How to Not Sabotage Your Business

Why do you get up in the mornings?

Why do you suffer a stuffy, overcrowded commute to the office everyday?

Why do you like 3 sugars in your morning cup of tea?

The ‘why’ is our innate driving factor, the reason that motivates us to move our mooshy limbs in a way that brings us closer to our goals.

...to participate in the daily events of your unique & diverse life

...to earn enough money to pay your rent and buy fancy treats every once in a while

...because 4 sugars is simply too much

The same applies to your business! Understanding the real ‘why’ behind your business (and incidentally your brand), is the driving core of what will help you to grow, connect and succeed.
Moving forward without a clear, coherent and emotive reason for doing so inhibits your business growth, your engagement with your ideal customers and your networking & relationship building skills (try answering the ‘so why did you go into this industry?’ question from potential clients, and you’ll understand the importance of your ‘why’ real quick!).

With a new business, or an existing business that needs some branding alignment stat, overlooking your ‘why’ is the difference between glowing success and abject frustration and failure.

I guess you could call it self-sabotage?

It’s almost scary how often companies and brands just skip over the why, and go straight for the marketing.
A fancy photoshoot here, some mood lighting there, a press release here, a trendy & stylish influencer or two over there…

The glitter lasts maybe a couple of months, and then the frustration sets in.

The content creation you had planned out was getting a tonne of traffic, but it’s ebbed away.

The social channels with the fancy photos and sponsored posts are starting to look samey and cliche.

Your sales and potential interest rates are horribly sporadic, and getting lower every week.

No one is engaging with your brand anymore! How can you make it fun and engaging and shiny like it was before? Was it something you did?

It’s what you, and far too many small business owners, didn’t do that’s ended up hurting you.

You didn’t put the time into figuring out your ‘WHY’.

This marketing hype is a funky little trap lots of people, myself included, have fallen into. It’s so easy to sweep all that technical, hard-thinkin’ research under the table and jump straight into the fun creative part of your business. But it’s an oversight that will always catch up with you in the end, and bite you where the sun don’t shine.

Think about it; you’ve got this awesome business idea that you love, and you know there’s competition in your industry but you’ve got a high-quality product or service, and there is definite need in the market! So on you go, with marketing copy and the press and the social media hype, but then you start finding it hard to really connect with your audience, the conversation and excitement around your brand is dying!

You keep posting and creating content that promotes your brand, ways in which it’s only a positive thing to work with you, more brand imagery and smiles.

And then there’s just the occasional promotional post or two in your social comments, and the anxiety and frustration really kicks in.

Starting with your ‘why’ solves this problem, and is essential for your future success.

Love your Why

Your ‘why’ is the literal bread and butter of your business. It gives your audience a strong, emotional reason to connect and engage with you & buy from you.

Once you fully understand why you do what you do, and the reasons or events that led you up to this point, this is the good stuff; the stuff that will resonate with your ideal audience, creating a strong emotion in them that develops an affinity for your brand.

This underlying ‘why’ is the foundation to your brand; it conveys your passion, your belief, it’s truly authentic and unique to You, and can be found nowhere else. This brand intelligence is then used throughout your marketing copy, your press releases, your social networking, using your language & your beliefs and is true to the very core of your business.

It’s a hateful buzzword, but it’s true nonetheless; authenticity is the key to a lasting, successful business. And with a powerful, authentic message (or mission even) underlying all that your brand puts out into the world, the results will be remarkable.

It builds strong relationships with effective and powerful words & images, it gives you confidence and conviction when talking to your peers and potential clients, and it gives your business heart and relatability.

Unlocking the hidden magic in your ‘why’ is the key to your success. It makes your brand human, engaging and diverse, unlocking new and powerful ways to engage with your audience. It gives you the focus to expand your business and to have a truly holistic & satisfying career.

With clarity comes confidence, and confidence breeds success. With authenticity there comes respect, and respect breeds loyalty.

Drop me an email to start figuring out your ‘why’ today, to ensure your foundations are strong, and success is on your horizon.

Your ‘why’ is powerful, so use it responsibly ;)