Purpose. What is it and how it can be used?
Why now? Why purpose?
Last week, I noticed a few situations where ‘purpose’ (in its various guises) popped up and came to life - being discussed actively, both in a personal and business context.
Where it came up:
Talking to a friend talking about personal well-being and their daily need for purpose, it being important alongside happiness (inspired by Happiness by Design by Paul Donan https://pauldolan.co.uk/happiness-by-design-finding-pleasure-and-purpose-in-everyday-life)
Listening to a couple of podcasts:
Rugby legend Jonny Wilkinson on his goal setting (on High Performance podcast, Episode 23 https://www.thehighperformancepodcast.com/).
New dragon, Stephen Bartlett as a driving part of his business aspiration (on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Episode 1 https://stevenbartlett.com/the-diary-of-a-ceo-podcast/.
At work: Talking about how we were going to be taking a business to market.
This made me feel it was worth a moment and a few words on ‘purpose’ and how it can positively impact a business more frequently. So where to start.
What is it?
Your purpose is so important in inspiring action, or it can be. In the dictionary, it is described as ‘the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists’.
It answers the question of what you are committed to, in achieving your vision. It is often described as ‘essentially the brand’s reason for being, beyond making money’.
It is not rocket science. It needs to authentic, genuine, and should manifest of everything the target audience holds dear.
When defined and understood by the business and team, it can not only set your business apart from the crowd, but it can also be a powerful enabler in active decision-making.
In action sadly, it can also be overlooked and is in many larger businesses (distant from the day-to-day) - rarely featuring in live discussions, even though it can be a powerful tool in aiding prioritisation and decision-making.
How to use brand purpose in the real world.
In practice, it should guide the choices and actions we take, keeping us aligned to what matters most to you – both as an individual or as a business. Sometimes, it comes to life in decisioning-making, a sanity-check against strategy and aims or when in a period of activity planning and tactical decision-making.
For us last week, it made us check our approach in taking a business to market, making us ask the following questions:
Who is our primary target audience?
What real problems are we trying resolve?
What proposition elements solve these challenges?
When will these solutions be in market?
What are our marketing priorities for our launch?
What performance expectation for launch and across rest of first year?
Going back to our purpose (as part of our brand strategy) proved very helpful, in challenging our plan and ensuring common understanding, prioritisation and expectation (part of our business strategy) - which is so important in early-stage planning of a start-up.
Where do you start?
To define your brand’s purpose, you need to dig into the roots of the brand, the motivation of your founders or leadership and of course, the motivations, pain-points, and beliefs of your consumer. A couple of starters:
Be clear about who your brand is and why you do what you do
Think long-term
Be customer-centric - put the customer first
If you are starting to map this out, it is worth separating some of the other brand statements and how they link together. So splitting these out:
Purpose (why):
Why do we do what we do (aside from commercial benefit).
Vision (where):
Where is your brand going and what does that future brand look like.
Mission (what):
What are you committed to in realising your vision.
Values: (how):
How will your brand go about its business in realising its vision for the future?
To have the best chance of success your brand purpose should be authentic, relevant, contextual, and actionable. If developed wisely, it can drive a solid strategy and execution that can be tangible, measurable, and reportable.
Having a brand purpose can help more emotional relationship between a brand and its customer, which in turn helps boosts sales as well as loyalty. If unique it can differentiate your brand from competitors.
Wrap-up:
For me, we should seek out our brand elements (such as purpose) in our working day. Don’t feel it is a straight jacket. It can help in decision making and be a valuable tool in assessing your journey’s progress and maturity as a business.
It is often a reflection of what we repeatedly do. Can be seen to come to life and is most demonstrated through the customer experience and servicing. I remember Amanda McKenzie (Aviva) often using the adage that ‘a brand is, what a brand does’ – even more true in today’s digitally led world.
See it as a picture that we needs keep in mind, to act as that vital check in our decision-making. In discussion it can prevent individuals being easily distracted, bring balance and alignment to business strategy, making decisions easier, build brand strength and consistency.
If applied well, your customers and employees will be their happiest and the business the most successful when our thinking and actions are aligned to our purpose.
* The book and podcasts are all great by the way and worth a read and listen.
Here are some examples of business purpose:
Crayola: Encouraging children to be creative and enabling parents to inspire them.
Dove: Discovering the value of ‘real’ beauty and improving self-esteem worldwide.
Nike: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world
Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Some related quotes:
The brands that will thrive in the coming years are the ones that have a purpose beyond profit – Richard Branson
A company’s purpose and values mean nothing if they are not aligned and integrated with how the company engages and inspires its customers – Denise Lee Yohn
People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it – Simon Sinek
