Embed purpose to stand up to scrutiny

For investing in developing your brand’s purpose to be effective in any sense, it has to go far, far beyond the boardroom, and even further beyond the marketing department - it has to be embedded across your entire organisation. 

What this looks like 

Any articulation of brand purpose has to be robust. And to be robust it has to be authentic and it has to be relevant. Doing this can be a challenge for many organisations. Mostly, because they limit the remit of defining and communicating their purpose to silos. 

But to create a purpose that can stand up to scrutiny, you have to make sure it is a thread that runs through your entire organisation. It isn’t the basis of one purpose-driven marketing campaign or something that senior management dreamt up in a board meeting. It is something that is truly considered, and fundamental to every aspect of your organisation.

If your purpose is exclusively articulated externally, no one will believe in it. Not your clients, not your employees, not your audiences. 

Everyone pulling in the same direction

Your purpose should be clear in everything you do. Everyone who works for you should know and be able to articulate your purpose. If an employee seven rungs down from the CEO doesn’t know your purpose, it isn’t working. 

For it to be effective, everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction - your HR team should be focused on creating a purpose-driven culture backed up by initiatives, all your processes should be purpose-led, and all your products and services should too be driven by your purpose (what all this means, of course, will change from company to company).

How to embed purpose

Marketing should lead the process of creating and embedding purpose, but they should do so in collaboration with other stakeholders such as HR, and the C-suite. Getting these key stakeholders on board will break down silos and make sure that your purpose speaks to and is understood across departments and teams. This team of people will become your purpose champions and they will infiltrate your organisation to drive wider engagement, and promote purpose from all angles.

Communication is also key. At each stage of the journey, you should communicate what you’re doing to define and articulate your purpose. Again, this communication should be done both externally and internally. Your marketing team should communicate with your audiences transparently and proactively about how you mean to go about becoming purpose-driven, the gaps you have identified, and how you intend to fill them. Similarly, your internal purpose champions should do the same. 

This is key to gaining trust, holding yourself accountable, and building a purpose strategy that is robust, authentic, and embedded across your entire organisation.

A purpose that stands up to scrutiny

Ultimately, purpose shouldn’t be something that is purely external. Something that you just tell clients and audiences. It should be an internal driver, that when embedded successfully, the impact of your external purpose-driven campaigns will be all the more powerful - because they will be authentic and they will stand up to scrutiny. 

When your entire organisation is aware of, and crucially, believes in your purpose they will live it every day in their work. This will not only mean that your purpose will begin to sustain itself, but also that everyone is pulling in the same direction, and your exercise to define and embed your purpose is working. 

Find out more about how we work with clients to uncover, articulate and embed their purpose at: www.wearerationale.com