Finish with WHY
This is the penultimate post in my series on how to find your agency niche. The last 3 articles have focussed on refining your target audience (WHO), communicating the value you deliver (WHAT) and using your approach to differentiate your offer (HOW). In this piece, I’m going to look at the core purpose or mission (your WHY).
These posts are as much about crafting an effective Value Proposition as they are about becoming a niche agency. Finding your agency niche is not a particularly effective growth strategy on its own. You must find your agency niche and communicate it effectively. That’s where the Value Proposition comes in.
People are often surprised at my approach to creating a Value Proposition. The likes of author Simon Sinek have popularised the opinion that you should start – not finish – with WHY. I understand this view of course. If you, as an agency owner, already have a clear purpose that clients will find engaging and motivating then, by all means, start your Value Proposition or pitch with your WHY.
Unfortunately, I find that many agency owners don’t have such clarity of their purpose. Rather than starting with WHY, I find that crafting a Value Proposition in the order that I’ve described can be a more productive, and less frustrating, exercise. It also usually leads to a deeper understanding of what makes the agency and its owners tick.
Why are we here?
If you’re an entrepreneur, then chances are you started in business for a number of reasons. That said, the primary objective for most is financial reward. To make a profit.
Whilst this is usually the core reason, people have different levels of ambition. Some want to make millions, others just want to make enough to support themselves and their families. In addition to income, many entrepreneurs want to build a business that has value. A value that at some point they can realise through a sale or exit.
There are other reasons for starting and running a business beyond the financial aspects of course. Doing something you love, being in control of your own destiny, greater flexibility or even simple necessity can all come into play.
Many entrepreneurs start with an idea for a business or product that they believe is either new, revolutionary or has untapped potential. They have the drive to create something or to exploit specific market potential.
Whilst agency founders are no different from other business owners, I find the most common reason for agency founders to start an agency is control. To utilise and build on their skills in order to serve clients and create/deliver work that they can call their own. To be masters of their own destiny rather than work for an established agency. To do what they love in the way that they want to do it.
Starting out
Establishing any business is challenging, but starting out in the marketing agency sector is easier than many industries. There are few barriers to entry to the agency market. Little capital investment is required. No formal qualifications are necessary. Agencies can be created quickly. In some cases, they can even evolve from a founder establishing themselves first as a freelancer(s).
This ease of entry is a great thing, but it does leave me to reflect that many agency owners are not driven by a big vision. Their business goals are personal to them and not usually invested in creating a new product or re-shaping an industry. They have a desire to create great work and results for their clients of course. However, as these clients are usually ill-defined (see WHO), painting a vision for what long-term impact the agency wishes to achieve can be hard to do. Capturing such a vision in a way that delivers impact and meaning to prospects is usually even more challenging.
Whatever the reason(s), it’s vital for growth that an agency has a clear mission and compelling WHY. Whether it’s expressed at the start, middle or end, your WHY is the beating heart of an effective Value Proposition.
Why is this important?
Having a purpose or WHY you do what you do is incredibly important in business today Not that its a modern concept. The 19th Century German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche said, ‘He who has a why can endure any how.’
Why you do what you do, and why it should matter to your clients, team and the wider world is more important than ever. It’s a vital part of attracting clients, recruiting and retaining staff. It’s integral to marketing, managing and developing a niche agency.
Your WHY is actually important to 3 groups of people:
1. Clients – I’ve spent a lot of time in this series emphasising that the focus of the Value Proposition is communicating the benefits of your niche agency offer to clients. Having a strong mission (WHY) gives clients a reason to believe. It creates an opportunity for clients to understand and start to develop an emotional connection with your business. Crucially it helps your agency stand out from the competition.
2. Colleagues – The main focus of a Value Proposition is to engage clients. There are, however, a group of very important people that you also need to keep engaged. Your team. Helping your people stay on track, motivated and loyal to your agency is increasingly difficult as competition for talent is intense. A strong WHY clearly communicated is vital in keeping your team engaged with your business. I find this is particularly powerful in a niche agency where some members of the team may not understand the importance of working in a niche. Your WHY is particularly important for employees who are Millenials. It is generally accepted that younger people need to feel connected to something beyond the company bottom line to make their best contributions. Millennials crave purposeful work i.e. they will work hard to make the agency profitable if they understand and engage with the purpose behind its work. This purpose must extend beyond the pursuit of profit.
3. You (the agency owner/leader) – Last but not least, your WHY must motivate you as an agency owner. As I noted earlier, starting an agency is relatively easy, but I know from personal experience that running an agency is tough. Having a clear purpose to guide you and influence your decision-making is as useful for you as the agency principal, as it is to your team.
How to find your WHY
The most effective WHY’s are born not created or manufactured. In other words, the agency purpose is ideally borne out of the personal beliefs and vision of the agency owner(s).
Finding your WHY, therefore, demands quite a lot of reflection and maybe even some soul-searching. It should be influenced by the beliefs, values and aspirations of the agency owner(s).
How this plays out is, of course, itself influenced by the number of founders involved and the size and maturity of the agency. If its a relatively small or young agency with few shareholders then the WHY should naturally be heavily guided by the vision of the owner. If the agency is more mature and larger with an established culture, whilst the founder’s input remains a priority, the WHY might be shaped more by a wider group and take into account established culture and wider context.
When I’m helping a niche agency client define their WHY, I encourage them to consider 4 areas…
1. What do you/your agency enjoy doing?
What energises the agency?
What drains it?
Does what excites your people, also excite your clients (and vice-versa)?
Why do people join your business?
Why do people stay?
Do you excel at innovation or change or do you enjoy predictability, order and delivering proven processes?
2. What are your core strengths?
What things do you always do?
What do you rarely or never do?
Are you a creator/innovator or a builder/maintainer? Does your agency like to make a difference in a short space of time or have a bigger impact over a longer period of time?
Do you make your money from your core strengths? If not, why not?
3. When are you at your best?
Where do you add your greatest value? N.B. You add the greatest value where you solve the greatest client problems.
What type of client personalities get you more enthused about what you’re doing than others?
What is driving you to be the best (insert type of agency here) you can be?
Are you best at strategy and/or new ideas or do you excel at delivery, data or analytics?
4. How will you measure your impact?
What are you fighting for?
What does success look like for your agency? How will you know when you’ve achieved it?
What future are you trying to create (for your agency, clients and the wider world)?
How do you want to be remembered as an agency? What will be your legacy?
How does your agency contribute to the wider world?
What are you passionate about or frustrated by?
Bring it all together
Before integrating it into your Value Proposition, you should create a purpose statement to describe your WHY…
- Most purpose statements start with “To”.
- Choose words that suggest positive action.
- Keep it short. Don’t overcomplicate it.
Does this statement resonate with you and your team? Does it make sense to existing clients? Will it engage new prospects and new people?
Summary
The pursuit of growth and a profitable agency is what keeps many of us coming in to work each day. But what is your big vision (beyond making money)?
Your success is really measured by the impact you have on the world around you. This is WHY you exist and is certainly why many clients and most of your people want to work with you.
This is the final building block of a powerful Value Proposition and the key to exploiting an agency niche.
