While brands have reason to assume that consumers are merely transactional toward them, the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer highlights how consumers are growing to be more belief-driven than ever. The study shows that based on beliefs and values, 58 percent advocate for or buy from brands, 60 percent decide where to work and 64 percent invest.
Fifty-two percent of respondents also believe brands are not imposing adequate measures to address societal issues such as climate change. As such, if you’re finding it hard to have a real connection with your customers, then purpose driven marketing might be for you.
So let’s find out how you can approach purpose marketing to help you appeal to conscious consumers in this blog.
What Is Purpose Driven Marketing?
Purpose driven marketing is an approach where a brand centers its efforts on a social cause that is coherent with its core values. Through genuine connections founded on shared values, purpose driven marketing aims to help businesses build stronger relationships with their clientele.
Brands that conduct purpose marketing either were founded on such values or adopted them through time. Their primary purpose of marketing or existing is to give back in some way. Because purpose driven marketing might be more aspirational, there may be no exact cause per se, but the objective is for the long-term and ongoing benefit of the community.
What Is Brand Purpose or Organizational Purpose?
Answering the question “what is brand purpose?” is quite straightforward. Simply put, brand purpose or organizational purpose is the reason why your brand exists. Apart from making a profit, your purpose is the framework that informs your business decisions.
Purpose Marketing’s Direct Impact on Customer Churn Rate
Rising social issues opened the eyes of many brands to how crucial it is to be purpose-driven and exhibit significant social responsibility. Take the George Floyd movement, for instance: At the height of it, Growth from Knowledge (GfK) conducted Consumer Pulse research and found that 74 percent of Americans said that how businesses handled the protests would influence their decision to do business with them in the future. Additionally, we live in a time where social media has the power to magnify brands that are purpose-driven.
And more recently, the Ukraine crisis: A Brand Keys poll found 85 percent of respondents from both political parties said they would boycott Russian goods to support Ukraine. Customers show greater devotion to brands that can handle such political issues. These figures illustrate how your brand’s purpose or lack thereof influences customer churn rate. However, remember that your purpose can be separate from wherever the media focuses. For example, you can pay attention to social issues such as poverty and hunger.
Examples of Purpose-Driven Brands or Businesses Engaged in Purpose Marketing
IKEA
The Swedish furniture company’s organizational purpose is tied to sustainability. An excellent example of their purpose marketing initiative is their partnership with H22, which has a marketing purpose theme, “The making of a smarter city.”
H22 is connected to urban development that directly impacts people, their homes and their well-being. All of these perfectly align with IKEA’s marketing purpose: “To create a better everyday life for the many people.”
Ben & Jerry’s
Ben & Jerry’s core beliefs shape its marketing purpose. As a result, its brand purpose drives them to use its business in novel ways to improve the world.
The company’s values include advancing human rights and dignity, advocating economic and social justice for historically marginalized communities and preserving and restoring the planet’s natural systems.
TOMS
Blake Mycoskie, the creator of TOMS, pioneered the One for One® concept in 2006 by donating one pair of shoes for every pair sold. The brand also funds health, education and community development initiatives through strategic alliances.
While TOMS shifted from the One for One model, it donates one-third of its profits to local charities today. TOMS claims that 100,000,000 lives have been positively affected by the brand.
Adidas
Fashion and sustainability haven’t always gotten along, but the pair has come a long way. Adidas and other clothing brands have adopted sustainability as detrimental to their marketing purpose over time. For instance, Adidas has promised to increase its efforts toward sustainability.
So starting in 2024, the brand will only use recycled plastics, and complete production will be climate-neutral by 2050. In addition, Adidas launched an employee training program, “How to Think and Act Sustainably,” to inject sustainability into its culture.
LUSH
Unlike Adidas, Lush’s brand purpose is central to sustainability from the get-go. Since 1980, Lush has been at the forefront of sustainability, long before it became a “trend.” For example, the retail brand produces solid beauty bars, including shampoo, conditioner and cleansing balms to reduce water and plastic usage.
Taking its brand transparency and purpose further more recently, Lush CEO Mark Constantine guided the company’s exit from major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Dove
The personal care brand’s purpose of marketing is to raise the self-esteem of women and girls worldwide. Dove masterfully activated purpose marketing through the years, accomplishing it through its goods, marketing imagery, social media campaigns and material that promotes its viewpoint.
For some, Dove’s purpose marketing plan was a seeming attempt to rebuild the brand. Still, the company laid the groundwork for a significant change from “product-centric advertising” to “consumer-centric advertising.”
The Difference Between Cause Related Marketing and Purpose Driven Marketing
Although cause related marketing and purpose driven marketing appear to be synonymous, cause related marketing is typically focused on short-term campaigns. Cause marketing is a form of advertising in which companies launch campaigns in line with social causes or beliefs that are significant to their brands, promoting social responsibility or awareness.
In cause marketing, brands can support a good cause for, let’s say, a month and run an awareness campaign. During that time of cause marketing, the company, in partnership with the cause, can either donate all or a certain percentage of its proceeds to the cause or collect donations through the company. Many brands also implement cause marketing to improve their online reputation.
Examples of Cause Related Marketing or Brands Engaged in Cause Marketing
The Body Shop’s Time To Care
The Body Shop, a beauty and wellness brand, wanted to recognize the commitment of healthcare professionals in 2020. So the company’s decision-makers made the “Time to Care” campaign their first step towards achieving this goal. The program is one of the best examples of cause related marketing, promoting kindness, well-being and good health.
Teams from The Body Shop North America worked with shelters and facilities for the elderly to give cleaning goods, including body and hand soap. Because the business encourages self-care, they wanted to make it available to everyone.
The Body Shop also launched a dedicated hashtag: #TimeToCare. With the hashtag, the company published informative articles about caring for yourself in healthy ways and coordinated self-care bundle giveaways.
ALT_: Project Stamp
The nonprofit organization ALT_, pronounced ALT Space, is committed to eradicating damaging stereotypes surrounding Chicago’s neighborhoods through activism, art and culture. It collaborates with groups like Habitat for Humanity and the Chicago Park District to create spaces in Chicago’s Austin area that support artistic expression and educational pursuits.
The Project Stamp initiative, launched by ALT_ in 2019, aims to emphasize the value of Austin’s citizens. During the campaign, everyone can get their photo taken at no charge. By highlighting and illuminating the genuine atmosphere with culture, the goal is to change the myth that Austin is a dangerous place.
Above are just two examples of cause related marketing. Circling back to purpose marketing, let’s simplify how to build brand trust.
How To Build Brand Trust With Your Purpose Marketing Plan (Marketing With Purpose)
Although many businesses establish their brand purpose before they begin operations, they fail to follow through to turn their purpose into a reality. Your brand purpose or organizational purpose needs to be more than just a slogan if your company is to be purpose-driven, living out brand transparency.
Here’s how to approach marketing with purpose:
1. Have complete clarity in your brand purpose. Clarity significantly increases your chances of carrying out your purpose. Competent executives can embody the purpose of informing their choices and steer the business in the direction they desire.
2. Ensure your brand purpose is relevant to your customer base. Irrelevant or lack of purpose can lead to a high customer churn rate. Business leaders must distill their vision in a manner that their audience understands and resonates with.
3. Believe in and live your brand purpose. Your purpose should be more than a marketing stint. When a brand genuinely believes in its purpose, it permeates everything and everyone and becomes a driving force behind the business.
4. Work with people who believe in your brand purpose. Hiring people who share your purpose is fundamental. Beyond landing a job or a partnership, examine people who show interest in your business; they must believe in what your brand stands for.
If you want to work with experts who can not only communicate your brand purpose but also believe in it, Thrive is here to help. Thrive is a team of digital marketing experts committed to building trusting relationships with our clients while delivering remarkable results for them. Let’s start with a free proposal.
