4 Steps to Build a Purpose-Driven Content Marketing Strategy

People prefer companies that stand up for something. As a matter of fact, two in five consumers would prefer to work with a brand that supports a relevant cause. They want to give their money to brands that have a positive social impact. This is why it’s not hard to realize that if you truly want to connect with your target consumers, you need to do it through purpose-driven content marketing.

On that note, let’s have a look at the four crucial steps that you need to conduct to define, and use your brand’s purpose to create a content marketing strategy for eCommerce that resonates with your customers.

1. Understand That Purpose Matters

Brand purpose is the reason that your business exists that has bigger goals and motivations than profits. If you look at some of the brands that implement purpose-driven content properly, you can’t help but distinguish the difference from other companies in the industry.

For example, Dove always produces inspirational content that acknowledges women’s self-esteem by emphasizing that the real beauty of women is skin deep. Their content campaign revolves heavily around projecting a positive body image for women.

These types of campaigns make the brand likable to women, which is Dove’s main target clientele. Dove’s content fits perfectly with their personal care products, which makes their campaigns justifiable and relevant for the consumers.

The most important thing of all is that they connect with their customers on an emotional level, with a purpose that affects them on a deeper personal level. Women get an empowering feeling when they purchase a Dove product.

This shows that your brand’s purpose can, and should be, turned into effective content that sells. Your consumers can tell if your intentions and sales efforts are bogus. Even supporting a charity can show that the company cares.

In a nutshell, purpose-driven content marketing strategy for B2B matters because:

• Increases Brand Recognition. If your content is meaningful and useful to your group of target customers, they’ll start sharing it with their friends. If their friends share it too, it means that the number of people that agree with your brand’s purpose is growing!
• Valuable Interactions. When consumers are guided by the same purpose that you have as a company, they’ll open your social channels regularly and comment, like, and engage in discussions.
• Enhancing Loyalty. If people are emotionally connected to your company’s purpose, they’ll feel good about buying from you and becoming long-term customers, which is the perfect company-client relationship.
• Helps Improve Brand Credibility and Authenticity. Companies that implement purpose-driven content marketing strategy for small businesses attract customers that are looking for brands that they can connect with. Doing this will help improve your credibility and authenticity, as they will realize that you have goals that you want to reach. Additionally, it also aims to captivate other brands’ attention so they’d be enticed to partner up with you.
• Leaves a Unique and Lasting Impression. Having a purpose-driven content marketing strategy leaves a mark on your audience’s minds. The more unique your tactics are, the better they will remember you.

2. Find Your Purpose

In addition to your content strategy and tactics, you need to have a clear direction, a purpose that commands every aspiration of your content, something that Simon Sinek discusses in his methodology of Why and the “Golden Circle”.

The art of a purpose-driven content strategy is to embrace the main purpose of your company, develop your strategies, and staying rational and convincing in the process. A purpose-driven brand can tell powerful stories.

Your brand purpose is not your vision, and neither your mission! Your purpose is your “Why”. It is an idea that is much bigger than making a profit.

Your vision is the “Where” do you want your company to be in the future? For example, “Being the biggest autotrader company in Europe by 2030”.

The mission of your company is “What”. This includes different tactics and product/service development processes that you should utilize to achieve your vision.

Your company values are the “How”. How will your brand obtain your vision? This is closely related to your company culture and the qualities that your teams possess as a whole.

A 2019 survey from Deloitte reveals that Millennials, in general, prioritize the purpose over profits. In essence, they look for a job that stimulates their sense of purpose, which makes them feel good and influential overall. This is a rising worldwide trend, and consequently, 75% of Gen-Z (1995-2015) think that work should have a bigger motive than just taking home a paycheck.

Look at what your customers want and what you have to offer. Be sincere about your purpose, but don’t forget the beliefs of your target customers as well. It’s all about what inspires you as a team and moving on from there.

If you haven’t discovered your brand’s purpose yet, you need to dig deeper into your story, look at the reasons why you founded your company. Look at what you’re good at and what your passions are as a company. The crossover of those traits will help you define your brand purpose.

3. Let the Purpose Direct Your Content

According to CMI, purpose-driven content marketing is:

To start creating purpose-driven content for your marketing strategy, you need to begin by answering the following questions:

• What are my strengths and weaknesses as a brand?
• Why would someone buy from me over my competitors?
• What are my reasons behind starting my own company?
• Why do I want to build a close relationship with my customers?
• What are my brand’s values?
• Am I prepared to take a stand?
• What kind of future do I want for my company?

For example, JetBlue is an airline company that is known for its renowned customer service. The airline industry is a tough one, and lots of things can go wrong, both for the companies, from a logistics standpoint, and for customers, including flight delays, rude staff, and so on.

But JetBlue takes customer service and company culture to a whole new level. One of the coolest things is their “People Officer” that surprises passengers at random with rewards on flights and airports. This includes handing out free tickets for another destination or playing trivia games with passengers.

They create long-lasting relationships with passengers on the go. Given the competition with flight discounts, having impeccable customer service while promoting the quality of your flight is an excellent way to create a loyal following.

Another brand example is Toms Shoes. They have a purpose to donate one pair of shoes to someone in need every time a customer buys a pair.

This not only attracts more customers that want to contribute to the purpose, but it also sparks a revolution because Warby Parker has also accepted the business model and has a similar donation campaign.

The companies that are mentioned above know how to communicate their brands’ purpose. Here’s how you can do the same:

• Support a Cause: What is your audience interested in? Donate and support a nonprofit or charity that matters to your customers.
• Create Partnerships: Team-up and work together with other brands. Look for partnership opportunities. For example, Uber partnered with Spotify so passengers can listen to their favorite music on the ride.
• Create Valuable Content: In every niche, the audience craves valuable content. For example, Reebok’s 25,915 days campaign. The sports apparel company wants to honor our daily life and push our bodies to the max. It’s an excellent way to promote fitness at any age.
• Be Timely: One brand stands out during the holiday season – Coca Cola! Although, Pepsi is there too, especially during events such as the Super Bowl Sunday, which is practically a holiday in America. This is why it is important to be timely and showcase that seasons and milestone events are meaningful for your brand as much as for your customers.
• Humanize: That’s right! People want to buy from companies that appear human and not like robots. Show photos from your team, behind-the-scenes videos, and have team members interact with the consumers.
• Amuse: Google Analytics knows how important conversion rate and page optimization is. Everyone loves to have a good laugh, and humor can be really powerful for brands if it is implemented at the right time and in a manner that immediately puts a smile on the consumers’ faces.

• Volunteer: If you or your employees volunteer and made a difference, and post some valuable content about your contribution. Volunteering is always a chance to make your employees feel good about themselves while also enriching your community at the same time.
• Take a Stand on Important Issues. Customers today are more aware of social issues, and they tend to lean towards brands that support an important cause.

Be Consistent

If you jump from one purpose to another, it shows a lack of consistency, care, and phoniness. This confuses and detaches customers away from your brand. You need to support a cause and stick with it! Consistent support is a message to your consumers that something is really important for your company!

4. Measure the Impact of Your Brand

The success of your content, including purpose-driven content, can vary. One of the best ways to determine if your content is successful is to establish goals and measure the metrics that matter. The most popular goal for purpose-driven content is increasing brand awareness and customer loyalty.

You need to keep track of the number of visitors that your website gets, as well as how many of those visitors become your customers. Analyze the following:

• Number of returning website visitors.
• Customers that came from a referral or recommendation.
• Positive brand mentions.
• Customer satisfaction score.
• Customer retention rate.

Wrapping Up

As the interest of modern consumers that support businesses with a purpose rises, there’s no better time to be focused on causes and improve the world through your products and content. Purpose-related content, when it is done well, builds trust and increases the loyalty of your customers. It’s not just a contribution to humanity, it’s good business.