Powering Your Brand’s Growth with Purpose-Driven Marketing
No doubt, you’ve heard the phrase purpose-driven marketing. While it’s a frequently used term, its true meaning is often lost.
For the uninitiated, purpose-driven marketing positions your brand not merely as a provider of products or services but as an organization that stands for a meaningful cause or mission. When your company is committing to and investing in a better way of doing business, it’s critical to communicate your impact in a meaningful way. Yet busy impact-oriented businesses often overlook embedding purpose in their marketing strategy.
Building a purpose-driven brand has become essential to a company’s success. We’ve seen firsthand that brand purpose and integrity not only drive consumer loyalty but also help brands gain a competitive advantage.
Purpose-driven marketing is essential for sustainable and impact-minded brands looking to connect with a rapidly growing audience that values authenticity and social responsibility.
The current consumer landscape has evolved to value brands that stand for something more than profits, and purpose-driven marketing taps into this sentiment, focusing on societal or environmental issues that resonate with consumers.
Why is purpose-driven marketing so important? Brands that build purpose into their DNA can generate greater customer loyalty and expand their customer base. By demonstrating a commitment to issues that consumers care about, brands stand out in a crowded market and foster deeper relationships. This purpose-driven approach also benefits people and the planet by addressing societal and environmental impact, creating a win-win situation for everyone involved. But this entire approach is centered on the idea that your brand is doing a good job of expressing your purpose to your audience.
How can your brand ensure its purpose-driven marketing resonates with the right audience?
Here are a few key tips:
- Authenticity: Your brand’s purpose should be true to its core values and integrated across all aspects of your business, from operations to marketing.
- Storytelling: Tell your brand’s story compellingly and emotionally to engage your audience. Remember, stories are about what you do and why you do it.
- Engagement: We’ve seen how consumers respond positively to purpose with brands that expand beyond the boundaries of traditional marketing. This is why we recommend encouraging your customers to be part of your brand’s mission. This could be through volunteer work, donations, or sharing your brand’s story on social media.
- Measurement: Measuring engagement is critical to understand the impact of your purpose-driven campaign. Gather and summarize data around consumer behavior to gain real-time insights into your campaign’s effectiveness.
Two clear examples of Certified B Corporations successfully integrating purpose-driven marketing into their business models include Ben & Jerry’s and Patagonia.
Both brands use purpose-driven marketing to go way beyond sales and discounts — they use authentic storytelling to represent their brand’s values, align with like-minded consumers, and showcase how buying their products supports greater causes around the world.
Take Ben & Jerry’s “Save our Swirled” campaign, for example. The company implemented the campaign in 2015, the same year as the United Nations came together to establish the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This campaign focused on climate justice and the importance of taking climate action. It’s just one of their many purpose-driven marketing campaigns focused on helping to better the world and society through a seemingly unrelated product: ice cream.
Another great example of purpose-driven marketing is Patagonia’s commitment to environmental conservation as communicated through its “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign. The initiative discouraged wasteful consumption on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. Instead, Patagonia encouraged consumers to reduce, repair, reuse, and recycle their clothing.
At Plus Media Solutions, we recognize the power and potential of purpose-driven marketing.
We’re committed to helping your company have a positive impact on your audience and the world. Whether it’s identifying the right social cause that aligns with your brand values, creating engaging and meaningful content that tells your impact story, or employing advanced analytics to gauge campaign success, we know that understanding your brand’s purpose and measuring the effectiveness of your campaigns are key to understanding if you’re making a difference or just spinning your wheels.
The bottom line is that purpose-driven marketing is not just a trend — it’s the future. Brands that can harness their power of purpose will enjoy business success and contribute to a better world. Together, we can build a brand that stands for more than just profits; we can build a brand that makes a difference.
This article was originally published by Plus Media Solutions. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
