A brand purpose is the primary reason for your brand’s existence beyond generating revenue. More and more brands strive to adopt a purpose-driven approach because of changing audience behavior: modern consumers now investigate a company’s values and social initiatives before purchasing, prioritizing more than just the products or services on offer.
Beyond mere financial gain, a brand’s purpose serves as a framework that also steers business decisions and thought processes. It necessitates communicating and personifying a social initiative, shaping a business’s mission and brand voice.
In this guide, we outline how to articulate, construct, and promote a brand purpose that aligns with your brand identity and establishes a profound connection with your target audience.
Key Takeaways
- Brand purpose transcends a brand’s product — it centers on social initiatives that positively impact the world at large.
- Brand purpose leads to more genuine support and engagement from customers.
- Dove, Amazon, and Coca-Cola are international corporations whose brand purpose centers on their customers.
Table of Contents
Brand Purpose Importance & Key Benefits
As it defines a brand's reason for existence beyond profit, brand purpose fosters emotional connections with the consumer, differentiates brands from competitors, and drives long-term loyalty. It is a strategic imperative in a world where consumers seek purpose-driven brands.
To give you a better overview, here are some key benefits of having a brand purpose:
- Societal impact: Via the initiatives taken to build your brand’s purpose, your brand enriches your customers’ lives and contributes positively to society.
- Customer engagement: Demonstrating a purpose communicates to customers that your identity extends beyond products or services. You engage broader audiences when you possess a meaningful mission that transcends revenue and profits.
- Customer loyalty: Brand purpose fosters a deep emotional connection between the brand and its consumers, thereby enhancing loyalty.
- Audience support & recognition: A brand with a compelling and well-defined purpose tends to garner greater audience support and recognition. In fact, research suggests that 66% of consumers prefer to support purpose-driven companies.
- Competitive advantage: A distinctive brand purpose differentiates your brand from competitors and establishes a unique position in the market.
- Employee retention: Brands with a meaningful purpose attract and retain top talent.
- Longevity: A strong purpose steers all brand activities moving forward, ensuring that the brand achieves its goals and continually meets stakeholder expectations.
- Resilience: Brand purpose provides a foundation of clarity and adaptability, ensuring organizations can navigate challenges and emerge stronger.
How To Develop a Brand Purpose?
Brand purpose should be intricately tied to what the brand sells or provides. For instance, while a luxury car company hosting a food drive at a local church is commendable, it doesn't convey meaningful information about the products or align with the brand’s offerings.
Additionally, it’s important to note that brand purpose differs from cause-led marketing initiatives (CSR) or philanthropy. Charitable donations do not inherently reflect a brand’s values or the qualities of its offerings.
So, how do you develop a brand purpose? Here are some ways to help you get started:
1. Clarify Your Brand's Identity
First, be clear about your brand identity — core values, brand voice, personality, visual elements, etc. —and the reasons behind your marketing efforts and ensure your purpose should align with these aspects, your offerings, and your overall activities.
Ideally, your purpose should either be inherent from the beginning or something the brand has naturally evolved to embody over time in alignment with its brand identity. This is because belatedly grafting a purpose onto an already established product can appear orchestrated and insincere to consumers, which may damage your customer loyalty.
2. Consider the Long Term
Your brand purpose should not be a fleeting marketing tactic but deeply ingrained in your brand image and activities. Consumers should see a consistent commitment to this purpose over time rather than perceiving it as a one-off promotional stunt.
3. Prioritize Your Customers
An effective brand purpose always prioritizes consumers, meaning your customers 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 and lead to deeper emotional connections.
Top Brand Purpose Examples
Here are some fantastic examples of brand purposes that have led to the long-term success of various organizations:
1. Amazon
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 is the guiding principle for all marketing decisions, demonstrated by the company's commitment to excellent customer service and continuous innovation in its product offerings.
2. Dove
Dove's purpose is to help women cultivate positive relationships with their bodies and unlock their full potential. For example, its 2004 Campaign for Real Beauty was groundbreaking, showcasing women of diverse shapes and colors and emphasizing the fact that there’s no single beauty standard. Dove's inclusive brand purpose transcends selling its products and stands for empowerment.
3. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is one of the most globally recognized soft drink brands. Its overarching goal is positively influencing society 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. The campaigns consistently feature uplifting imagery and messages, aiming to connect with people on a global scale by creating a universally resonant sense of positivity.
4. Crayola
Crayola encourages originality and creativity in every child, embodying the power of "What if?" as a catalyst for innovation. This brand purpose inspires audiences and motivates the company’s employees, setting a clear goal to drive the imagination of millions of children worldwide.
Brand Purpose Key Takeaways
Brand purpose drives brands and businesses forward with a positive global impact. Marketers adopting a purpose-driven approach and authentically enhancing customers' lives find deeper meaning in their work. Most importantly, a clear sense of purpose attracts audiences and encourages their long-term trust and loyalty.
Partner with our top brand strategy agencies to clearly outline your brand purpose and power all of your strategies moving forward. Alternatively, check out our guide on branding for startups to set off on the right foot in your business journey.
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