The consumer landscape is shifting, and prospective customers prioritize more than just the products or services on offer. The impact a brand has on the world is often a very important factor. Elevating your brand requires having a genuine sense of purpose — one that resonates with your audience.
Research suggests that 64% of global consumers prefer brands that actively communicate their purpose.
So, what is brand purpose, and why does it hold such importance? How can you articulate, construct, and promote a brand purpose that aligns with your brand identity and establishes a profound connection with your ideal customers in the process?
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What Is Brand Purpose?
Fundamentally, a brand's purpose should extend beyond mere financial gain and serve as a framework that steers business decisions and thought processes. It's crucial to distinguish this from a "brand promise." While a brand promise may hint at what buyers can expect from a product or service, the brand purpose transcends those expectations and forms a deeper, emotional connection with consumers.
However, brand purpose isn’t equivalent to social purpose, either, despite certain similarities. Brand purpose necessitates communicating and personifying a social initiative, shaping a business’s mission and brand voice.
What Is the Importance of Brand Purpose?
More and more brands strive to adopt a purpose-driven approach, and this is largely due to the recognition that consumers increasingly investigate the values or social initiatives a brand advocates for before purchasing. Consequently, a brand with a compelling purpose tends to garner greater support and recognition.
Here are some key benefits of having a brand purpose:
- Your brand purpose not only enriches the lives of customers but also contributes positively to society as a whole.
- Demonstrating a purpose communicates to customers that your identity extends beyond products or services; you possess a meaningful mission that transcends profit.
- Brand purpose fosters a more emotional connection between the brand and its consumers, thereby enhancing loyalty.
- A distinctive brand purpose serves to differentiate your brand from competitors, providing a unique positioning in the market.
How to Develop Brand Purpose?
Cause-led marketing initiatives (CSR) are commendable and deserve global promotion, but it's essential to recognize that these efforts differ from brand purpose.
Brand purpose should be intricately tied to what the brand sells or provides. For instance, a luxury car company might generously paint a local church for a good cause, but this act doesn't convey meaningful information about the actual product the company offers.
Similarly, brand purpose is not interchangeable with philanthropy; donating a substantial amount to charity does not inherently reflect the qualities of a brand's product.
Here are some ways to develop authentic brand purpose:
Clarify Your Brand's Identity
Be clear about the brand identity and the reasons behind your actions. Unlike in personal branding, your business brand’s purpose should be inseparably connected to the brand’s reason for being, influencing both the product a company offers and its overall activities.
This purpose should be established from the outset, as grafting a purpose onto an already established product merely to meet specific criteria is transparent to consumers. It should either be inherent from the beginning or something the brand has naturally evolved to embody over time.
Consider the Long Term
Your brand purpose should not be a fleeting marketing tactic but rather deeply ingrained in your brand image and practices. Consumers should witness a consistent commitment to this purpose, rather than perceiving it as a one-off promotional stunt.
Prioritize Your Customers
An effective brand purpose always prioritizes consumers. This means that the customer should be the focal point of every decision and action. While your purpose may not resonate with every buyer, it should strongly appeal to your key demographic, making your brand relevant to your chosen audience.
Top Brand Purpose Examples
Here is our pick of the top five brand purpose examples:
Amazon
Amazon's brand purpose revolves around prioritizing customer satisfaction and convenience.
The core of Amazon's brand purpose is expressed in its mission: "To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online." The brand's strategic approach is centered on delivering an exceptional shopping experience, covering aspects from competitive pricing to efficient delivery.
In addition, Amazon is committed to creating products that bring value to customers, exemplified by innovations like voice assistants and Prime memberships. Amazon's brand purpose serves as a guiding principle for various decisions, influencing the company's emphasis on customer service and its commitment to continuous innovation in product offerings.
Expensify
Expensify's mission is to let professionals focus on their true calling. Founder David Barrett's aversion to expense reports led to a unique brand story, positioning the product as a solution that frees up time for higher pursuits. This approach resonated, making Expensify a go-to expense solution for over 60,000 companies globally.
Crayola
Crayola aims to unleash the originality in every child, embodying the power of "What if?" as a catalyst for innovation. This Brand Purpose not only inspires consumers but also motivates employees, setting a clear goal to drive creativity in children.
Dove
Dove's purpose is to assist women in cultivating a positive relationship with their appearance, unlocking their full potential. For example, their 2004 Campaign for Real Beauty was groundbreaking, showcasing women of diverse shapes and colors and shining a light on the fact that there’s no single beauty standard. Dove's inclusive brand purpose transcends selling soap and stands for empowerment.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola stands as one of the most globally recognized soft drink brands. The overarching goal of Coca-Cola is to foster a positive influence on the world by spreading joy and optimism through refreshing beverages and memorable experiences.
This objective is evident in Coca-Cola's marketing initiatives, strategically crafted to evoke happiness and optimism among consumers.
Coca-Cola's marketing campaigns consistently feature uplifting imagery and messages, aiming to connect with people on a global scale by creating a universally resonant sense of positivity.
Brand Purpose Key Takeaways
- A clear sense of purpose enhances brand attraction to top talent.
- Drives brand and business forward with a positive global impact.
- Applicable across all categories and countries.
- Marketers adopting a purpose-driven approach find deeper meaning in their work.
- Recognizes the potential to authentically enhance customers' lives.
Brand Purpose FAQs
What is the importance of brand purpose?
Brand purpose is crucial as it defines a brand's reason for existence beyond profit, creating a meaningful connection with consumers. It adds value to lives, fosters emotional relationships, differentiates from competitors, and, when authentic, drives long-term loyalty. In a world where consumers seek purpose-driven brands, it becomes a strategic imperative.
