What holds a brand together?
Welcome Back! Today we're exploring the foundations of branding and what every brand needs in order to grow upwards. To help fill in the blanks, we spoke to our creative strategist about the essentials that any business needs to thrive from a branding perspective.
What we discovered is that ‘purpose’ is the starting point. It’s the nails in the branding toolbox, the thing that keeps your business held together, and without it, things get a bit messy.
Q: How do you define purpose?
A: Purpose, it’s the why as opposed to the what, it’s the reason that your business exists beyond the money and the change you hope to see in the world. In fact if you can’t complete this sentence then you don’t have a brand purpose. ‘We want to see a world where… ‘
Q: Why bother discovering your purpose?
A: Having a purpose at the heart of your brand is a relatively new concept in branding but its impact can be huge. The benefits of a clear purpose include:
- Direction: both internal and external. It can serve as a guide for business decisions and initiatives.
- Inspiration: it can motivate employees, giving them a clear definition as to why they turn up to work each day. It can also play a key role in attracting and retaining the next generation of talent, 88% of millennials stated that they would prefer to work and be loyal to a company with a clear sense of purpose.
- Added value: a clearly communicated purpose can allow you to charge a premium as well as drive consumer preference and loyalty. At a time when trust in corporations is at an all time low, a product or service that offers something more than just the functional benefits will often win the day.
Q: What does strong purpose look like?
A: Purpose should be more than just lip service that’s for sure. It needs to be culturally embedded in your organisation from the CEO all the way across to the front line. You need to ensure that this purpose is communicated and understood by all employees; they are the brand, and if they don’t believe it then neither will your customers. Organisations should develop and initiate purpose led programs and behaviours as a first step prior to going public to ensure authenticity. And finally, a purpose is not just a moment in time, it takes time, so consider your purpose like you are building a movement, because you’re in this for the long haul.
If you want to know more, or are looking to discover your business or organisation’s purpose, we’re here to help, so get in touch!