championing change.
part 1 : discover your purpose
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It’s no secret that when it comes to creating your own brand, defining its purpose, putting it into a sentence and a sales pitch, is pretty fundamental.
More and more brands are pressured to answer the ‘purpose question’. To build a meaningful relationship with consumers, brands need to do more than offer a transaction. They have to have a clear reason for why they exist beyond making money.
This is the sort of topic that we look to the good and the great of business to help us find direction. To build a brand with a responsible consciousness, in our books, there’s no better place to start than with Yvon Chouinard’s Patagonia.
Yvon had no lofty goal in mind. He simply wanted to make enough money to go climbing and to make better equipment for outdoors people like himself. His first business was called Chouinard Equipment and in its first catalogue, it warned customers not to expect fast delivery during the summer. That was climbing season.
Patagonia came to be one of the world’s most socially responsible and influential companies not because it followed conventional business wisdom or high achieving marketing formulas. None of that.
Instead, it thrived because Patagonia is widely admired for its values-laden business practice.
Patagonia puts the earth first, by making products that last, by telling customers to buy fewer of them, by sharing earnings with grassroots environmental groups and in short, building a community that surpasses the products in question.
BULLET POINT BELIEFS
When it comes to defining a brand’s purpose, sometimes it’s good to go back to basics on what you, as a brand (and as people) believe in.
To build your purpose, write down everything that you, and subsequently your brand, believes in and what it stands for – it could be about charity, or culture or innovation – write down every single thing that comes to mind. After it’s all scribbled across your whiteboard or covering your entire office in post-its, that’s when the fun bit starts. With each point, you’ll notice patterns form, and the more you break it down, the closer you’ll get to your brand purpose.
Connect with people on an emotional level and they’ll stop scrolling and pay attention:
👉 "This person really gets me."
👉 "I’m confident this is someone I can trust to help me solve my problem."
👉 "I like what this person stands for and that matters to me."
It’s that feeling they get when they arrive at the conclusion that you’re the best choice, and there can be no substitute.
Simon Sinek, author of the brilliant book Start with Why, famously said:
“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”
So outline it. The framework starts in our GUIDE, but first here are some helpful questions to point you in the right direction:
1.Why did you get into this business in the first place?
What did you see that you wanted to change? What need did you see in the marketplace that you wanted to meet?
2. How can your company make a difference for your clients?
What is the problem that you want your business to solve? How will your business make things better?
3. How do you feel about your customers?
Does it matter to you how your service makes your customers feel? What aspect of your relationship with your customers brings you joy?
4. What’s your impact?
What is the impact you’re making on people’s day-to-day lives?
5. What change do you and your customers want to see in the world?
Does your brand take a stand on such real-life issues as animal testing, climate change, bullying, gay marriage, gun control, equal pay or some other cause? How will your business make things better?
6. Are you a game-changer in your industry?
Is there an issue such as quality, pricing, or efficiency that disrupts the status quo of your industry?
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See the above. Answer them in maximum three sentences. That’s it.
Once you do, share them with us and let’s get the conversation started.
