Multi-award-winning social media scientist. Founder of ConvertYourFollowers.com & Brand Branding PR LLC.
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I know we’ve all been hearing a lot about adding purpose to our businesses this year, but hear me out. If you want to create a brand that never loses its appeal or market dominance, it’s crucial to make your brand part of something bigger—to give it a purpose that grabs the souls of your target audience and triggers a desire to become part of your brand story at any cost. Make sure your brand stands for something powerful.
Nike understood the assignment when it incorporated inspirational and motivational notes into its branding to create purpose-driven social media campaigns.
Here are three ways to add purpose to your brand.
1. Inspire Feelings
Attach feelings to your brand—feelings that your target consumers want to feel, motivating them to buy your products or services.
Nike is the master of provoking uplifting feelings with its inspirational ads that showcase the world’s top athletes. Nike’s ads show that the best wear Nike to perform at optimum levels, so buying its products buys you a seat at the high performers’ table. “Just Do It” may be the simplest yet most inspiring and impactful brand slogan of all time.
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Emotional marketing is having its moment since the pandemic, as demonstrated in this year’s Super Bowl ads. Nostalgia is a feeling of comfort and familiarity; something we all needed after the roller coaster we’ve all ridden for the past two years. With higher levels of global anxiety, nostalgia was the perfect remedy to uplift the world’s spirits. And advertising agencies really read the room on this one.
Emotional ads have the power to make consumers listen to your message, remember it, share it with their social network and/or buy what you’re selling. To provoke an emotional response to ads, target a particular emotion, such as fear, happiness, anger or sadness.
SurveyMonkey is your best friend when it comes to getting to know your target audience. Find out what makes them happy, angry, sad or excited; once you have this intel, you can tailor your social media campaigns accordingly to elicit the desired emotional response from consumers.
2. Think Like A Consumer
Competition with other businesses is at an all-time high, and consumers have gotten savvier—they often look for multifunctional products or services that offer additional benefits and/or make their lives easier. Put it this way: If you’re trying to decide between two new coffee brands that are the same price, are you buying the brand that sells just the coffee or the brand that offers coffee with added health benefits, gives back to its local community or helps make the world a better place? It’s a no-brainer. People are busier than ever these days, so buying from brands that give back is often their way of doing their part.
The same logic applies to brands whose products solve problems for consumers. Try to immerse yourself in the minds of your audience and give them what they want. Show them how your solution can make their lives better or easier.
Consumer intel is the key to thinking like a consumer. Use an online survey platform to ask your database three to six quick, specific questions to gain valuable insights. Most people lead busy lives, so be sure to give consumers a reason to take time out of their day to answer your survey. Free products or e-book downloads are great carrots to dangle and aid in data capture to help you build your database while you’re at it.
3. Define Your Purpose And Incorporate It Into Your Mission
This whole purpose trend is nothing new; like current fashion trends, it’s a recycled idea. Milton Hershey, the founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company, is a great example. He and his wife founded the Hershey Industrial School for low-income, orphaned boys in 1909. Today, the school is known as the Milton Hershey School, and it continues to offer education to children from low-income families. Purpose like this captures consumers’ hearts, triggering them to purchase from a brand over its competitors because it makes them feel like they are doing their part to support a cause they believe in.
So how you can figure out your brand’s purpose? Here are some questions to ask yourself:
• What cause are you passionate about? What do you consider yourself being (or becoming) an advocate for?
• How can you incorporate supporting this cause into your business mission?
Let’s say you’re launching a fashion brand and are passionate about helping remove plastic and litter from beaches in California. Easy ways to incorporate your passion into your brand’s mission could be:
• Donating a small percentage of sales to a local ocean conservation charity.
• Organizing local beach cleanups or piggybacking on existing events to strengthen your ties to your local community and build a network of locals who share your passion.
• Organizing an annual event to help raise awareness of a charity, auctioning off products/services and hosting giveaways to help raise funds.
• Organizing a photo shoot on a local littered beach to raise awareness of the ongoing problem that plastic is causing and how it is affecting the local ocean life.
• Removing plastic from your product packaging.
• Collaborating with relevant influencers and organizations that share your passions.
In summary, adding purpose to your business can create longevity for your brand. If branding, creative ideas and purpose-driven strategies aren’t your thing, there are a slew of freelance professionals at your fingertips on LinkedIn and freelance work platforms. Shop around for a freelancer or small branding agency that has excellent reviews.
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Author: Sophie Bowman, Forbes Councils Member
