Renowned speaker, thinker and author Simon Sinek said in his ultra-popular TED Talk about how great leaders inspire action, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

That wasn’t an accident. Sinek repeats his insight because it’s so important. Knowing your “why” is clutch when so many businesses only really know their “how” or their “what”–and then fail.

Tons of studies back up this claim. Some are just worded differently: People buy from people they like. People buy from businesses who share their values.

That’s why knowing your mission–your “why,” your reason for being, the values that motivate you to open your doors every day–is key to creating connections and cultivating relationships with customers, from acquisition to retention to loyalty and advocacy.

Here’s the thing: In your heart of hearts, you may know your mission. You may know your “why.”

But putting it into words makes it concrete, understandable, and shareable among your staff and employees.

Let’s help you get there:

  • Think about the one thing you want your viewer or listener to think and feel after seeing your content. Put yourself in their shoes and ask as if you were them, “What’s in it for me?”
  • Who’s your customer? What do they need right now? Does that match up with what you have to offer? Consider the Get Who To By method of creating content that matches your offering with their immediate need.
  • Still trying to figure out why you do what you do? Use Toyota’s Five Whys method: Ask yourself “Why?” five times to dig deep into your customer’s psyche. Why would someone buy this? Why would someone want it? Why would someone need it?
  • Put that thinking into words using one of these three formulas:
    • My [PRODUCT or SERVICE] is the one that [BENEFIT TO THE USER].
    • For [NAME THE PERSON] who [STATE THEIR NEED,] our [NAME YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE] is [WHAT MAKES IT UNIQUE].
    • [YOUR BRAND] offers [PRODUCT/SERVICE] for [TARGET MARKET] to [THE VALUE IT BRINGS]. Unlike [THE ALTERNATIVE], we [KEY DIFFERENTIATOR].

This doesn’t need to be a slogan or a tagline. Your end customer (or donor or voter) may never see these words written out. Or they may. Up to you.

It’s more important that you know it, feel it, live it, and do business like your business depends on it.

When you know your company’s mission, it’s much easier to decide what business and campaign objectives you need to reach to live up to your mission. When we talk objectives, we’ll be talking about things like:

  • SMART goals
  • Key performance indicators
  • How to answer “Did it work?” and “Is that good?”