In his book, Start With Why, Simon Sinek writes, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”  In this case the contrast couldn’t be more stark, so I’m interested to put Sinek’s theory to the test and see if he’s right.

Will people will join GoDaddy’s mission get people to rush to their website in search of sexy pics of their spokeswomen?  Or will people join OurChurch.Com’s mission to partner with Christian organizations to achieve their mission online?  Or does “why” not matter?

I’ve had many Christians sheepishly admit to me they’ve got services with GoDaddy.  Their embarrassment tells me why does matter.

We can do better than that!  Come join a cause you can be proud of – seeing more Christian organizations achieve their mission online!

To review, Sinek says, “All the great and inspiring leaders and organizations in the world all think act and communicate in the exact same way and it’s the complete opposite of everyone else.” Almost every organization starts by telling you what they do – the feature of their product or service. Some then explain how they do it – their differentiating value proposition. Very few communicate (or even know) why they do what they do – their purpose or cause. But the inspired leaders and organizations do just the opposite. They start with why. They are looking for people who will join them in their cause.

Churches That Start With “What”

Now you might think that most churches start with why. After all, the local church has the most important cause in the universe – reconciling disconnected people to God through the love and grace of Jesus. But that’s not usually how people introduce you to their church.

More often than not an invitation to church (whether it’s a personal invitation, a radio commercial, a billboard, or the church’s website) sounds like this:

Our pastor’s teaching is biblical and practical, the music is inspiring, the children’s ministry is top-notch. We’re friendly and open to everyone. We invite you to check out a service on Sunday.

Good preaching, music, children’s ministry, and welcoming new people are all important, but they are what the church does.

Invitations like this do not inspire anyone to join your cause. This “starting with what” appeals to consumerism, to a “what’s in it for me” mindset.

People who join your church because if what it does will leave when they get tired of it or find what some other church is doing more appealing.

Churches That Start With Why

Churches that start with “why” invite people by saying things like this:

We believe God loves everyone and loves the whole person. So our purpose is help those disconnected from God to get connected, to bring healing to those who are hurting emotionally, and to help those with physical and financial needs. We do that by teaching from God’s word principles that apply to all aspects of life, by worshiping in ways that will help you connect with God, and by serving and caring for each other and for people in our community. We invite you to come on Sunday and see for yourself what God is doing through us and to see how you might join us.

Do you see the difference?

Churches that start with why invite people to join their cause.

Do you see how much more inspiring and God-honoring this is?

Which are you?

Pastors, church leaders and church communicators, I challenge you to do two things.

1) Examine at the way you are describing your church to people. Look at your invitation cards, your billboards, your website, your evangelism training curriculum and anything else which describes your church or invites others to your church. Don’t just think about them; actually look at them with your eyes. Do they start with what you do or why you do it?

2) Think back to the last time you invited someone to your church. (You do invite your friends to your church, don’t you?) Did you start with what or why?

Now, which church do you want to be – the church that sells people on services or invites people to join your mission? Do you need to change the way you describe your church?

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

While most organizations try to sell people on what they do, the truly inspiring leaders and organizations start with why and invite you to join their cause.   (It’s hard to boil an entire book and a concept this big, so read yesterday’s post if you haven’t already.)

If you’re not sold on the idea yet, you’re not alone.  It usually takes a bit of processing and discussion before a person buys into it.

Jay Guengerich, a friend of my from back in my Valpo days, is a good example. He posted an excellent comment challenging this idea:

I understand the main idea of the article, and it makes sense, but I disagree with one example. I don’t think most people who buy Apple products do so because they want to help Apple challenge the status quo. I think most people who buy Apple products do so because “it’s the cool thing to do” (status symbol) or because the products are the best fit for their requirements or because the products have a sleek design (artistic/engineering appreciation). Notice I said most, not all.

These are excellent points.

However, think about who considers Apple to be cool and why. It’s predominantly artists, musicians, innovators and younger people – people who “think different” and challenge the status quo. And they think Apple is cool because they share the same beliefs and mindset as Apple.

Chic-Fil-A fans think Chic-Fil-A is cool. Harley riders think Harley is cool. TOMS Shoes customers think TOMS is cool. People who walk 60 miles in 3 days to fight breast cancer think the Susan G. Komen Foundation is cool. The zealots at your church think your church is cool.

Cool = thinks like me.

I agree that sometimes people do buy Apple products because they are the best fit for the requirements (because of the “what.”) An organization’s “why” doesn’t resonate with everyone.

But in the book Sinek talks about how often we think we are buying “the what” – we may even give very rational reasons for why their “what” is best – but beneath the surface there are assumptions made and gut level biases. Part of the reason is because the part of our brain that makes decisions also the part that processes feelings and beliefs whereas rational thought takes place in another part of the brain. It’s quite fascinating!

Have you bought into the idea of starting with why yet?  If not, what objections do you have?

For example…

Earlier this week Apple reported record revenue and profit. How could Apple do this when so many other computer and electronics companies are struggling and in a recession no less?

How is it that Martin Luther King Jr successfully led the civil rights movement? There were lots of other people talking about civil rights for decades before he came along.

How did the Wright Brothers become the first people to achieve powered flight when there were other better educated, better funded groups pursuing the same goal?

In his book Start With Why, Simon Sinek asserts:

All the great and inspiring leaders and organizations in the world all think act and communicate in the exact same way and it’s the complete opposite of everyone else.

The Golden Circle

Almost every organization starts by telling you what they do – the feature of their product or service. Some then explain how they do it – their differentiating value proposition. Very few communicate (or even know) why they do what they do – their purpose or cause.

But the inspired leaders and organizations do just the opposite. They start with why, explain how and then communicate what.

This may seem like a trivial distinction or just a matter of process, but the difference is monumental. I’ll explain why in just a moment, but consider this example from Sinek:

If Apple were like everyone else, a marketing message from them might sound like this: “We make great computers. They’re beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. What to buy one?” That’s how most of us communicate. But it’s uninspiring.

Here’s how Apple actually communicates, “Everything we do we believe in challenging the status quo, we believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. What to buy one?”

This reveals a critical insight:

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

Sometimes…

Actually, in most cases people do buy what an organization does. Shop for a car and you’ll probably buy the one that gives you the features you want at the best price. Same goes for a camera, a restaurant or a contractor to put a new roof on your house.

It’s also true for churches. What’s the preaching like? What style is their worship? When are the services? How strong is the children’s and youth ministries? (And schools too.)

People buy the what in the absence of a compelling why.

The problem is when people buy your “what,” it’s purely a transactional relationship. If someone buys your product, joins your church or sends their child to your school because of its features, as soon as something newer with more features or more convenience comes along, they’ll jump ship.

But when people join you because of your “why” – your cause – there’s a deeper connection that goes beyond price and features.

• People pay more for Apple products because they believe in Apple’s cause of challenging the status quo.
• People pay more to eat at Chic-Fil-A because their commitment to family values resonates with them.
• People pay more for TOMS Shoes because TOMS exists to put shoes on the feet of poor kids and gives away a pair of shoes for each pair it sells.
• People will walk 60 miles over 3 days because they believe in what the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s cause to fight breast cancer.
• People will do without sports programs and fancy smart boards because they believe in a school’s vision of partnering with parents to give children a Christian educational foundation.
• People will sacrifice, serve and give to a church that doesn’t have gifted orator of a pastor or a rockstar band when they believe in that church’s mission to bring the gospel to the lost and serve its community.

I’ve tried to explain here in a few hundred words a monumental concept that Simon Sinek wrote an entire book on, but do you see how significant this is?

Start with what and you will always be competing on price and features to hold on to your customers/students/members. Start with why and you will inspire loyalty and commitment to your cause.

If you’d like to go deeper on this topic, I’ll be blogging about it over the next several days.  You can also get Start with Why on Amazon or watch this excellent 18 minute TED Talk Simon Sinek.

Other posts in this series:

• Do People Really Buy Apple Products Because of Their Why?
• Does Your Church Start with Why?

Yes, we can make a difference.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate companion, the Protect IP Act (PIPA) are intended to strengthen protections against copyright infringement and intellectual property theft, but they would be a machete for an issue that needs a scalpel. If SOPA/PIPA were to be passed by Congress any site where a user posted copyrighted material could be sued and shut down. If enacted, this legislation could bring down all social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and WordPress. It would stifle startups, creativity and online collaboration.

Even OurChurch.Com would be at risk as we could be sued or shut down if one of our 14,000 users posted a copyrighted article or song on their site.

Online piracy is a major problem. Media companies lose out on billions of dollars because (mostly) foreign companies are selling or giving away their property online without paying royalties. But SOPA and PIPA are not the answer.

What can you do?

• Help inform your friends by sharing articles like this and talking with them about SOPA/PIPA.
• Add the Stop SOPA banner to your Facebook and Twitter profile pics at blackoutsopa.org
• Call your U.S. Representative and Senator.

What are your thoughts on SOPA? What are you doing about it?

7 Resolutions for Your Website in 2012

1) Give your site a new look. If it’s been 2-3 years since you’ve changed the look of your site, it’s time. You don’t have to have the coolest, cutting edge website on the planet, but you do want to make sure your site doesn’t look behind the times.

2) Keep your website up to date all the time. Resolve to update your website at least once a week and any time there is news or announcements. You’ll probably be most successful keeping this resolution if you schedule a specific day and time to do it.

3) Optimize for search engines. Getting your site to the first page of the search results for keywords relevant to your site is a great goal for any organization. If you are just hoping for the best when it comes to search engines, you are missing out on so much potential. If your site is for a church, school, or local business, search engine optimization (SEO) services will almost more than pay for themselves with the new customers, members, and students they produce.

4) Email a newsletter. If you don’t send out a regular email newsletter, you are just hoping that people remember to come back to your site. An email newsletter is one of the few opportunities you have to proactively bring people back to your website. Your current members, visitors, or customers are the best target demographic ever, so reconnecting with them on a regular basis is one of the smartest things you could do this year.

5) Engage with social media. Resolve to take the next step with social media. Maybe that’s the first step – setting up accounts and adding links to them on your website. Maybe it’s developing for specific content and posts each day of the week. Maybe it’s time to stop broadcasting on social media and start asking questions and interacting.

6) Add to your communications team. If you are the only one managing your website and social media, you are probably holding back the potential of your website. We’re all limited in the amount of time we have to put into our websites, so one of the best things you can do is train and delegate some of the work to others. Perhaps there’s someone in your organization who would like to just update the photo galleries, do the sermon podcast, or manage the calendar. Plus to engage in social media well, you need additional contributors and people commited to sharing and engaging with you.

7) Upgrade to a Custom Site with Content Management System (CMS). If you built your website with a web builder like NE1 or if you designed it yourself with HTML or software like Dreamweaver, there is a whole ‘nother level to what you could accomplish with a custom, CMS-based website. In fact getting a CMS-based website will actually help you accomplish all 6 of the other suggested resolutions above.

Well, those are my suggestions. I’d love to hear the goals you’ve set for your website for 2012. Post ‘em in the comments.

What were your 2011 communications goals? Did you meet them?

Some of the communications highlights for us at OurChurch.Com include:

• Launching a new help desk and knowledge base
• Putting our original Beacon Web Builder out to pasture
• Doing the Less Clutter, Less Noise and @StickyJesus group blog projects
• Launching the new OurChurch.Com website (Have you seen it?)

What were your top communications accomplishments of 2011?

Did you start anything new?  End something old?  Take something to the next level?  Communicate more effectively in a clearly quantifiable way?  Got any stories to tell of how good communications made a difference in your organization?

Here are 5 noteworthy insights from the survey.

1) People are reading more blogs and reading them more frequently.

51% of respondands said the number of blogs they read has gone up compared with 21% who said it went down. 44% of respondants said they read blogs somewhat or much more frequently than 2 years ago compared with 21% who said they read blogs somewhat or much less frequently Additionally 53% said reading blogs has become more important over the last 2 years compared with 28% who said it’s become less important.

2) People read blogs in a wide variety of ways.

When asked about the primary way they read blog posts, 26% said in an RSS reader, 23% said by visiting the blog when they think of it, 20% click links in Twitter, 16% by email, 5% click links in Facebook, and 10% said “other.” What’s striking is how evenly distributed the numbers are. No one method got more than 26%. That shows how important it is to distribute blog posts in a multitude of channels and give people as many subscribe options as possible.

3) People want insight.

Of all the factors we asked about, that a blog be informative/insightful was considered most important. 82% indicated it’s important or very important that a blog be informative/insightful. 61% consider the connection developed with the author to be important or very important. Funny or entertaining was important or very important to 47%. Friendships and interactions with other readers was rated important or very important by only 26%

4) Blogs have grown in marketing clout.

Of those respondants that write blogs, 44% indicated blogging is a very or extremely important communication/marketing tool. 48% said blogging has become somewhat or much more important over the last 2 years compared with 15% who said somewhat or much less important.

5) Company blogs influence purchases.

31% of respondants said they had started reading a blog published by a company and then later decided to purchase products or services from that company. 63% said reading a company’s blog made them somewhat or much more likely to purchase from that company.

Before we draw any conclusions, note that this was an online survey. The sample was not randomly selected and therefore the results are not scientific.

With that caveat, the survey results support the conclusion that over the last couple of years blogging has become fully embraced as mainstream. Blogs are an important source of information and insight for individuals. And because they build trust and influence purchasing decisions, blogging has become an important part of the communications and marketing strategy for organizations.

What are your thoughts on the survey?  How have your opinions and habits regarding blogs change over the last couple of years?

11) Blog Tip #4: Lead Your Niche <– State of the Blogging Universe Series

So, on behalf of all of us at OurChurch.Com I just want to say thank you.

Thanks to all of you who do the unheralded behind the scenes work of updating websites, designing graphics, editing videos and writing copy to make your organization’s communications the best you can possibly make it.

Thanks to all of you who write blog posts and engage people on social networks in an effort to bring the hope and light of Jesus Christ to your friends and contacts online.

Thanks to all of you who help others communicate more effectively by contributing your insight in comments on this blog and sharing blog posts about communication on Facebook and Twitter.

And a special thanks to all of you who have given us the opportunity to provide you with web hosting, custom website solutions, search engine optimization and Christian advertising. You could go with a cheap, secular option but you believe as we do in working with a Christian organization that shares your beliefs, values and commitment to Christ. OurChurch.Com exists to help Christian organizations achieve their mission online. Thank you for the privilege of helping you achieve your mission online!

Please pass this along to the rarely thanked communicators you know, including those on your communications team.