…and do they believe what you’re saying?
Brands with a clearly defined purpose can make a big difference but this needs to be more than the corporate charter, it needs to be manifest in the behaviour and messages of not only the employees but also in the way they create and support products.
An aligned purpose needs to also be a part of the philosophy of the owners and investors.
The same is true for customers who need to subscribe to the purpose and intent of that same company and its products turning their own ambitions of purpose into action. This is what creates a successful business.
A clearly defined business purpose can lead to better growth opportunities for companies and purpose-led brands are more successful in acquiring and retaining customers in the long term.
“To me, brand purpose is about explaining who we are as a company, what we stand for and what our intrinsic values are beyond the products you see on the shelf,”
Katy Gandon, head of external affairs at L’Oréal UK and Ireland.
People will buy things that make them feel good about themselves and people engage with those businesses that they trust. Purposeful brands go beyond a well-crafted set of words, a polished “statement of purpose” is not enough, there needs to be evidence that a company is living up to the promises it makes.
Part of a successful purpose is also hearing what the opinions are of the customers and how the purpose and “message of purpose” is aligned for them personally.
This is especially interesting today when we examine the way brands are rising and falling. High profile brands of the millennium teen years like Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Volkswagen, Orange, Samsung and JPMorgan have taken a lot of body blows of late and at one point they were brand darlings, undoubtedly there will be more brand shakeups.
Now is as good a time as any for you to think about this yourself and how you may need to rethink the concept of purpose in your business and how you demonstrate that you and your colleagues genuinely subscribe to it.
Read more on how brands struggle to sustain their purpose at Marketingweek