How to build a responsible brand
In my recent blog, on the responsibility of business, I drove home the fact that, as business owners, we should be trying to do good in the world. But doing actual good means going further than intent… it means taking action.?
But how? What actions? It’s hard to know sometimes, isn’t it? It takes time and thought to work it out. That’s what I want to explore in this post to help you find out how you can build a responsible brand.?
It’s a big meaty challenge, and maybe even a daunting addition to all the challenges we face as founders and entrepreneurs, but the good news is that it is very achievable. In fact, a responsible brand strategy is only FOUR questions away...
Why? Who? How? What?
Let’s investigate each one of those questions in turn, starting with the classic ‘why?’. To be more precise…??
Why do you exist beyond making money???
Some of you may call the answer to this question brand purpose, some may call it vision, some brand manifesto. Honestly, it doesn’t matter which label you choose. What matters is that you take the time to answer this – the first and most foundational question of responsible brand strategy. This will be your compass – it will be your true north and always guide you when you are making the daily decisions we face as entrepreneurs.
This isn’t about the mechanism of your business, the products, services or experiences you sell to make money. It tells your target audience what your brand believes in and what it’s going to do about it. It’s what you stand for and the meaning people become attached to you, your offer, and your brand. For example, you may want to help tackle poverty, racial injustice or climate change in your locality.
Your answer to ‘why’ isn’t passive. It should be strong and at the heart of your brand. Think of the answer to this question as a magnet that will attract the right people, whether that be customers, employees or investors. And, importantly, it will repel those who don’t care about your ‘why’.?
This leads us to ‘who?’. To be more specific...?
Who cares?
By this point in your business journey, you should know who wants to buy your product or service – who has the problem that your product or service holds the solution to. But this is not the answer to ‘who cares?’.
This requires an extra layer of strategic empathy. It needs a true understanding of what drives your chosen target audience – their activities, interests, opinions, hopes and fears. It’s not simply about demographics. What do I mean here? Take a look at this…?
Here we have two men with exactly the same profile… on paper. But there’s a pretty high chance that they don’t have the same drive behind their choices of products and services!
So when thinking about who cares about the reason you exist beyond making money, don’t be too general. Segment your audience until you find the people who will resonate with the good work you do – the people who care enough to want to join your journey.
Don’t forget to put your employer hat on to answer this question too, because you want people on your team who genuinely care and want to join your fight for your ‘why’.?
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Our next question is ‘how?’. More specifically…
How does your company show up in the world??
This is the lumpiest question, which leads to the lumpiest pieces of work when I help clients build responsible brands. It involves the experiential trio – brand experience, employee experience and customer experience – the entire end-to-end journey of how, and why, you make your money.
It involves your ‘why’ and makes you think about ‘how’ you turn it into doing good for the world. It should raise topics such as ethics, trust, carbon footprint, diversity, inclusion, equity and equality. I’m not affiliated in any way but I want to give a shout out to BCorp certification here – a brilliant framework to help you answer this question and make the changes in your processes to become a responsible brand.?
Your answer to ‘how’ is multifaceted but can be brought together and communicated effectively in the form of the final question… ‘what?’. More precisely...
What promises do you make to the people you serve?
The beauty of ending with this question is that, no matter our background or experience, we all understand what the words ‘I promise’ mean… and what it means to break a promise.
The prior three questions are rounded up and packaged concisely and clearly into an overarching promise of what you want to be responsible for – what good you want your brand to do. But fulfilling this promise entails a series of promises you make as a responsible brand. So, what promises do you make to:
… and so on
But it’s not a one-way street. You should be asking what promises all of these people make to you. After all, it’s only a combined team effort that will truly make you the responsible brand you want to be.?
Once you have answered these four questions, you’ll have done some amazing work. You’ll be the driver behind a responsible and remarkable brand. But there’s no rest for the wicked, my fellow business owners. Your responsibility doesn’t stop here.?
Now you need to think about how you communicate and connect your responsible brand with all those who care. So it’s time to marry up your responsible brand strategy with your marketing and communications strategy. As you will often hear me say, the power of storytelling is indisputable here… what stories can you tell that prove that you have truly built a responsible brand that brings good to the world we live in? And how can you tell your story to inspire others to learn from you and become more responsible themselves? Because if we all take this seriously, one thing is for sure – we will find ourselves changing the narrative and living in a much better world.
PS: This was the second article of 2 written for Enterprise Nation just before Christmas. I am aware not all of you have access to EN so wanted to share on here.