Chris Guillebeau had a great post today called Start with something to say.

In it, he recounts a situation in which a publishing executive answered the question of how to start with getting a book published with a litany of items that were important. Chris was surprised that the last thing a publishing executive cited as what you need to do when you want to write a book is to figure out what you have to say. Chris contends (as do I), that this should be the first thing to consider, not the last.

One point that resonated with me was:

Nevertheless, I also think it’s fairly apparent that a lot of people work on all kinds of things before coming to that all-important question: what do you have to say? What’s the point of this exercise, and who will ultimately be helped by it?

This, to me, goes hand in hand with Merlin Mann’s post entitled, “First, Care. It’s a great essay that explains that the first step to nearly everything is to care. Care about the outcome, care about the process, care about something or you’ll struggle to do something that matters.

Businesses can learn from this

One thing that nearly every business can take from these two great posts is that it’s critically important to do the background work. If you’re going to offer a product, service, anything, you need to take all the steps preceding that launch if you want it to succeed. Answer questions like:

• Is this something the market would want?
• Do we care enough about this to do it right?
• What do we have to say about this that hasn’t already been said?
• Why should anyone care about this?

Taking those steps for a business is just as important as it is for an individual.

Marketing has become so much more about spreading passion and excitement than it ever has been in the past. Well, at least good marketing has.

The products that spread, the ideas that are adopted and the companies that succeed will increasingly need to care about more than just profits and have something to say other than, “Buy, buy, buy,” if they want to keep up with the changes we see every day.

You won’t find those messages, products or services that will resonate with people unless you don’t first consider why they should care and what you have to say that will explain to them why it matters to them.