“Why?” A question we ask as young children, sometimes to annoy our parents, but most of the time because we actually have no clue why some things are the way that they are.
I think it’s easy as adults to look at our little cousins or nieces and nephews and laugh when they continuously ask, “But why?” We just shake our head and answer, “Because.” But the little ones may actually be on to something.
As public relations professionals, we live every day by the ‘why.’ The reasoning behind the decisions we make is important, just as the reasons our clients want certain goals are important. Therefore, it is our job to ask our clients and our internal team this seemingly simple question, even before we start to focus on the tactics.
I think it is easy to hear the goals we hope to accomplish and the tasks we want to achieve and immediately dig into the little details. But it’s important to take a step back and ask, “Why do we want to accomplish these particular goals?”
From an entrepreneurial mindset, focusing on the tactics before the ‘why’ in public relations is like focusing on the product before doing any research when creating a startup company.
Many folks think they have found that next big product that will change everything. Well, maybe so, but why would people want to buy it? Is there a market for it? What does the research say? In our case, the ‘why’ is part of our research.
At P&G, we ask ourselves why, with every client project we encounter, with every press release we send out and with every social graphic we create. Why? Because we want to make an impact and deliver results.
