How to be Purposeful With Your Purpose-Driven Content [Examples]

In that same research, 68% say they are more willing to share content from purpose-driven brands with their social networks than content from traditional companies. I can’t find too many examples of successful brands that don’t have incredibly powerful employee cultures in addition to consumer cultures.” An excerpt from Kantar Consulting’s Purpose 2020: Inspiring Purpose-Led Growth report offers a simple way to understand the breadth of purpose for a brand: “Today, employees want to do more than sell cars. That purpose speaks to both the brand and its audience. Through sharing stories of second chances and redemption, the brand resonated emotionally with consumers. Dave Dahl has become a go-to resource on the topic of hiring people with criminal backgrounds. In 2015, it released the survey results (e.g., two-thirds of Europeans didn’t think women were capable of achieving high-level scientific positions). Tell inspiring stories and inspire others Author and marketer Anne Janzer offers Dick’s Sporting Goods as a good example. Find your purpose and build a strategy Given the growing interest of consumers in patronizing brands that have a purpose beyond selling products or services, developing a purpose-driven content marketing strategy is essential. Then you can build your content, delivering text, videos, social media, live events, and more that serves your business and your targeted audience. What brands have you seen doing purpose-driven content marketing well?

Author: Ann Gynn / Source: Content Marketing Institute

Editor’s note: You may have missed the original version of this article published a few years ago. Purpose-driven marketing is an even hotter topic today so we’ve updated the post and included some fresh examples.

Most marketers (and many businesses) recognize the value of developing content based on a shared interest in supporting a worthy cause or taking a stand.

Success in purpose-driven content marketing, though, requires you to go beyond that. It demands that you execute the right purpose-driven content marketing strategy in an authentic, organic way that brings benefit to everyone involved.

Successful purpose-driven content marketing must feel like an integral part of the brand, not a one-off. For example, simply changing your company’s Facebook profile image to a cause-colored ribbon for a month is an isolated tactic, not an element of an organic, purpose-driven content marketing strategy.

A successful strategy is built for the long haul and speaks to the goals and interests of the brand, its employees, and the customers (or prospects). And that shared interest doesn’t revolve around profits for the business. Nearly eight in 10 Americans say they are more loyal to purpose-driven brands than traditional brands, according to a 2018 study from Cone/Porter Novelli. In that same research, 68% say they are more willing to share content from purpose-driven brands with their social networks than content from traditional companies.

Purpose-driven brands also resonate with their employees. As Content Marketing World presenter Jeff Fromm says, “(Purpose) is important because it impacts employees and consumers. I can’t find too many examples of successful brands that don’t have incredibly powerful employee cultures in addition to consumer cultures.”

An excerpt from Kantar Consulting’s Purpose 2020: Inspiring Purpose-Led Growth report offers a simple way to understand the breadth of purpose for a brand: “Today, employees want to do more than sell cars. And today customers want to do more than buy cars.”

Know your purpose

The first step in empowering your brand’s purpose is to recognize what that purpose is. The Kantar Purpose 2020 report explains the differences among purpose, vision, mission, and corporate social responsibility. Simply put, your purpose should be about your positive impact on the world. Your purpose should not be about the positive impact on your company (though that’s an indirect benefit).

Now, let’s get into detail about some brands that know their purpose and are executing it successfully.

Answer burning questions

Axe, a Unilever brand of grooming products, focuses on a young male demographic. It created a content campaign around Google search requests that start with “is it OK for men to …?” The purpose was “to break the cycle of toxic masculinity by providing guys with resources to live more freely,” according to this AdWeek article. That purpose speaks to both the brand and its audience.

As part of the initiative, Axe, according to AdWeek, developed partnerships with three nonprofits – Ditch the Label (to create a digital network to support guys struggling with toxic masculinity), Promundo (to research stereotypes and subsequent challenges), and The Representation Project (to sponsor the campus tour of its film The Mask You Live In). And Axe asked influencers to share their #itsokforguys stories.

Make the cause logical to brand

Taxi-alternative provider Lyft has partnered with several voting-advocate organizations to encourage people to vote in the U.S. elections. It used its social media channels to remind people about voting deadlines. It has given its drivers voter registration handouts and key voter information to distribute. And it’s hosted in-office voter registration for employees.

Lyft also smartly connects the purpose to its reason for being in business – offering free rides for underserved communities where residents may not be able to afford transportation to get to the polls and discount codes for others who use Lyft to get to their voting locations.