How to develop a powerful brand purpose

How to develop a powerful brand purpose How can you stand out among the crowd? Is there a way to quickly and effectively resonate with customers for the long-term? How can you align your brand with the values of your target audience?

We’ll explore what brand purpose is, what the benefits are and how to develop (or discover!) your brand purpose.

Real people. Real reviews. Real insight.

How to develop a powerful brand purpose In 2021 and beyond, it’s more crucial than ever to stand out among the competition. Whether you’re an ecommerce store, online service provider or a lead gen website, acquiring new customers is more competitive than ever.

For brick-and-mortar shops and local businesses, the COVID pandemic has made trading even more difficult due to lower footfall, growing online competition and a lack of regular revenue.

With brand loyalty at an all-time low, building a longstanding relationship with your customers is crucial to business success.

So, how can you stand out among the crowd?

Is there a way to quickly and effectively resonate with customers for the long-term?

How can you align your brand with the values of your target audience?

Our Feefo Brand Perception Report 2021 shows that one such way is by finessing your brand perception. One crucial element of this is defining, implementing and communicating your business’s brand purpose.

Below, we’ll explore what brand purpose is, what the benefits are and how to develop (or discover!) your brand purpose.

How to develop a powerful brand purpose

What is brand purpose?

A business’s brand purpose is their ‘raison d’être’ other than making money.

Generally, this takes the form of products and services that not only generate money, but also add value to society.

However, it’s easy to confuse brand purpose with philanthropy or social responsibility.

Multi-million pound businesses donating money to charity is one thing, as is giving staff paid volunteering time each month. But while both are examples of goodwill (and should always be encouraged!), it’s unlikely that these acts will change anything about the business’s product

itself. Brand purpose has to be connected to your products or services to be effective. This is why it can be difficult to find your brand purpose —brand purpose should be defined at the beginning of your enterprise to inform the way the business is built and how it operates from the get-go.

There are a few household names that demonstrate best practice in not only having a brand purpose, but fulfilling it:

Nike As the company states on its tailor-made Nike purpose website, its purpose is to ‘move the world forward through the power of sport — breaking barriers and building community to change the game for all’, with ‘breaking barriers’ also forming its current tagline.

The company’s three pillars of brand purpose include: → Investing in the power of people to move the world forward → Protecting the planet by creating solutions, rather than waiting for them → Getting kids involved in play to create an active next generation and a stronger future Not only does its social media and activism frequently break barriers to support the three pillars of its brand purpose, the company also holds itself accountable by publicly setting targets (up to 2025), as well as producing an annual Nike Inc. Impact Report.

How to develop a powerful brand purpose

Crayola Beyond selling crayons, Crayola’s brand purpose is an important one: ‘To help parents and educators raise creatively-alive kids’. Its mission is ‘to create products that will help kids free their “what if?” questions’, and its ultimate vision is that by the company’s products helping creatively-alive kids to blossom, grow and be inspired and original, those adults will have the ability to inspire the world.

This is supported by its products, events and communities for parents and educators to give them the facilities they need to inspire the next generation.

“To help parents and educators raise creatively-alive kids”

Starbucks The heritage of Starbucks has helped to inform its brand purpose — which, by the way, is an excellent place to start when building out your own. The company’s purpose is to ‘share great coffee with our friends and help make the world a little better.’ Its brand mission is closely linked to this, as it should be, and is ‘to inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time’.

Starbucks is committed not ‘just’ to serving and celebrating coffee, but to creating a neighbourhood gathering place. This is evident in the expansion of its offering: teas, pastries, treats, music, wi-fi and comfy seating.

“To share great coffee with our friends and help make the world a little better”

How to develop a powerful brand purpose

Is brand purpose different to brand mission or vision?

We understand that there are lots of “brand X” terms, and you might not be sure whether you need one, all, or any of them at all. Here are some key definitions to help you differentiate. While you could pick and choose, it’s advisable to have all six in place for success. → Brand purpose: Why your brand exists, other than making money or profit → Brand values: What your brand believes in and stands for (including employees) → Brand vision: Your 5-10 year goal for the future of your company

→ Brand mission: A business’s current aims with an overall goal → Brand positioning: How you’re different from your competitors → Brand perception: How your customers and potential customers view your brand

To help clarify, below are some mission statements and vision statements from some of the world’s biggest brands: Brand

Mission statement (Now)

Patagonia

Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.

Tesla

To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

IKEA

To create a better everyday life for the many people.

TED

Spread ideas.

Invisible Children

To end violence and exploitation facing our world’s most isolated and vulnerable communities.

Brand

Mission statement (The future)

Alzheimer’s Association

A world without Alzheimer’s disease.

Microsoft (when founded)

A computer on every desk and in every home.

Facebook

Connect with friends and the world around you on Facebook.

LinkedIn

Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.

Disney

To entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling, reflecting the iconic brands, creative minds and innovative technologies that make ours the world’s premier entertainment company.

How to develop a powerful brand purpose

What are the benefits of having a brand purpose?

Having a brand purpose has multiple benefits for your business.

The key highlights being: → Build stronger relationships with your customers → Acquire like-minded customers and partners, whose values are aligned with those of your business → Create a business with staff who align with your values — supporting employee engagement and a strong company culture → Help you to stand out among the competition → Loyal customers less likely to shop with competitors → Increase brand loyalty, customer lifetime value (CLV) and average customer life (ACL)

As well as the benefits of acquiring new customers and business, establishing a brand purpose will make a good impact on society.

Developing a brand purpose will also give you clarity and priorities for the rest of your business, and will support decision making by giving you a focal point; when considering your next steps or options, you can ask ‘does this support or oppose our brand purpose?’. Asking (and answering) this question will give you a nudge in the right direction.

The findings from our 2021 Brand Perception Report support this further, with responses from UK customers showing that 57% believe companies should be socially and environmentally responsible, while 74% always consider a brand’s values before purchasing from them.

Other significant factors that consumers take into account include:

34%

33%

33%

Brands being passionate about the products or services they sell

Sustainability ethics

Transparency

How to develop a powerful brand purpose

Further findings from the report reveal that if disappointed by a company’s words or actions on a social or political issue, almost threequarters (74%) of consumers say they would be less likely to purchase from them.

“This newer focus on brand accountability for sustainable initiatives can feel daunting for some, especially if you’re not at the forefront of an environmental revolution. For brands like this, taking a step back to reflect on your brand purpose, code of ethics or CSR policy can be an

enlightening experience and a way to further engage prospects and employees.”

Vic Heyword, Brand Marketing and Communications Manager, Bright

With early signs of environmental concern from customers showing even before the pandemic hit, research suggests this is likely to be a shift for the long-term, especially among younger generations.

“Disenfranchised from politics, let down by celebrities and questioning brands’ ethics, consumers are looking for heroes who share and champion their values. This presents both an opportunity and a threat for brands as spend is an area where audiences know they can exert influence. Pre-pandemic, this trend was already on the rise, particularly amongst younger consumers.

on sustainability meant they aspired to buy Finisterre or Patagonia, even if at this early life stage they could only afford Primark or Boohoo. We’re yet to see whether it’s a temporary or more permanent change, but facing the global challenge of the pandemic, consumers are more empathetic, aware of their impact on the world and open to change.”

“Amplify’s Young Blood research that targeted 18-35-year-olds highlighted a paradox where young people’s passion and stance

Jonathan Emmins, Founder, Amplify

Building your brand purpose So, now you know the benefits of developing a brand purpose, how do you get started?

Step one: Understanding your what, how and why When developing your brand purpose, Simon Sinek’s ‘Golden Circle’ method is a good place to start. Imagine a circle with a smaller circle inside, and another smaller circle within that.

The outer circle is your ‘what’, the next circle is ‘how’, and the third, smallest circle is ‘why’.

How to develop a powerful brand purpose

→ What: What products and/or services do you offer to your customers → How: The things that differentiate you from the competition (your unique selling points or USPs) → Why: The reason you’re passionate and why your business exists

Simon Sinek says: “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. The goal is not to do business with everybody that needs what you have, the goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.”

Therefore, it’s important for brands to formalise their what, how and why. Many businesses are founded because they offer products or services that solve a problem or address a common issue. So, think about the problem(s) that your business aims to solve, and take your brand purpose, values, mission and vision from this.

As Vic Heyword, Brand Marketing and Communications Manager at Bright, notes: “Understanding what your brand truly stands for should be the motivation behind your core purpose, and brand values should authentically echo this. What’s the point in having a set of values you never live, or worse, never look at again?”

As we mentioned above, developing your brand purpose (or your ‘why’) early on helps you to prioritise and make decisions for your business that properly reflect the change your products are trying to make. A relevant example of brand purpose is if your brand sells fitness products, perhaps your brand purpose is to provide affordable home workout equipment and videos to allow people to become fitter and healthier at home.

Some great examples of brand purpose driving brand identity, operations and products include the following:

Bulb Energy UK energy supplier Bulb Energy has a set of three very simple brand values: making residential energy simple, cheaper and to use 100% renewable electricity and carbon neutral gas. The company’s current brand purpose is to provide energy from renewable sources to as many households as possible. However, its wider commitment is around reducing CO2 emissions globally and tackling the climate crisis. The business regularly emails its customers with information about its own carbon offsetting, as well as creating a foundation where the company donates £2 for each new member towards charities tackling the climate crisis. It also gives customers the opportunity to make a monthly payment to offset its own carbon, helping to reduce emissions nationally.

How to develop a powerful brand purpose

Mum & You Mum & You is a UK eco-friendly nappy and baby wipes brand with the purpose of creating baby products that make lives easier for mums. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company provided its community of mums with plenty of information on places where they could seek support when struggling. It also quickly created antibacterial, antiviral and biodegradable hand wipes and surface wipes to support parents at home and keep families clean.

Glossier Worldwide beauty brand Glossier aims to create easyto-use skincare and makeup products. During COVID, the company quickly created a product that would help with irritated skin that occurred as a result of regular handwashing. It also developed a hand cream (launched April 2020), and donated thousands of units to first responders and medical professionals in New York.

Step two: Define your target audience It’s important at this stage to define your target audience and target markets.

Unfortunately, your work on brand purpose will be unsuccessful if your purpose doesn’t align with your potential customers’ brands, ethics and values.

It’s likely that you already have a rough idea of your target audience’s demographics, such as location, age and gender. However, it’s important to expand this into their values and beliefs too. Such worldviews may include religious beliefs, ethics, environmental responsibility, dietary concerns, political affiliations and more.

How to develop a powerful brand purpose

Now check that your brand purpose closely matches the value system of your target demographic. On this note, our research revealed that 61% of customers spend more money with socially responsible brands that they respect over others — giving a significant boost to those brands whose purpose closely connects with their target audience.

Step three: Creating your brand purpose communication strategy Now you have a brand purpose, it’s important to effectively communicate this; otherwise customers won’t understand what your brand stands for or why they’re so passionate about your products or services.

John Galpin, Co-Founder at Design by Structure, says: “Companies own the brand, but their customers live and breathe them, they give them life in their world. Customer perception is based on the customers’ own experiences of a brand, how it aligns with their own beliefs and values, their interaction with it at every touchpoint, from the awareness, through to purchase-decision to having it in their home.

“Brands don’t hold the reins completely.

Consumers hold power in their ability to vote with their feet. If they don’t like what a brand does, represents or aligns with (influencers/ ambassadors) they simply won’t purchase, or more importantly repeat purchase — that’s real power.”

When refining your brand purpose, it’s important to identify the right channels to communicate this on. Generally speaking, brand purposes can be used: → To create a tagline for your business → On your website → In your marketing communications → In ad copy → At sales meetings, conferences and face-to-face events However, your target market and customer demographics will help inform this. While sales meetings and events are appropriate for B2B enterprises, a digital and social presence could be key to success for B2C businesses.

How to develop a powerful brand purpose

How do brand purpose and CX work together?

One of the most common missteps of a brand living up to its brand purpose is with the customer experience (CX) and customer journey.

For example, if a business says that its purpose is to ‘help take the stress out of travel’, but customers find themselves repeatedly calling, chasing, following up or without the proper information, their customer experience trumps what the brand says about itself. This is a crucial note — because your communications strategy may seem clear (to you) but, ultimately, your customer perception rules. You may say you stand for equality, fighting climate change or making children healthier, but if your customers don’t perceive or experience that, then their perception of your brand will be skewed.

Jonathan Emmins, Founder at Amplify, says: “It was already a challenging time for retail pre-pandemic. Whether through choice or necessity, the past 12 plus months have pushed brands to be creatively brave, innovate and create rich yet seamless, omnichannel retail experiences. To be successful, brands need to take into account the entire customer journey: before, during and after purchase. This way, they can both lean into the richness and tangibility of the physical, as well as the efficiency of the digital. The trick is for retailers to identify how best to use what’s in their armoury to deliver that customer experience, and ultimately, sales.”

However, all is not lost for brick-and-mortar stores, as John Galpin of Design by Structure explains: “Online has seen exponential growth driven by the pandemic and lockdown which has accelerated online purchasing behaviours.

Those retailers who didn’t adapt quickly have suffered, even the big brands such as Arcadia.

street, initially for the novelty but then we will see the return of activity that combines onand offline behaviours, such as the return of ‘webrooming’ [researching online and buying in-store], ‘showrooming’ [viewing in-store and then buying online] and ‘boomerooming’ [researching online, feeling in-store and then buying online], which are about the physicality of brands and price comparison.”

“However, with the imminent ease of lockdown, we should expect to see a return to the high

This is also where creating trust comes in. If a customer has had no experience with your brand, your values may align, but factors outside the control of your marketing team might make it difficult for them to convert.

How to develop a powerful brand purpose

Our brand perception survey shows that UK shoppers are still sensitive to bad experiences — enough to put them off making a purchase. The research shows that the biggest ‘turn-offs’ include:

29%

29%

23%

Slow response to inquiries

Spam email marketing

Annoying advertising

These stats show that, while brand purpose is absolutely critical, it has to be visible and consistent at every customer touchpoint for them to buy-in to your business.

Utilising customer experience platforms is vital for continually improving your service and communications. With the markets more competitive than ever before, it’s clear that consumers have strong views on how companies behave, with 57% of Brits agreeing that companies should be socially and environmentally responsible and 47% believing that businesses should always respond to negative reviews.

Another external factor that may affect a new customer’s decision to buy with you (regardless of their affinity with your values, mission or purpose) is online reviews. Our research shows that 55% of customers read reviews when making a purchase decision from a brand.

Around 38% said that another potential turn-off is a business’s website and digital experience.

With 41% of those surveyed reporting that their online shopping experiences were inconsistent, the perception of your brand can easily trump your brand purpose.

Damien Fisher, Managing Director of Fishtank Agency, notes: “When selling online, everyone is time-sensitive and with cybercrime at an all-time high, visible trust recognition indicators such as Feefo are key validators to consumer perception and loyalty.

Having chatbots visible 24/7 to answer any consumer queries without moving from page to page, as well as trigger points such as email/ sales numbers, helps deliver buyer confidence as it suggests the online retailer is happy to take calls and values customer satisfaction.”

How to develop a powerful brand purpose

Reinforcing your brand purpose One of the most effective ways of consistently reinforcing your brand purpose (other than the actions, products and services themselves) is by creating a reflective internal business culture.

Getting your employees on board with your brand purpose is critical for ensuring your customers receive the best possible and most consistent experience during their touchpoints with you — and this will be passed on to your customer’s experience with your business.

Embracing employee engagement by reinforcing it internally is a critical piece of the brand purpose puzzle and has a range of benefits for your brand. Generally speaking, businesses see the following benefits with an effective engagement strategy:

→ Highly engaged employees who feel happy and fulfilled at work → An increase in employee health → A reduction in staff turnover rates → A better experience for your business, customers and partners

Some tips to drive an internal culture that aligns with your brand purpose are: → Setting examples from the top down → Hiring staff who are naturally aligned or drawn to your brand purpose, mission and vision → Create SMART goals and KPIs for your teams based on fulfilment of your brand purpose → Explaining how each team (or individual) contributes to the wider business picture → Ensuring that your business practices align with your purpose — as well as being dishonest, employees may feel disengaged if they feel their employee isn’t practising what they preach

Summary Our Feefo Brand Perception Report 2021 has made a clear case for embracing and developing a brand purpose.

Investing more in brand purpose will also help drive businesses forward, helping to define who they are, their beliefs and their operations. The research shows that purpose-led brands are likely to benefit from stronger, longer-lasting and more resilient customer relationships, leading to more profit.

Commenting on the findings, Feefo Marketing Director, Keith Povey, says: “It’s been an incredibly volatile 12 months for businesses, which has seen a seismic shift in consumer behaviour, some aspects of which will have a long-lasting effect on how buyers think, act and spend. That said, our research shows that for those businesses that are agile and realign their marketing strategies, there are many opportunities to improve brand awareness, perception and loyalty. Those that respond and act with the medium to long term in mind will see greater returns over the next few years than those that see this period as nothing more than a dip, due to external circumstances.”

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How to develop a powerful brand purpose