good advertising is about your customer and their life.

Most ads underperform because they say, “Here’s what we do and here’s how we do it. You should buy it.”

Ads that change hearts and minds say, “This belief is what wakes us up in the morning. It’s why we come together. Here’s how we live our belief. Do you believe what we believe?”

The selling of products and services is the selling of ideas.

And now you know how Apple became the largest company in America.

Apple generated $43.7 billion in sales during the first three months of 2014. That’s more than Google, Amazon, and Facebook COMBINED. Apple’s iPhone revenue alone is bigger than Microsoft and their iPad revenue alone is bigger than Facebook. And those are just two of their products. We haven’t even touched laptops or iTunes or Beats by Dre.

Simon Sinek says,

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. If you don’t know why you do what you do, and people respond to why you do what you do, then how will you ever get people to vote for you, or buy something from you, or, more importantly, be loyal and want to be a part of what it is that you do? Again, the goal is not just to sell to people who need what you have; the goal is to sell to people who believe what you believe. The goal is not just to hire people who need a job; it’s to hire people who believe what you believe. If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money, but if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.”

“Dr. King wasn’t the only man in America who was a great orator. He wasn’t the only man in America who suffered in a pre-civil rights America. In fact, some of his ideas were bad. But he had a gift. He didn’t go around telling people what needed to change in America. He went around and told people what he believed. ‘I believe, I believe, I believe,’ he told people. And people who believed what he believed took his cause, and they made it their own, and they told people. And lo and behold, 250,000 people showed up on the right day at the right time to hear him speak.”

“How many of them showed up for him? Zero. They showed up for themselves. And it wasn’t about black versus white: 25 percent of the audience was white. We followed, not for him, but for ourselves. And, by the way, he gave the ‘I have a dream’ speech, not the ‘I have a plan’ speech.”

Simon Sinek speaks of leadership
but his principles apply equally well to advertising.

Great ads – like great leaders – tell you why, not just what and how.

Indy will post a couple of examples in today’s rabbit hole and I’ll explore an hour’s worth of examples during the next session of Wizard of Ads LIVE. “Speaking to Why” is also a new module in Writing for Radio and the Internet, the workshop taught by Jeff Sexton and Chris Maddock at Wizard Academy.

What and How are about you.
Why is about your customer.

The best ads are always about the customer.

Roy H. Williams