What Is A Brand Purpose?
In short, a brand purpose outlines why your company exists. It is the meaning behind your existence, an idealistic view of what you want to become to your audience. Ultimately, it aims to provide a choice for people who make buying decisions that support a way of life. A powerful brand purpose sets out a company’s intent to change the world for the better. Accordingly, it connects with consumers on a personal level.
Additionally, it should be results-focused, meaning it strives to overcome limitations and meet the highest possible standards. Creating a strong brand purpose gives you authority and greater meaning. Brand purpose is another way to get customers to reach for your product rather than your competitors. Furthermore, it can inspire loyalty and convince your customers to trust and relate to you.
The Benefits Of A Brand Purpose
- It adds value to the lives of customers and society
- Brand purpose sets your brand apart from competitors
- It provides a strong corporate culture
A well-thought-out brand purpose should have the customer in mind at every step. The end goal is to connect with customers emotionally, making your brand a more desirable selection. Brand purpose begins with your mission and beliefs and radiates out through company culture, and business decisions.
It also gives employees a greater meaning and significance to their work leading to better productivity and job satisfaction. Another way brand purpose is expressed is through marketing and advertising messages. Brands with a strong sense of purpose may reflect this in their sponsorship and partnership choices.
How To Discover Your Brand Purpose
Defining your brand’s purpose should be the first step your company takes even before the vision, mission, and values are crafted. When creating your company’s brand purpose, be certain it’s both authentic and sustainable.
To start, look at what the world needs, what your customer wants and what you offer. Be honest about what you are passionate about, and keep your target audience in mind throughout the process. Keep in mind if the purpose doesn’t match your service, it won’t appear authentic.
Moreover, consider the emotional connection your brand has with your audience. If genuine, your brand purpose will allow you to connect with clients on a personal level. Consequently, you will be able to inspire brand loyalty. This will create brand advocates who will recommend you to friends and family, securing repeat business.
Furthermore, review the reason why your brand exists. Ask yourself why did you start your business and what market gap were you trying to fulfill. Perhaps it can be to solve an existing problem or make the lives of your end-users easier. Consider how your brand or service makes a difference in the lives of the person who is using it.
Next, use your brand purpose to define everything your company does, from hiring to marketing. Knowing your brand’s purpose also allows you to understand how you can adapt to your target audience’s needs as they change.
If you already have a brand purpose but have realized it doesn’t match your brand or audience, change it. Customers expect brands to grow and change. Ultimately, coming up with a new idea is better than continuing with an unsuitable one. Thus, monitor your strategy and review it to ensure its continued sustainability, relevance, and success.
How To Communicate Your Brand Purpose
Next, let people know about it. Communicate your purpose in a way that engages and inspires your customers. For instance, use imagery and be consistent on all platforms for media communication, website, and print marketing. Additionally, build marketing campaigns based on your purpose.
Ultimately, how you use your brand purpose is important. It must be authentic, and transparent, offering a solution to the social, environmental, and political issues impacting the world. Understanding the values of your target market and maintaining authenticity in your brand’s purpose can build long-term customer loyalty.
When showing your audience how your brand is meeting their needs, be transparent about your products, your process, and your story. This will create a business-to-consumer relationship rooted in trust and ultimately drive revenue for your company.
The Main Types Of Brand Purpose
Jim Stengel divided these high-performing brands into five main categories of purpose:
- Eliciting Joy – exists to inspire moments of happiness. E.G.: Coca-Cola finds its inspiration in trying to influence moments of joy in day-to-day life.
- Enabling Connection – exists to bring peace of mind to everyday connections. E.G.: FedEx offers confidence and simplicity to people trying to make everyday connections.
- Inspiring Exploration – exists to empower creative exploration and open new experiences. E.G.: Airbnb tries to help people experience new things and open the door to new adventures.
- Evoking Pride – exists to epitomize a lifetime of achievement. E.G.: Companies like BMW exist to epitomize feelings of luxury and achievement.
- Impacting Society – exists to celebrate every woman’s unique beauty. E.G.: Dove wants to change society by celebrating the beauty of “normal” women.
However, your brand purpose doesn’t necessarily have to fit into one of these categories. Just remember that whichever purpose you choose, make it authentic. Your purpose can be simple, or complicated. However, it needs to inspire, and drive your company forward. Purpose-driven brands outperform their competitors on multiple levels. They achieve greater customer loyalty, and have more powerful marketing campaigns.
According to the statistics, the best-performing businesses are the ones driven by brand purpose. Consequently, those brands grew three times faster than other companies. Thus, the big part of becoming a powerful brand involves finding a purpose that can guide you.
Brand purpose does more than attracting an audience – it’s the key to motivating yourself and your employees. A great purpose should manifest itself in everything a brand does: from product development to customer experience, to how it should conduct its marketing. Hence, if you find your purpose, you’ll find the path to success.
What Is The Difference Between Purpose, Vision, And Mission?
The purpose is the ‘Why’ you exist. It is the ultimate reason your business exists in the marketplace.
Vision is ‘Where’ you want to get to. It is a destination of what you want the brand to be in the future.
The mission is the ‘What’ you should do to get there: These could be specific initiatives or tactics centered around product development, operational excellence, go-to-market strategies, or brand communications.
Values are the ‘How’ you will behave to get there.
Conclusion
Ultimately, as society progress, your brand purpose is likely to evolve with it. Being adaptable while maintaining authenticity is key to staying ahead in the ever-changing legal world. Designing a genuine, transparent brand’s purpose can be challenging, but the benefits will help your company grow in the long run. For instance, it will give your brand meaning and authority while showing customers that you are working with them to better their lives and the world we all live in. If you require assistance with branding identity elements such as defining your brand purpose, consult our experts for free.