To Book, Call 503-970-3862

Simon Sinek starts with why. Not what.

The author, marketing consultant and motivational speaker best known for developing “The Golden Circle” shared some of his thinking at a regional TED conference in 2010.

Sinek says we communicate from the outside in. We go from the clearest thing to the fuzziest thing (in other words, from what to how to why). But inspired leaders and inspired organizations, regardless of their size or industry, all think, act and communicate from the inside out. For example, Sinek says Apple Computer begins everything they do with an answer to the question why.

Why: In everything Apple does, they believe in challenging the status quo. They believe in thinking differently.

How: The way Apple challenges the status quo is by making products that are beautifully designed, simple to use and user-friendly.

What: Apple just happens to make great computers. Want to but one?

He adds that “people do not buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” Which explains why we’re comfortable buying a computer from Apple, as well as an MP3 player, a phone, a DVR, etc. We’re buying Apple’s reason why, and we trust that they will disrupt the market with a better product or service, every time.

Naturally, this got me thinking about Bonehook’s reason why and AdPulp’s reason why, and also my reason why as a literary writer. When you start with what, there’s the fact that I am a professional writer and thus can be employed to produce various pieces of writing. But start from the why, and the story deepens.

Here’s Bonehook’s “Why | How | What” rundown:

Why: There are noise makers on every corner — we help brands make meaning.

How: By exploring the mutual points of interest that naturally exist between a brand and its prospects and customers, we’re able to create something better than the flat, one-way messaging of old.

What: A professional services provider specializing in brand identity and content marketing.

ShareTweetShare via email

I was talking to a new friend the other day and she mentioned to me how she perceived another agency in town through the lens of the agency’s website. She felt that they had an inflated sense of themselves, largely based on the artsy portraits of staff that feature prominently.

I asked her what she saw in Bonehook.com and she said, “I see a straight forward approach.”

Maybe she was being nice, I don’t know. Let me ask you, what do you see here? Is it crystal clear what the offering is? Because it has to be crystal clear, for this site to be an effective part of the Bonehook brand strategy. For the record, the offering is two-fold: “we” build brands for small businesses and “I” write copy for agencies and brands.

According to Google Analytics, a fair bit of traffic to this site comes from Bonehook’s listing on Portland Creative List. From that listing a number of people inquire about jobs, which we do not presently offer. Bonehook is me (a copywriter/creative director/brand strategist) and the perfect mix of contractors for any given project. Or it’s just me, writing copy for you. You decide.

Portland Creative List also serves up unsolicited Requests for Proposals. And direct mail from printers, cold calls from various service providers, and so on. You hang a shingle, people knock on the door.

Last fall’s Adweek article about strange agency names — Bonehook’s first major earned media score — continues to deliver a number of curious clickers too. Gotta love evergreen content.

Wherever visitors migrate from, or soon bounce to, I hope they pause long enough to consider these offerings of text. Words. Copy. Content. I’m a writer and I like to put the product on display. I also have faith in the the form. By reading these words, you get to know me a bit better, and after a while you may come to trust me and my advise more.

In addition, I see Bonehook as a journey and and a journey is something to joyfully share. A lot of agencies are too busy or too scared to open up and showcase their process, or total lack of process, as the case may be. Instead, they rely on tightly packaged case studies, white papers and/or instructional pieces on the agency blog meant to showcase expertise. I understand the need for that kind of formality, but I also believe there’s a need to loosen up when it comes to one’s own narrative. Therefore, I’m making an effort to expose our practices here, our victories and our stumbles. I don’t know if I can make the mundane interesting, but that’s the goal.

ShareTweetShare via email

Content marketing. Everyone wants some.

But David Spark of Spark Media Solutions cautions that few of the agencies busy peddling their “content marketing” expertise have the necessary chops to make that claim.

Yes, ad agencies and PR firms without a seasoned editorial staff can physically create media, but it’s like hiring a general practitioner when you need a specialist.

I’m sure I’ll get a lot of heat for this comment as many ad agencies and PR firms are basing a lot of their new business on content marketing. I’m all for that, just as long as they have an experienced staff to do it. That requires hiring people who have worked in traditional journalistic media, not just giving new responsibilities to staffers who don’t have the experience or training. Traditional media is very different from creating ad copy.

I agree that writing ad copy and producing brand-sponsored content require different approaches, and that a background in journalism is helpful to content producers on the agency dime. However, speaking from my own experience, the two practices can be performed by the same person, or team. Just like a gifted guitar player can pick up the banjo and/or mandolin and sound great, a writer grounded in both advertising and content can weave a story in both venues, and move from one to the other without a hitch.

For me, it’s about intent. Great advertising reveals a core truth about the product or service in a fresh, “why didn’t I think of that?” fashion. Through strategic and repeated media placements, the new idea gets adopted by prospects and brand value is created. Brand-sponsored content, on the other hand, often has a very loose connection, or no connection at all, to the product or service in question. Content’s intent is to inform or entertain. When it’s done right, content is a gift.

Direct and brand advertising come with an ask; therefore, advertising is often an unwelcome intrusion, not a gift. Once you understand the difference, and you have real world experience creating both ads and content for brands, there’s no reason both services can’t live under one roof (as they do at Bonehook).

By the way, here I am getting the News pages together at The College Reporter in Lancaster, PA, circa 1984:

ShareTweetShare via email

“If we are any good at what we do, we believe, then we should not have to talk people into hiring us.” -Blair Enns, author of Win Without Pitching

It’s a new year and from a business perspective a time to make annual assessments and projections. I’ve been doing what we all do, looking at income from last year, how many clients we served (ten!) and what clients were most profitable.

I’ve also been looking at how to accelerate the company in 2012 and what kind of advanced learning opportunities are available to me. While I already know that sales is service and success in sales is dependent on relationships, Blair Enns, a business development consultant to creative firms, is helping me to see what else selling is and how to best practice it today.

Proper selling can be distilled into three steps, based on the client’s place in the buying cycle. These three steps replace the art of persuasion.

To sell is to:

1. Help the unaware

2. Inspire the interested

3. Reassure those who have formed intent

In other words, new business development isn’t something persuaders do. It’s something educators and motivators do.

Enns is also a big believer in using thought leadership to establish one’s expertise. When you’re clearly the one person, or one firm that’s right for the job, a.k.a the clear expert, you win without pitching.

Of course, it’s not always possible to win without pitching. That’s why other more traditional sales gurus advise Biz Dev pros to “tie your solution to a pending regulation or other impending event” or “align the solution to a strategic objective.”

Speaking of aligning the solution to a strategic objective, I recently started using the free version of Capsule CRM, and am happy to report that it’s a nifty piece of software that helps me see what’s in the sales pipeline and how much revenue is on the line. If you need a similar Salesforce-like tool, give it a spin.

ShareTweetShare via email

One of the things I get excited about is hiring friends to help me tell a brand’s story. I’m currently working with two friends on a web refresh project. One of these friends, Scott Baker, is a high school history teacher by day and a photographer by night. He also loves soccer, so he was the ideal person to call when Portland Indoor Soccer needed some new images.

These two shots (and dozens more) will be featured on the newly reconstructed PDXIndoorSoccer.com when it launches.

ShareTweetShare via email