Your branding is a promise. It’s the story of who you are, why it matters, who you serve, and how you serve them. When done right, branding tells the full story your audience will use to decide if they want to engage with your company or not.
Three Questions to Help You Define Your Brand Purpose
Your brand purpose gives you direction and focus. It’s the reason you do what you do. The reason your company functions as it does, and the reason behind the messages you share with the world. And without being clear on your brand purpose, you’ll have a hard time being clear on what branding actions to take – and why. See, there’s a lot of decisions to be made around branding:
*What voice should you use in your marketing?
*How to frame your marketing campaigns
*How do you keep your village (community) engaged?
*What style should you follow in designing your visual assets?
When you’re clear on your brand purpose, you’re able to answer these questions. You have clarity around your branding, what distinguishes you in the marketplace, and how to connect best with your customers and clients. So, how do you get clear on your purpose? As with most aspects of branding, questions can help you gain clarity.
Here Are Three Questions to Help You Find Your Brand Purpose
- Why? Everything starts with why.
“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe” – Start with Why by Simon Sinek.
In the bestselling, Start with Why author Simon Sinek explains that our most powerful motivator is the answer to the question ‘why’. This applies to your branding as well. When you can clearly answer why your business does what it does, it gives you motivation and clarity around how to brand yourself. Why did your company start? What was the main reason? Why do you continue to operate? These powerful questions are like a guiding light for your branding.
- What does your audience expect from you (or what do you want them to expect from you if you’re just starting)?
Over time, your audience will expect you to conduct yourself with a certain style, tone, pattern, and way of doing business and marketing. This is your brand story. Although companies do change and rebrand, consistency is the most important aspect of branding. Even with a rebrand, businesses must consider what their audience has come to expect from them. These expectations also fuel your purpose. It’s important not to stray far from what your audience expects of you. When they come to know your branding story, you build trust by
- What’s your vision? As outlined in the Brandview Framework, your brand vision is the direction your business is headed. It’s where you’re going as a company and you need to make that clear for your customers, too.
Your brand vision steers the way for your business and marketing. It’s the foundational roadmap for where you are as a company and where you want to be. The brand vision is summarized in a vision statement. But it’s more than just a statement. It’s one of the most important layers of your business foundation.
Clear vision also gives you guidance for your branding. It’s a reminder of the most important tasks for your branding efforts. It’s vital you consistently ask yourself where you’re going. When branding, ask yourself and team if your strategy and aspects of your brand match your vision. It’s essential that these aspects align. A strong brand purpose can separate a good company from a great one. Of course, there’s a general purpose behind branding that all businesses share. But your company needs to get clear on your specific brand purpose.