“Branding,” “brand identity,” and “brand management” are some of the most popular marketing buzzwords in the industry. Among these, brand purpose has been getting more attention recently.
Crafting a captivating brand purpose may be one of the biggest challenges for new business owners. Not only may they lack knowledge about what it means, but they might also not know where to start.
However, running a purpose-driven brand has many benefits. Some of the most crucial include improved customer loyalty and a winning brand reputation.
In this article, you’ll learn about what a brand purpose is, the benefits of having a brand purpose, and how to define yours. We also include some brand purpose examples to help you better understand the concept. Let’s get started.
Brand Purpose Definition
A company’s brand purpose goes beyond making money or profits – it’s the reason behind the company’s existence. It also relates to why the business owner is passionate about it and helps to guide the company’s operations.
For that reason, a brand’s purpose may mirror the business owners’ perspective towards the current market situation in general.
Take The Body Shop, for example. The company’s purpose is about achieving a fairer, more beautiful world. Through it, The Body Shop expresses that not only will it focus on enriching people’s lives, but it also commits to keeping the beauty of the planet and its biodiversity.
As per the above example, a brand purpose can be ethical, as well as political or moral. Similarly, business owners can use the five fields of fundamental human values to base their brand’s purpose.
Benefits of Having a Brand Purpose
Now, here are some benefits of having a brand purpose:
- Define a business’s competitive advantage. A brand purpose highlights what makes a company unique. Therefore, it can help a business stand out from the competition.
- Provide a positive impact on society. Most purpose-led brands care about their customers as well as society in general. They strive to provide the best possible products or services to help the community flourish.
- Provide a sense of fulfillment for employees. A brand purpose helps employees find greater meaning and satisfaction in their work. On top of that, keeping your employees content is the best way to boost productivity.
- Build emotional relationships with customers and boost their loyalty. Sharing the same purposes or values is vital in building a good relationship. Therefore, defining a brand purpose helps attract the right audience and drive more qualified leads.
- Increase revenue and return on investment (ROI). Improved loyalty often leads to recurring transactions. Also, business owners can benefit from a referral program to boost their ROI.
All in all, having a brand purpose lets business owners connect with target customers on a more meaningful level. Furthermore, it helps set the foundation for building other aspects of a business, including what to sell and how to promote it.
How to Define Your Brand Purpose
This section will cover four steps you can take to find your brand purpose. Let’s dive right in.
1. Understand Why You Started the Business
The “why” to a business can come from personal experience, or from finding a gap in the market or problems to solve.
For example, someone with crocheting skills may want to build their own brand after seeing that they can provide better quality products than the ones currently available on the market.
In addition, purpose-driven business owners can also reflect on their values to determine their business’s why. For example, Elon Musk created Tesla to help accelerate a sustainable future.
Whatever the reason is, be entirely true to yourself as it will help set the direction of your business.
2. Conduct a Situational Analysis
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Situational analysis helps determine what sets a business apart from the competition and the key areas for development. Business owners can utilize the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis framework to aid this process.
Here’s a deeper look into the framework:
- Strengths. Describe what a company does well in the industry or what separates it from others. These may include proprietary assets, a strong brand reputation, or a loyal follower or customer base.
- Weaknesses. Illustrate some of the factors that may hinder a company’s growth, which will provide insight into areas for improvement. Weaknesses may include high employee turnover, lack of funding, or insufficient product development planning.
- Opportunities. Identify the external factors from which a company can take advantage or grow. Trends, upcoming changes to regulations, lack of dominant competition, and new technology are great examples of this.
- Threats. Determine any factors that may harm a company that a business owner has little to no control over. Threats may include economic slowdowns, changing consumer behavior, and supply chain issues.
Strengths are probably the most crucial attribute for shaping a brand purpose, as they provide information about a business’s potential and competitive advantage. In addition to that, a company’s strength combined with its brand purpose may set a new standard in the industry.
3. Identify Your Values
Company values contain a set of principles reflecting its beliefs, goals, and culture. Apart from that, well-defined values can guide the brand purpose, foster teamwork, improve collaboration, attract customers and talent, and ease decision-making.
Some popular core values include:
- Integrity.
- Customer-centricity.
- Accountability.
- Creativity.
- Loyalty.
While it may be challenging to craft a set of values, here are some tips to help with the process:
- Use the brand vision statement as a starting point. Brand values should support the company vision. At the same time, values are often the natural extension of the vision.
- Make sure they’re easy to understand. Prioritize keeping your core values concise and straightforward to ensure better understanding.
- Consider the target audience. Prospective customers are among the most vital elements for a company’s success. Make sure to relate your company values with consumer demand, whether that’s top-notch product quality or amazing customer service.
- Revisit your values and evaluate. Over time, existing values may become irrelevant as a company develops or faces new challenges. Values should therefore evolve over time so that they continuously represent the company accurately.
4. Define How Your Brand Can Bring Impact to Society
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62% of consumers stand with companies that are sustainable, transparent, and conduct fair employment practices. For that reason, consider social impact if you’re trying to build a purpose-driven brand and attract the right audience.
List out the problems you want to solve through your products and services. This process will help you gain insight into what your products and services actually offer and how they positively affect society.
When analyzing, don’t forget to include the products and services’ features and benefits. These details ensure a more solid foundation for crafting an inspirational brand purpose.
Conclusion
A purpose provides the answer to why a brand exists in the first place. As it’s the key to creating the company vision, mission, and values, having a compelling brand purpose ensures a more successful brand strategy.
Here’s a short recap for creating your brand purpose:
- Understand why you started. This process helps set the direction in which your business is going.
- Conduct situational analysis. Analyzing the internal and external factors affecting business development helps highlight its competitive advantages.
- Identify your values. Well-defined values are based on the company purpose, easy to understand, and customer-centric.
- Define how you can bring impact to society. Write down a list of problems your brand wants to solve to gain a clearer insight into whether your products and services can help the community thrive.
Follow the steps above to create a brand purpose that is meaningful and relevant. Good luck with your business!
