3 Ways to Deliver on Being a “Purpose-Driven Brand”

We’ve entered the period of objective.

70% of employees consider it’s vital to work for a enterprise with a transparent sense of objective.  And, 54% of consumers have decreased or stopped buying from organisations they suppose missed the mark on environmental or social points.

Extra, countless data points in our most recent State of Consumer Trends Report spotlight how having a stable objective or mission will win over right this moment’s audiences and allow you to face out towards rivals.

The final two and a half years have introduced into focus what it means to be a purpose-driven firm. The worldwide pandemic disrupted provide chains and highlighted rising inequalities. The continued menace of local weather change shifted market dynamics and investor expectations, leaving companies realising they have to act. To not point out, the Nice Resignation/Reflection proved that workers are more and more searching for worth and objective at work.

There’s no query that driving worth for stakeholders, society, and the planet is crucial. Right this moment and sooner or later, we’ll see extra firms begin to weave objective into their enterprise.

However, objective is greater than a buzzword. For successful firms, objective declares an organization’s core purpose for existence and its distinctive affect on the world. Finished proper, firms join folks’s particular person objective with the organizations. However, constructing that doesn’t come simple.

That’s why leaders iterate and evolve on an organization’s objective as they develop. At HubSpot, our objective of constructing an organization that future generations could be happy with serves as our roadmap to assist decide which ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) initiatives we pursue to make an affect.

Whereas we’re nonetheless early in our journey, there are three areas that I consider are key for firms to ship on objective: authenticity, engagement, and affect.

How one can Run (& Market) Your Model With Goal

1. Embed objective in a approach that’s genuine to your group

In the 2011 Black Friday edition of The New York Times, Patagonia revealed a daring full-page advert telling prospects to not purchase their jacket. Going into element as to why, Patagonia transparently listed the elements: the jacket required 36 gallons of water to supply (sufficient to fill the every day wants of 45 folks), emitted 20 kilos of carbon dioxide (24 instances the burden of the jacket), and produced two-thirds of its weight in waste.

Source: Patagonia, The New York Times

It is not nearly merely stating that you’ve got a objective. Genuine purpose-driven firms “stroll the stroll” by being clear, accountable, and genuine in all the pieces they do. Patagonia’s marketing campaign resonated with so many as a result of it had a strong message with out sacrificing their objective of being in enterprise to save lots of our house planet.

To actually drive change, objective have to be rooted in authenticity. With out authenticity, objective falls flat and results in mistrust and confusion.

That’s why at HubSpot, we stroll the stroll earlier than we speak the speak. Every part from our enterprise choices, our action plan around Black Lives Matter, and the place we’re falling quick is communicated clearly to our workers earlier than it’s shared externally. Corporations can lead with authenticity by guaranteeing their objective displays the corporate’s core values, regularly reinforcing how workers are contributing to objective, and committing actual motion to ship on that objective.  

2. Have interaction workers to activate their objective

Earlier than you even think about advertising and marketing round your objective, you may need to engrain it throughout the work you do.

In accordance with Mckinsey & Company, 70% of workers really feel that their sense of objective in life is outlined by their work, indicating that an organisation’s objective generally is a sturdy affect on a person’s sense of price.  

At a time when people are looking to derive meaning from their work, it’s vital to repeatedly reinforce how and why workers can contribute to creating an affect.

One option to interact workers is by speaking not solely the corporate’s actions, but in addition what workers can do to get entangled.

For Earth Day this yr, members of our Eco@HubSpot worker curiosity useful resource group participated in a Slack occasion referred to as the Rising Greener Problem, the place they obtained one simple motion every day to assist put money into our planet.

 For every accomplished motion, HubSpot donated to the International Greengrants Fund (GGF). Collectively, HubSpotters took 1,306 actions – together with shopping for native meals with a low carbon footprint, unplugging home equipment not in use and repurposing gadgets that will usually be thrown away – elevating over $9,000 for the GGF.

It’s additionally vital to set the tone on the prime, and create an surroundings the place workers really feel snug residing their objective at work. As a part of our twice-a-year efficiency opinions, all workers, together with government management, are requested to share how they’re prioritizing range, inclusion, and belonging — a core a part of our mission — of their work.

And at each firm assembly, we take time to acknowledge HubSpotters who embody a facet of our core values, which helps to encourage a way of objective throughout the enterprise.

3. Contemplate your influencing function in objective.

Goal shouldn’t stay in a vacuum. A part of being a accountable, purpose-driven firm shouldn’t be solely creating worth in your personal firm, however for others inside your bigger ecosystem. This may embrace your prospects, suppliers, and even your prospects’ prospects.

As strain continues to construct for firms to satisfy regulatory calls for and take motion on local weather change, suppliers will likely be anticipated to do extra than simply ship product. They’ll be requested intimately about what it means to be a accountable enterprise.

Just lately, I’ve been participating with our prospects to know the sustainability points they care about and the way we might be able to collaborate. The suggestions is obvious: they’ve an actual urge for food for extra transparency into what we’re doing, and need to be a part of us on our journey. With over 135,000 prospects throughout greater than 120 international locations, it could be irresponsible to not acknowledge the super potential now we have for affect. Getting grasp of and investing on this multiplier impact is essential to success.

As we gear up for a brand new yr, we’re asking ourselves how our ESG efforts join with HubSpot’s mission, objective, and core values. Now we have made good progress however nonetheless have a option to go and extra to be taught, however by main with authenticity, participating our workers, and contemplating our influencer function, we’ll proceed to make progress on our genuine objective to construct an organization that future generations could be happy with.

What’s Your Goal?

Goal is not simply one thing you’ll be able to point out in a advertising and marketing marketing campaign.

In the end, your objective is sort of a promise that you just’re making to your audiences and workers. Make it considerate, actionable, and intentional.

Now that you have realized find out how to actually embrace your objective, it is time so that you can resolve what that model objective will likely be.

To be taught extra about how mission and objective impacts your audiences, prospects, and workers right this moment, take a look at our State of Shopper Developments Report beneath.