purpose based sign

Purpose Based Businesses Communicate Better

Purpose-based businesses communicate better

purpose based sign

 

Having a business purpose is a key factor in long-term business success. Purpose-based businesses can communicate more authentically with customers to create trust and long-term relationships.

A businesses purpose is the underlying reason that it exists. It can be described as the key customer benefit that they wish to achieve or the change they wish to make in the world.

Although most businesses will start with a purpose, a problem they want to fix, this can get lost over time. In the end, the business just becomes a sum of its functions (usually a set of products and features). Typically, since it these functions are what concerns the business, they are likely to become less and less relevant to customers’ primary needs.

Unlike these functionally oriented organisations, purpose-based businesses are naturally purposeful innovators, only creating new products or enhancements where these meet their primary customer benefit.

 

Purpose based communications

Business purpose also has a huge impact on how it communicates with its customers.

For many businesses, marketing communications is often disconnected from the rest of the organization. This means that the marketing team expected to “colour in” the products that the company needs to sell and add some the magic dust that will make their product or service exciting to potential customers.

Where the marketing team doesn’t have a clear understanding of the customer benefit that the product or service seeks to achieve, advertising becomes heavy on features and light on tangible customer benefits. There will be an emphasis on tactical gimmicks that may attract interest but won’t convert potential customers. Marketing becomes disconnected from the development process and then has to try to fill in the purpose-based elements of an initiative or product launch. As a result, communication can be bland, forced and insincere.

For example, the details of a major product enhancement, for entry for an award, were provided to the marketing team as eight short bullet points in an instant message from one of the developer. The marketing team struggled to pull out any strong customer benefits from the feature list. Unsurprisingly, the product did not get shortlisted.

The communications team in a purpose-based company already has a framework for communicating with potential customers. This ensures that all communications refer back to the customer benefit that the company is seeking to deliver. Their communications make sense and are consistent across time.

This also shows itself in the way the business presents itself to the world. For functional-based organisations, there is a huge emphasis on corporate image which means that a lot of energy will go into logos, typefaces, imagery etc. to make a connection with their markets.

For a purpose-based organization, the emphasis is making sure that the internal reality of the company continues to deliver on the ultimate customer benefit.

So, changes in brand styling will signal changes made by the company to advance their mission, not a short-term desire to change perceptions.

Purpose based communication builds loyalty because it is authentic. The benefits offered ring true in the ears of potential customers, creating a relationship of trust. And as the customer engages with the company this initial trust is further enhanced as the company will focus on delivering on the customer benefit offered.

And purpose-based communication is important for employee motivation and retention. Staff are uncomfortable when how the company describes itself does not match the reality inside it.

Increasing employees want to work for organisations that have a sense of purpose and focus making their customers’ lives better. Exaggerating the extent of the company’s capabilities to what they think customers want to hear chips away at the employees’ trust in the organization itself.

 

Conclusion

Is your business is suffering from disappointing marketing communications? If so, maybe your business lacks a sense of common purpose that enables your customers and staff to become loyal advocates. Understanding the core benefit that you want your customers to receive will focus your strategy, sharpen your communications and motivate your team.