When you think about a marketing agency, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?
Is it a group of people sitting around a table, trying to think of the next ad they can create to suck someone into buying something they don’t need? You know, Mad Men style?
We totally understand if that’s how you see marketing. Every day we’re surrounded by ads, from YouTube videos to the overflowing promotions tab in our email inboxes.
But guess what? Advertising is only a small part of what marketing firms can do. Yes, advertising is part of it, but marketing is so much more than that. It’s how you show the world what your brand stands for and the cause behind your company. In short, it’s how you make an impact.
And now more than ever, people want to know the products they buy are making a positive impact on the world around them. In fact, 71% of millennials will actually pay more if they see the brand they purchase supporting a cause.
So, what does that mean for your brand?
It means that your marketing strategy needs to be bigger than running ads on social media and hoping that they will bring in enough attention. You need to make a genuine connection with your potential customers and show them what matters to you and your brand.
If you can connect with your target audience and integrate your purpose, you will have a greater impact!
What Makes a Brand Successful?
What brands do you see as successful?
Take a second to think about what makes them stand out to you. Is it the branding — the logos, colors, slogans? Or is it their prevalence — are they a worldwide corporation? Do you see their ad campaigns all over the internet?
Prominent brands stand out for a number of reasons, but at the end of the day, it’s clear that some just do a better job of reaching people than others.
Let’s look at this simple scenario as an example:
Two brands are selling nearly identical products. Brand A sells its product for $25 per unit, while Brand B sells them for $35 per unit. Even though they are selling practically the same thing, Brand B is more profitable and reaches a broader audience.
So what sets Brand B apart?
Connection
When you’re looking to find out something new or looking into a new brand, where’s the first place you turn? For us, it’s Google.
Ranking high on Google makes a significant impact on your brand’s visibility. In fact, moving up one spot in the Google search results can improve your site’s click-through rating by 30% and only a fraction of 1% of Google users make it to the second page.
Let’s keep the Brand A vs. Brand B comparison going.
You search for the product that both Brand A and Brand B sell, but only one name comes up on the first page — Brand B. Since you saw Brand B first, you instantly connect with that brand.
Brand B has a significant advantage because they have more online visibility! It allows them to explain what makes their product great, introduce their people to their consumers, and make a bigger impact with their brand.
Their first-page status increases Brand B’s chances to connect with customers and sell their product before the consumer even has a chance to look at Brand A’s product.
Consistency
You’ve heard it time and time again — consistency is key.
And that’s because it is!
In the example of Brand A and Brand B, there’s a reason Brand B made it to the front page of Google, and Brand A lagged behind — Brand B stayed consistent with its marketing strategies.
Brand B focused on connecting with their audience and expanding their influence with three consistent forms of media:
- Daily social media posts geared toward connection with their customers
- Weekly blog posts that repurpose their social media content
- A monthly email newsletter that deepens their sense of community
By staying consistent and focusing on connection, Brand B opened the door to make a greater impact!
Three Ways to Grow a Purpose-Driven Brand That Makes an Impact
Your brand is more than a bottom line.
When you think of a purpose-driven brand, which names come up? Some big names that we think of include Patagonia, TOMS, Bombas, and Seventh Generation.
Whether you have a fairly established brand or you’re just starting out, you understand that there is so much more to running an organization than cash flow. There’s a vision behind what you want to accomplish.
Your vision could be making lives better with a revolutionary new product, changing people through personal coaching, or saving the world through your brand’s influence. To turn that vision into a reality, you need an effective marketing strategy.
These three things need to be part of your marketing strategy to reach others: focus, trust, and authenticity.
1. Focus: Know Who You Want to Reach
First, you need to know where you are aiming.
One thing that trips many brands up is that they don’t know who their target audience is, and without that focus, they struggle to find success with their brand. Their product could be excellent, but they never make an impact because they don’t reach the right people with their marketing.
To find your target audience, you need to do some market research. And since going door-to-door and asking people if they like your brand isn’t an efficient process, these tools can help you narrow down your audience:
- Google Analytics: Google tracks everyone’s data, including your customers. Google Analytics can help you see who is searching for you broken down into location, age, gender, and other demographics.
- Social Media Analytics: Every social media outlet offers detailed information about who is looking at your posts. Studying who is liking/sharing your posts and following your page can help you get a better idea of who your brand appeals to.
- Website Performance Data: Take a minute to see what’s working well on your website and what’s lacking. If you have some blog topics that are doing better than others or certain pages people spend more time on, it gives you data about your audience’s likes.
When you know who you are reaching with your current marketing strategies and continue to move forward in that direction, your brand will grow. It probably won’t happen overnight, but if you consistently market toward the right audience, your area of influence will expand.
2. Trust: Build Your Brand Through Multiple Channels
When you build trust with your customers and Google, you’ll see consistent growth.
Now that you’ve found your target audience, you need to make a connection with them. There are a few different ways you can share your brand with your consumers, from standard social media posts to massive text/email blasts that reach your entire list.
However, if you’re not building trust with Google as well, you’re missing out on a golden opportunity.
The best strategy for being noticed by Google is a diversified approach through repurposed content. Repurposing your content both increases the chances of your followers seeing you and gets you noticed by Google.
For example, suppose you like to reach your audience through audio-visual media like podcasts and YouTube videos. You can gain more followers on those platforms but miss out on the exponential growth that multiple channels provide.
When you take those high-quality YouTube videos and podcast articles and transform them into content-rich long-form blogs and social media posts, you build trust with Google. The more you trust Google has in your brand, the higher your brand’s site shows up in searches.
The better you rank with Google, the greater your impact will be.
3. Authenticity: Share Yourself with Your Customers
Your customers need to see the real you.
If you want to build a purpose-driven brand that makes an impact, the consumer needs to see that. Always remember to keep your purpose at the core of what you share.
We’re not saying you should forget about the products you want to promote — the “business side” of your business. However, you shouldn’t forget the purpose behind the brand when you’re trying to sell to your consumer.
Is your brand making an impact by donating to charity, or are you building a product that changes peoples’ lives? Share that!
It does two things when you let others have a window into the cause behind your brand.
- It deepens the connection your audience has with you.
- And it makes them feel like their support is making a difference (because it is!).
Don’t hide your light from your customers. Go volunteer with the charities you’re supporting. Share a video of your product in action. Tell other people about your mission!