Purpose-Driven Marketing: How to Make an Impact with your eCommerce

Did you know that every 1 in 2 consumers around the world says they now purchase based on a business’s brand values and impact? This statistic alone shows why purpose-driven marketing is key.

Purpose-driven marketing in 2023 is not as simple as just donating a check to the first cause you see and posting it on Instagram. It takes much more than that to be successful in this strategy. It takes well-thought-out creativity, substantial effort, and creatively as well as partnering with other nonprofits and charities. On top of all of that, you must truly care for the cause.

Ecommerce and purpose driven marketing are joining forces to create amazing results for charities around the world and improving sales and brand loyalty tremendously. Whether you are a luxury brand looking for an effective marketing strategy, or looking to rebrand your identity, In this post, we will be diving into the importance of purpose driven marketing, how to create a strategy, and how to change the world with purpose-driven commerce.

What is Purpose Driven Marketing?

Purpose driven marketing is connecting your brand to a larger cause, typically a charity or larger issue going on in the world. This strategy makes people feel like they are a part of something bigger by supporting brands that support causes around the world or community- especially if it hits home to them personally.

It is proven that 72% of consumers have a higher chance of recommending a brand that supports a good cause, and 73% are willing to switch brands if a competitor supports a cause they believe in.  These are just a few of the many purpose driven marketing statistics that prove the success rate of incorporating this into your strategy.

How to Define Your Purpose

Defining your business purpose acts as a navigational tool directing your strategic decisions, inspiring your team, and establishing a profound connection with your customers. Here are some steps to assist you in carving out your business purpose:

1. Assess your passion - As a business leader, identify your true passion. What motivated you to establish the business? This passion often lays the groundwork for your business purpose.
2. Identify core values - Reflect on the values that are deeply important to your business. These values often come from your own personal beliefs and ethos. They should act as guiding principles for your business operations and behavior.
3. Consider your unique strengths - Identify what your business does exceptionally well. Your unique strengths, or core competencies, could be related to your product, service, team, or even business model. These can offer clues to your business purpose.
4. Understand your customers - Know who your customers are and what they value. Your purpose should resonate with them and address their needs or aspirations.
5. Define your impact - Beyond profitability, determine how your business contributes to the broader community, society, or even the planet. This will help you outline your larger purpose or mission.
6. Craft your purpose statement - Once you've gathered these insights, craft a clear, concise purpose statement. This should encapsulate why your business exists and what it hopes to achieve beyond financial success.
7. Review and refine - As your business evolves, so too may your purpose. Regularly review and refine your purpose statement to ensure it continues to reflect your business accurately.

Purpose Driven Marketing’s Impact on Ecommerce

Ecommerce companies and purpose driven marketing work very well together to drive customer loyalty and develop your brand. Working with an important cause for your eCommerce site will not only drive engagement and interest but also bring your name to a larger audience and develop an emotional connection between the brand and the customer.

Another huge way to drive engagement and traffic through these campaigns is by creating partnerships and hiring ambassadors to work alongside the company for social campaigns and help promote the project. Social media engagement is a huge part of why this type of marketing has such a large positive impact on eCommerce. With nearly ⅓ of the world interacting with social media over 10 times a day, the more people you have promoting your campaign, the better. Here are some pointers on how to create your own purpose driven marketing strategy.

How to Create a Purpose Driven Marketing Strategy

Here are the steps to create purpose-driven marketing strategies:

1. Find a Purpose

Before committing to a purpose driven marketing campaign, you must find a cause or purpose that connects with your audience and your overall brand. Start with connecting your vision for the campaign to your WHY. For example, DIFF’s company vision is to create great eyewear for customers around the world, so they support causes that help those around the world have access to eyewear.

2. Stay committed and consistent

When committing to a purpose driven marketing campaign, you must go all in. Staying committed and consistent is essential to creating valuable content that will connect with your audience. This is a real cause, so show your audience REAL updates! Show the behind the scenes of all the hard work, volunteering, and donating that is going on behind the scenes (Hint, hint: you must put in the hard work and volunteering)  with your brand. Showing consistent dedication is key to a successful campaign.

3. Track results

While any partnership helping out a cause in need and a win, at the end of the day, this strategy is focusing on driving sales. Be sure to analyze how interactive your customers are with the posts devoted to the campaign, as well as keep a close look out for positive brand mentions in the media. Look back on your goals set from step 1 and reflect on how well you have, or haven’t achieved them.

Steps to Let Your Marketing Strategy Align with Your Purpose

Synchronising your marketing strategy with your purpose is vital in building a brand that strikes a chord with your target audience. Here's your guide to doing so:

1. Start with understanding your purpose - Your purpose should be the backbone of your marketing strategy. Understand it thoroughly before proceeding.
2. Identify your audience - Your purpose should resonate with your target audience. Undertake research to understand their desires, needs, and values to ensure your purpose aligns with theirs.
3. Generate purpose-driven content - Your content should mirror your purpose. Regardless of the format - blog posts, social media updates, or email newsletters, consistently convey your purpose through your content.
4. Foster authentic relationships - Engage meaningfully with your audience. Demonstrate that you're not merely focused on selling a product or service but are committed to your purpose.
5. Evaluate and adapt - Regularly measure the influence of your marketing efforts on your mission. Should a tactic fall short of expectations, don't be reluctant to amend your plan.

Bear in mind, a mission-centric marketing strategy can fortify your relationship with your audience and set your brand apart in the competitive landscape. Maintain consistency, authenticity, and stay receptive to transformation as your brand and mission grow in unison.

Purpose Driven Marketing Campaigns and Social Media

Besides just doing a great deed for the community and world around you, purpose driven marketing campaigns have the potential to increase brand recognition, loyalty, and overall image in an extremely positive way.  Whether it is using brand ambassadors to spread the word on social media platforms, partnering with charities and creating content, or even just working just within your brand- it is all about how you put out your content that determines if your campaign will be a success or not. Here are some pointers to get drive the best results and engagement through your purpose driven marketing campaign on social media.

Use Hashtags

Creating a specific hashtag to use solely for the campaign is going to shift your campaign from being just an advertisement to a movement. Having a hashtag for your campaign also encourages your audience to share their story and opinion online, making them feel like they are a part of the movement as well.

A great example of a hashtag that created a movement on social media platforms was Always and their #LikeAGirl campaign supporting the confidence of young girls. The effects of this campaign reached so far that the positive association with the phrase “Like A Girl” increased from 19% to 76% since the campaign launched.

Tell a Story

This year specifically, advertisements are shifting from just telling the audience about a product, to telling them a story. Creating that emotional connection to drive the eyes of your audience is so powerful and creates the brand loyalty and satisfaction that business owners are striving for.

The recent video advertisement by Budweiser, “This Bud’s for 3”. In the film Budweiser created a film of Dwayne Wade’s fans thanking him for making such a positive impact in their lives. Showing how important and rewarding giving back to others is, starting a movement of inspiration.

Encourage Sharing

With the rise of social media in the present and future, people are constantly sharing information. Encourage your audience to share the campaign with their following and get the word out about what your brand is doing in the world beyond just selling products or services.

Final Takeaway

Purpose driven marketing is becoming so important to not only just eCommerce businesses, but businesses of all types. Many companies and brands are changing the world with this type of marketing and are striving to create a brand that reaches further than just a paycheck. To ensure you have a successful campaign, be sure to keep in mind this equation:

Cause = Audience = Sentiment

These key factors work together to create loyalty, conversion, and engagement for your business. Your cause, audience, and sentiment must all align to create the perfect campaign that leverages purpose-driven marketing trends and drives the ongoing impact you are striving for, and ideally, change the world.

This blog is last updated on 10th September 2023