One of the most powerful questions to ask – and particularly so in the world of marketing is WHY.
Why is this cause important to this brand?
Why do you (the client brand) want to change your marketing strategy now?
Why is my buyer not responding?
Why did Mattel really need this Barbie movie?
Why should your customer care about your latest contest on Social
Why is hitting this metric important for this campaign
Why is this spend required?
Why is this influencer’s content clicking for the brand?
Why is there an 85% bounce rate on this web page?
Why are only 5% of leads converting into sales?
They say good is the enemy of great. I’d probably extend that to say ‘WHY’ is the best friend of great.
And it is a question that the best marketers will ask fearlessly.
Because WHY challenges assumptions and the status quo.
Because WHY demands curiosity and re-ignites creativity.
Because WHY helps prioritise resources when you have constraints.
Because WHY rallies cross-functional teams and people to pull in the same direction.
Because WHY can limit losses on a campaign that’s failing its brief.
Because WHY will push you to do over, do better.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of situations in marketing wherein WHY works its power. The opportunities to use WHY are potentially endless.
From questioning briefs to campaign ideation.
From the budget allocation for ads to reviewing a digital ads dashboard.
From a concept note on messaging to a content baseline for social media.
From an analytics report to customer digital journey insights.
The right WHY asked at the right time could steer the process and hence the outcomes in the right direction.
And so, let’s also end with Why!
Why am I sharing this here today?
Because I intend to apply the Power of WHY to the most important tasks on my list.
And I hope you too will use your WHYs wise-ly (see what I did there?) today and every day thereafter.
Are you already the master of asking WHY? Do share some of those key moments here in the comments section. Because why not?
*PS: There is a fair amount of fantastic content around WHY. Here are my top two picks:
1. Start with WHY – Simon Sinek’s book on Leadership where WHY is a foundational aspect of his Golden Circles framework.
2. The Power of WHY – Amanda Lang’s book featuring research into the profiles of innovators as a showcase for curiosity as the foundation for innovation.
Pavithra 