Understanding the foundation of your brand: Brand Purpose, part 1

For the past weeks, if you have been following, you would realize that all my posts have been about one thing: Brand Purpose.

For many small businesses, the reason for starting your business may have been out of the need to make money. When I started my business, I was at a point in my life where I needed to do something and make money to make ends meet. Honestly, it was not for the purpose of helping businesses although that was partly the reason but it was overshadowed by my need to make money. It took some time for me to realize the main purpose for my business so I totally get you.

Let’s take a deeper look into the foundation of any brand, the brand purpose.

What brand purpose is NOT?

Brand purpose is constantly misconstrued and some even do not see the need for it as far as their customers keep patronizing their products and services. I would like us to get this out of the way for the sake of clarity to help us better understand what brand purpose is and to clear all doubts.

It is not a one-off marketing strategy

Brand purpose is the very foundation on which your brand is built so it cannot be a one-off marketing strategy although it influences your marketing. This means that it is not a strategy used for a campaign and then discarded after it is over.

It is not a trend

Brand purpose has gained a lot of attention lately to the point of some business owners believing that it is one of those trends in branding and marketing which will fizzle out soon. Your brand purpose is the heart of your brand and you would agree with me that it has been there since and now is even the best time to strengthen yours as more consumers are getting emotionally involved with brands.

It is not what you say it is

We are in the habit of using big words and sentences to draw our costumers in without actually doing anything. Our brands look good on paper but in practice, it is a totally different story. Brand purpose is not what you say it is but what you do. Your words must be backed by actions.

It is not for only big brands

Brand purpose is the very foundation on which your brand is built so it cannot be for only big brands. As a matter of fact, smaller brands stand a better chance at reaching more customers with a strong brand purpose as you may have the opportunity to interact with them on a personal level and build great connections.

It is not your corporate social responsibility

It is fine when your brand purpose is the same as your social responsibility. However, it is not always the case to embed your brand purpose in your charity works. You don’t have to save the environment when your brand is not aligned with that. This way, you may confuse your customers and eventually drive them away.

Now that we have gotten this out of the way, you may be wondering what then is brand purpose and I’m sure you have gotten some hints from what I have said so far. At this point I will leave it here to continue in the next part.

What do you think brand purpose is?