Don't Copy Someone's WHAT Without Knowing Their WHY

We have discussions with our clients and brands regularly, where our client comes to us with a suggestion of something we should try for them, and in the initial process of putting together the marketing campaign, we ask them why.

As a marketing agency, it's always our job to have a purpose behind any marketing initiative or campaign we create. There must be a "why" to create a solid campaign. Otherwise, it'll go nowhere and achieve nothing.

Because... why? Why should customers care? They definitely won't if you can't answer that question.

Don't Copy the What of Other Brands Without Knowing the Why

The amount of times lately I've had brands respond, "Because we've seen another brand do it"...

Do not copy the "what" of other brands without knowing the "why".

Every brand should have their own "why" for their own campaigns.

I can look at certain marketing campaigns from brands and tell when they were just copying what they saw other brands doing, but missing the point.

It tends to look soulless, directionless, shallow, or misguided or worse, it confuses your brand because it doesn't align with your previous messaging.

Find Your Own Why

Since our marketing agency works in the spirits industry and works with hundreds of brands a year, we do get asked a lot about what works for other brands. Our answer is simple: what works for a brand is what works for a brand.

Your brand needs your own why. It needs your own reason for putting out certain content over others. And in the end, that "why" needs to resonate with your own customers.

Ask the Customer Why

If you struggle to answer the "why" for a marketing campaign, it's time to go straight to the source: the customer.

Because at the end of the day, every marketing campaign is made for the customer, right? That's just good marketing.

We can't encourage brands enough to run open-ended question surveys to their customers asking what they think about their products.

Get it in the customer's words exactly why they love the product. That'll give you enough fodder to craft your marketing campaigns' "why".

An example: we have run surveys for a lot of our brands. One whiskey brand had a customer say that they loved drinking the whiskey neat when they got home while grilling dinner for their partner.

Holy crap, if that isn't marketing gold. As the content creation agency for this brand, our next step was to create a video and photos of someone grilling with the whiskey bottle sitting nearby.

That video ended up being one of their best performing ads for a while.

The Brands That Succeed Know Their "Why"

The brands that figure this out are the ones that are the most successful. We've seen it over and over again. They outlive trends and fads. They outlive other brands that struggle when the market changes.

Build your brand's foundation on a solid "why" that resonates with your customer.

Don't copy trends. Set them.

Don't follow others. Lead.

And all of that starts with answering the question, "Why?"