That’s what gets results
If you can remember 1982, chances are you’ll remember the catchy top-ten ear worm from Banarama. It’s a simple song. Each chorus has three bursts of “T’aint what you do it’s the way that you do it” before rounding itself out with “That’s what gets results”.
So why are you reading about an 80s pop-band in a blog from New Zealand Story? Because the same theory applies when building a brand. And if you’re looking to maximise the potential of your business, then it ain’t what you do it’s the why that you do – that’s what gets results.
What you do matters. Why matters more.
Without knowing your business, we know that what you do or deliver is something that’s valuable to your customers. We know this, because it’s obvious. If you didn’t deliver value, you wouldn’t be in business. But what you do is entry level. Clearly communicating why you do it can help identify less tangible, more emotional benefits that drive up the value of your product. And if you’re taking on the best of the world, you need all the extra benefits you can find.
Food is just fuel. With benefits.
To better understand the theory, think Lamb. New Zealand Lamb has been an important export commodity of ours for around a hundred years. But why would people buy our lamb? Lamb is just lamb, right? Wrong. New Zealand lamb is carefully farmed on some of the best farmland in the world by farmers who not only care for the welfare of their animals and environment but for the people who consume the product. It’s better lamb. The farming process makes it taste better. It’s ‘New Zealandness’ helps it sell better. There are layers upon layers of tangible and intangible benefits in New Zealand lamb – and that’s what gets results.
Think Maslow applied to marketing
If you remember Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it talks to the layering of basic needs, psychological needs and a pinnacle of ‘self-actualisation’. Brand building is similar. First, you have the basic ‘functional’ needs of your product. If it’s food it needs to taste good. If it’s a service, chances are you’ll be saving people time or money. Whatever your product the functional baseline is that it does what you say it will do.
From there you have an emotional layer. The reasons why someone would buy your product ahead of its competition. These needs layer up to a pinnacle of evangelism where customers wouldn’t consider any other product, regardless of functional or emotional benefits. Think Apple.
That’s why we have a New Zealand Story
New Zealand has an exceptional reputation overseas. It’s driven by the clear understanding that New Zealanders care for our land and our people, we do the right thing (even when no one is looking) and we are bold enough to think outside the box and explore fresh ideas and new perspectives. When properly expressed, these values of Kaitiaki, Integrity and Ingenuity can help lift our products above their international competitors and create value for New Zealand businesses like yours – and New Zealand as a country.
If you trade on the inherent ‘New Zealandness’ of your product, the New Zealand Story can really help you identify and celebrate the why of what you do. It’s an essential difference that can help you drive value way beyond your rational benefits to deliver a premium product.
The secret is starting with why
What you do is easy to define. We make cars, we export lamb, we craft premium skincare. Because it’s easy, many marketers start and finish there. But the biggest success stories always begin with why. Global strategist Simon Sinek talks about putting why at the centre of what you do. Thinking globally, Tesla aren’t just about cars, they have a vision to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. Their why is front and centre in every interaction – and it’s the reason people have bought their cars before they’re even manufactured.
While it’s not easy to identify your why, once you’ve got it, you’ll never look back. More importantly, if you get it right, your customers will buy the why. Lamb is just lamb until it’s New Zealand lamb. Shoes for kids were just shoes for kids until Bobux found their why in caring for children’s growing feet.
- YouTubeLooking to find your why? We can help
If you explore our toolkit, New Zealand Story have resources, images and how-to guides that can help you talk to the inherent values of New Zealandness. We also run regular workshops to help you lift the lid on your business and unlock the secret power of why. And if you’re already exporting, it’s worth reading more about how the FernMark can connect your customers back to the best of New Zealand and take your brand to the next level.
Remember, even though customers may buy what you do, they will pay more, buy more and tell all of their friends to join the tribe if they connect with your reason why. It’s not what you do, it’s the why that you do it. That’s what gets results.