10 years later and Apple is still completely focused on why their business exists.

Since what Sinek identified was a universal pattern behind consumer choice. Below we explain how the theory of ‘why’ will improve your 2019 marketing campaigns.

Engage your brand

In a nutshell, marketing exists to improve the standard of living and welfare of everyone, not to make people spend money. This might sound a little grandiose but bear with us. Marketing is the act of solving someone’s problem. It’s not a magic trick or a scam. It’s about identifying a group of people that will benefit from using your product or service. After all, the happiest and most comfortable customers to retain will be the ones that feel the biggest impact from engaging with your brand.

For example, there are 1,000s of businesses in Stoke-on-Trent. Can you name them all? No one can. What we do is remember the best ones. Or the ones that are best for us. Taking time to work on the ‘why’ at the core of your brand will reveal the best target market for your business.

Decide who your brand is best for

The relentless pursuit of mass will make your brand boring because this means average. Consider if you could positively influence 30 people’s perspective of your brand. You’d no doubt be choosey. Like a kid in a sweet shop, it might even be difficult. What’s the minimum number of people you would need to influence to make 2019 a success?

Overwhelm this group with your care, your attention, and your focus. So that it’s impossible for them not to feel the value of your brand. Finally, make them a promise that they cannot imagine living or working without.

Make a promise to your target market

Your promise needs to be targeted and tailored to the people whose lives you want to influence and the group you seek to engage. With enough investment, you might be able to ‘reach’ everyone. However, without the right ‘why’ you have very little chance of influencing them. What you need to do is identify those whose problems you can solve and find a way to group them. Once you know this, you can begin to define a specific set of beliefs or principals that are shared by your target market.

Be specific

Specific is brave. Get it right, and it will generate user buy-in. Stoke-on-Trent is an ocean of products and services. What you need to do is find your swimming pool. With complete focus position your entire brand offering around this small group of individuals. Be their best choice for solving their most significant problems. Once this works find another possibly bigger swimming pool and apply the same focus and care.