Blog Post 1 - our new website
Re-Design Website – how to create a “fantastic time” over a digital tool?
Why should we re-design a good website? We got a lot of good feedback about our website. The start three years ago was great, we got a lot of clicks and helpful feedback. “well done” “nice pictures” “easy to read” were the comments we had. During the last 3 years, we also got suggestions, what we could change on the website. “No, you cannot book activities online.” “Sorry, we have no blog,” and “as soon as possible, we will add good stories on the website.” These answers repeated more often. Well, the pandemic hysteria in the whole world did throw us back to the ground. From one day to the other, we had to face the challenge with empty rooms, no activities, and the never-ending thoughts in the head. What now? What if the business will not come back? No guests – no business – no fantastic time. Neither for the guests and not for us. No Husky cuddling. No smiling guests and happy travelers. What if we get sick?
After a few days of stiffness in shock, withing the feeling of frozen thoughts, even when the days get warmer, external determination and no ideas, we tried to change our mindset. “let us try to improve,” “what if we would move out even better of this crazy situation?” Yes, everybody wants that. But how? We started to analyze all the feedback we had from the guests during the last years. What are the best three things we do, what are the worst? How does a guest feel when he spends time here? What does he say looking at our website? Does he find what he is looking for? What is missing, and what could we do better? So, why is he choosing NORRSKEN LODGE? Why do we do what we do?
I remembered one of the great things I have learned during my career as a manager of a global company. “Start with why!”
Have you ever started your day with “why”? Why are you doing what you are doing? Why should someone choose a specific brand, service, product, or job? What is the core motivation, and where does it come from? What is the physical explanation of the “why” process?
One of the most motivating books I have ever read is “start with why” from Simon Sinek. He is a British-American author and motivational speaker, and organizational consultant. He is the author of four books, including “Start With Why.” Let me share some of his thoughts with you. I am glad if you like it.
Assume You Know
The first chapter of “Start With Why” dives into the assumptions we make and the impact they have on our actions. Sinek gives examples of scenarios were looking at the bigger picture can shape your behavior towards driving long-term results. Take the classic example of American car manufacturers versus the Japanese. In American car factories, workers on the assembly line apply final fixes on doors using a rubber mallet, whereas, in Japan, the doors are engineered to fit perfectly from the start.
This is also a metaphor for leadership. There are two types of leaders: those who decide to manipulate to get to the end result, and those who start with the end result in mind and let everything else naturally fall into place.
What does that mean for us? If we start with “fantastic time,” which obviously is our leading vision, our aim, fixed on the logo. How do you create an even more fantastic time? Notes have been made.
Carrots and Sticks
According to Sinek, there are two ways to attract customers: inspiring the carrots or manipulating the sticks. Most of the sales tactics used by businesses today involve manipulation. These include price, promotions, fear, aspirations, peer pressure, and novelty. Pricing and promotions are the most identified forms of sales manipulation. Still, worry, aspirations, peer pressure, and innovation tend to be more discrete. This had never a more significant understanding than in these times of pandemic fears and the manipulation done by the media.
Regardless of the type of manipulation, it is essential to understand these are short-term solutions that end up leading to a cycle of repeated manipulation. Continuing too far down this path will impact long-term success, but there is another way that is revealed further down in chapter three.
The Golden Circle
The core of Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why” is his discovery of The Golden Circle. There are three parts of The Golden Circle: Why, How, and What.
Why: Very few people or companies can clearly articulate why they do what they do. This isn’t about running a profitable company—that’s a result. Why is it all about your purpose? Why does your company exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?
How: Some people and companies know how they do what they do. Whether you call them a ‘’ differentiating value proposition’’ or a ‘’unique selling proposition,’’ HOWs are often given to explain how something is different or better.
What: Every single company on the planet knows what they do. This is true no matter how big or small the company is, or no matter what industry they belong to. Everyone can easily describe the products or services their company sells or the job function they have within the company.
When we start with “Why,” we go from the inside out of the circle. “Why” is the reason to buy and the “Whats” merely represent the tangible products as proof of that belief. “Whats” are the reasons we can point to rationalize why we so much like a company over another.
Simon Sinek cites the example of Apple. In his opinion, Apple is technically no different from its competitors. But Apple communicates from the “Why.” Apple’s “Why” is to challenge the status quo and empower the individual. And their challenging the status quo is a pattern repeating in all they say and do, which is the reason why people perceive Apple as authentic.
This Is Not Opinion, This Is Biology
Chapter four begins by focusing on human nature’s desire to belong. This desire drives us to pursue others who share the same “Why” as us. And oddly enough, the Golden Circle matches the way our brain operates.
Neocortex: Our neocortex corresponds with the “What” level. This is responsible for all our rational and analytical thought and language. This allows us to look through vast amounts of facts and figures, but it doesn’t drive behavior.
Limbic Brain: The middle two sections make up our limbic brain and are responsible for all of our feelings, like trust and loyalty. This roughly corresponds with the “Why” level. This area of the brain is responsible for all human behavior and all our decision making.
We want to be around people and organizations who are like us and share our beliefs.
When companies start with “Why,” with what they believe, they will tap into our innate drive to include those products as symbols of our values and beliefs. They make us feel special like we belong to something bigger, and we feel a sense of tribe affiliation with all the others buying the same products.
Most companies generally start with “Whats” and “Hows” because that’s what their customers ask for. They beg for excellent quality, low price, 24-hour service, and lots of features.
And it’s all scientifically sounding because it’s based on data. But according to Simon Sinek, that’s a load of baloney. The part of the brain controlling decision making is different from the part of the brain reporting back “Why” that decision happened. So all those focus groups and questionnaires are probably of little value.
Quoting Henry Ford, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.”
Clarity, Discipline, and Consistency
The three degrees of certainty:
When we can only point to tangible elements or objective measurements, the highest level of the confidence we can give is: “I think this is the right decision.”
When we make gut decisions, the highest level of confidence we can offer is: the decision feels right, even if it flies in the face of all the facts and figures.
The ability to put a “Why” into words provides the emotional context for decisions. When you know your “Why,” the highest level of confidence you can offer is: “I know its right.” When you see the decision is right, not only does it feel right, but you can also rationalize it and quickly put it into words.
The goal of a business should not be to do business with anyone who simply wants what you have. It should be to focus on the people who believe what you believe, and we believe in a “fantastic time” for everyone.
The Emergency of Trust
Trust begins to emerge when we see that people and organizations are driven by reasons that go beyond the self-serving. Aligning Why, How, and What is a way to build that trust.
“What” and differentiation
Companies that act like commodity producers have a constant challenge to differentiate themselves from the competition. Chasing the championship, trying to match them feature-for-feature only deepens the “What” culture.
“Why” and flexibility
Because consumers are inspired by “Why” you do what you do, companies that begin communicating with the “Why” have greater flexibility in the market. Take the example of Apple and Dell. Apple makes computers. Apple also makes iPads and iPhones.
Dell, on the other hand, is defined by “What” they do. Dell does computers, so consumers don’t feel comfortable buying anything else from them like say, a tablet, or a smartphone. They tried expanding into different verticals but quickly retreated to “focus on their core business.”
Simon Sinek also cites the First Mover Advantage when “Why” is in the picture. Take the case of Creative versus Apple. Creative was far more capable of producing an mp3 player, and they were the first. But they marketed their offering as a “5GB mp3 player”, more like a “What.” Instead, Apple sold the iPod as “1000 songs in your pocket,” giving us the “Why” that we need.
Why do you choose NORRSKEN LODGE? Because you can get a “fantastic time” here. We talk about the feeling you have when you meet the huskies when you kiss a moose when you drive the snowmobile the first time thru the frozen woods at the polar circle or look into the eyes of the magical reindeer walking out of the white forest.
But how can we transport that feeling over a digital website? That was the challenge we had. We wanted to share that feeling with you over pictures, videos, and stories. That’s why we tried to make the excellent website more emotional, closer to your why, and motivating to spend time in this beautiful region of Sweden.
Communication is about Listening
Symbols help us turn the intangible into tangible. And the only reason symbols have meaning is because we give them meaning. A logo can only become a symbol when it inspires people to use it to say something about who they are.
Take the example of Harley Davidson: Harley Davidson embodies the values and lifestyle of the people wearing it. The symbol is no longer about Harley Davidson. Instead, the logo represents an entire value set—their own. The symbol is no longer about Harley, it’s about the people who love Harley Davidsons for what they are.
We tried this method in our logo. The NORRSKEN LODGE logo should be able to show you what you can explore and get and how you feel about it. Reindeers, vast forest, beautiful river, and underneath the most significant salmon run in western Europe. All covered in northern lights. “fantastic time” is what we want to create for you.
The New Competition
When you’re up against the world, competing with everyone else, no one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you.
Now let’s think about how we do business. We’re always competing against someone else. Better quality. More features. Better service. We’re always comparing ourselves to the competition. And no one wants to help us.
What if we showed up to work every single day to be better than ourselves? For no better reason than to want to leave the organization in a better state than we found it?
Many organizations start with “Why,” but only the great ones keep their “Why” bright year after year. Those who forget “Why” they were founded show up to the race every day to outdo someone else instead of beating themselves.
Well, we know our weakness. The hotel is nice, but not modern. The cabins are old and need renovation. We did some of them new, and they are super nice, but this creates a massive proportion of investment. It takes time. We only can spend what we earn. The restaurant could be more beautiful. What we can do is creating a unique atmosphere, a great feeling, a fantastic time. Giving you a warm smile when you come here. We spend as much time as possible with you to learn about your needs, wishes, and probably dreams. We serve good food for a fair price, and we listen to you.
We are your best competition, and therefore, we are not afraid to do good things better. What is right, what could be better? Also realizing, that the digital world increases dramatically in these days of distancing ourselves from others. From the ability to go out and shop whenever and whatever you want. We want to transport the feeling of a “fantastic time” over the digital channels as well. Therefore, we have integrated most activities to the website. Easy to look at it, easy to shop. We want to share the stories with you. The stories of other guests. What do they say, how did they feel? The best way of doing this is over pictures and videos. The website offers you also the opportunity to shop a product, one which does bring the memory back when you have been here. Or one, which gives you wanderlust. In the end, you also find a blog, where you can find actual stories and learn about exciting times on NORRSKEN LODGE.
Just one click away from your “fantastic time.”
We hope you like our new website. Let us know what you think about it. If you do not find what you are looking for, please drop us a line and tell us what we could do better. Appreciate! Tack så mycket!
Yasmine & Mäx