Over the last few years, I’ve presented to numerous companies and marketing departments of some of Australia’s biggest businesses about the power and potential of purpose in business. Without exception there is excitement every time. There is always a moment in these presentations where I can feel the shift of energy in the room. From bored-what-
am-I-sitting-in-another-presentation-for-energy to whoa-this-is something-I-can-get-behind.
I think it speaks to a simple human truth. That we all want to use our time on this planet to
do something meaningful. The opportunity to move from marketing and selling another
packaged goods product, to marketing that product in a way that also saves lives for,
example... is something that captures people’s imagination.
Yet despite the interest and excitement, one of the biggest challenges I face is getting the
people I presented to, to commit to doing something themselves.
I started banging this drum back in 2012-15, after I returned to Australia from a conference I attended in the United States, in Chicago. But Australian marketers simply weren’t ready for the idea of strategic cause partnerships and marketing. Fear of getting it wrong held them back. Understandably.
That motivated me to figure out how I could remove that fear for them. So I set about
researching the “world’s best” in this area and combining that with my own marketing skills
to develop a methodology, which I shared in my first book “Path To Purpose”.
The methodology I created, called “SIMPLE”, was designed to build a strategic cause
marketing program. Yet even as I was developing it and writing the book, I could feel it was
just scratching the surface. It wasn’t tackling the thing that was really compelling to me.
well of Purpose (make sure you check out our DGS database where we share these case studies). Actually it was Social Purpose, but back then it wasn’t being expressed in
that way. As a result, that first book of mine ended up being a hybrid of cause marketing
and social purpose. As I put it to bed, I realised it would not be my only book. I had
embarked on my own path to purpose and I was only just getting started.
Over the next few years, the work I did quickly broadened from cause marketing to building
Purpose strategies for businesses and brands. The original cause marketing methodology
made way for a new framework for Purpose.
Developed as a result of research and the practical work I did with my clients, the Path To
Purpose Program is designed to unlock the full value of a meaningful purpose strategy.
It’s made up of six pillars....
Pillar 1: Brand Positioning.
We start by establishing the fundamentals of a purpose-led brand. Too often, businesses
“tack-on” a purpose statement to their brand. “Tacky” would be a good way to describe this
practice. And useless. Your purpose exists at the heart of your brand, so building it from the
centre outwards is what we do.
Pillar 2: People and Culture
This is all about inspiring and unifying your people behind a common cause; the purpose
your business exists in service of. Involving them early will allow them to bring some of their
unique ideas to the table. Not only will this give you a treasure trove of ideas and
opportunities, but it will also give them ownership of the organisation’s purpose and invest
them in its success.
Pillar 3: Partners in Purpose
Finding your collaborators is essential to a purpose-driven organisation. Building
movements of change requires many hearts, minds, and hands on deck, so collaboration is
essential.
Pillar 4: Marketing and Communication
Here we explore how we are going to use your brand and marketing channels to scale the
movement. It’s a different way of approaching marketing but it is incredibly effective.
Pillar 5: Customer Experience
How you engage your customers in your organisation’s purpose is obviously important, but
what this pillar explores because of this, is how your purpose will drive innovation in your
business.
Pillar 6: Impact and Performance
It is vital that we measure both our social impact and performance. Purpose is a long-term business strategy so we need to have long-term measures that we can evaluate, alongside shorter-term markers so we know if our strategy is delivering on expectations.
FREE 6 PILLAR WEBINAR SERIES
As I mentioned earlier in this blog, one of the biggest barriers to creating impact is action. So to take that barrier out I’m going to be offering a free webinar on each individual pillar, so you can start creating authentic impact. In these Webinars we’ll be taking a deeper dive into each of these pillars, discussing the essential strategies, frameworks and case studies.
HOW TO PUT PURPOSE AT THE CENTRE OF YOUR BRAND | Thursday 26 August 12:30pm - 1:30pm
PEOPLE & CULTURE | Tuesday 7 September 12:30pm - 1:30pm
PARTNERS IN PURPOSE | Wednesday 22 September 12:30pm - 1:30pm
HOW TO MARKET YOUR PURPOSE | Tuesday 5 October 12:30pm - 1:30pm
PUTTING PURPOSE AT THE CENTRE OF CX | Wednesday 20 October 12:30pm – 1:30pm
IMPACT & PERFORMANCE | Wednesday 3 November 12:30pm - 1:30pm
There’s no access limit to these webinars- if there’s a few pillars that interest you in particular you can attend them individually. Or if you’d like to see how they all work together and really develop your social purpose, come along to all of them.
Find out more about the series here…
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