Content can be a valuable conduit to cultivate purpose. Everyone wants to feel as though they are part of something. Much of the time that longing reflects in causes or beliefs. Content marketers can leverage this with purpose-driven content marketing.
A shared purpose creates trust between the brand and the buyer. It can be a deciding factor when customers make a decision. Thus, it’s valuable to have a purpose-driven content marketing strategy.
You may be unsure about how to create such a plan, and you certainly have to be judicious in determining which cause your brand should support. If that’s where you find yourself, we’re here to help, outlining the five steps you can take to achieve this milestone.
What Is Purpose-Driven Content Marketing?
Purpose-driven content marketing is a way for brands to connect with target audiences based on shared interests, specifically a cause or belief. It’s a way to develop synergy between your business and a buyer. Executing it requires content to be authentic, beneficial, and relevant.
In this definition, it’s easy to see why it’s crucial to your content strategy. It’s one more way to be audience-first in your content. It also makes it clear that your organization supports its belief system, something that’s becoming more important in buying decisions.
Research suggests that 87 percent of B2B buyers purchase products because the company supports a cause they care about. Another survey of consumers revealed that 88 percent want brands to help them make a difference.
Image Credit: Futerra
Is it right for your organization and audience? Studies like these support the idea. Now, all you need is a plan.
Your Purpose-Drive Content Marketing Map
To craft any strategy, you need a blueprint to guide your content plan. Here’s how you can build one in 5 steps.
Step 1: Define Your Brand’s Purpose
Do you really know the “why” of your brand? You’ve likely defined it in a value proposition, mission statement, or another foundational document. That’s a start, but you need to dig deeper. Why do you do what you do (beyond profitability)?
This exercise may include asking questions such as:
- What’s your brand’s role in the bigger picture?
- What values are important to your company?
For example, insurance companies have an objective to provide policies that help customers safeguard valuables and limit liability. But their purpose is to “protect what matters.” That’s a purpose that rings true for any of their buyers and is a statement that imbues trust.
Identifying your brand’s purpose is the first step to purpose-driven marketing.
Step Two: Determine What Matters to Your Audience
Your brand’s purpose is only part of the story. You also need to know what matters to your audience. What causes and beliefs are they concerned with? In a way, your brand’s purpose should meet what matters to your customers.
Through audience marketing and targeting, you can discover their motivations, viewpoints, and mindsets. While uncovering what makes them tick, you can also discern causes they deem as vital. If your company uses raw materials in product manufacturing, and sustainability matters to your customers, you’d want to highlight any practices that support this.
Step Three: Align with Causes that Make Sense
After crafting your “why” and identifying what matters to your audience, it’s time to align with causes. The cause may be donating to a charity, supporting a movement, or partnering with an organization to volunteer.
Some recent examples include:
Gillette and “The Best Men Can Be”
The razor company changed its slogan to “the best men can be” to support the #MeToo movement. They created a short film that quickly went viral. The video has nothing to do with their product. Instead, audiences had a new perception of the brand.
Dove and Real Beauty
Dove has been taking on the standard of beauty for years with cause marketing. The goal was to highlight the distorted sense of beauty society has and to help women with self-esteem issues. This specific video below tells a story but doesn’t feature any of their products.
The Body Shop Time to Care
This year, the brand launched the “Time to Care” campaign. Its focus is on promoting self-care. The company also partners with local shelters to provide toiletries with donations of over $4 million in products.
The campaign includes the hashtag #TimetoCare to curate valuable content about how to practice self-care in healthy ways. In this example, the product aligns with the cause. The use of the hashtag also allows them to track the campaign’s engagement.
Step Four: Create Your Purpose-Driven Content
Now that you have all the pieces, it’s time to develop meaningful content. Content can take many paths, depending on the cause you’re supporting. Some ideas:
- Inspire your audience with thought leadership content that explains why your brand is supporting a cause or partnering with a nonprofit.
- Show a human face by creating videos that feature your employees volunteering or talking about a cause.
- Craft social media campaigns that highlight your message and ask fans to contribute user-generated content to share their own stories.
Step Five: Measure Performance
Once your purpose-driven campaign is live, it’s time to track how well it’s performing. By viewing content analytics, you’ll derive insights into an audience’s reaction. Look for:
- Pageviews on your web pages that talk about the cause, including “About Us” pages or blogs
- Referral traffic from social media campaigns
- Positive brand mentions on social media profiles
- Customer retention rates
- Net promoter score (NPS) ratings
- Conversions tied to cause content
Purpose-Driven Content Drives Trust
Being consistently purposeful with your content builds trust and loyalty. Once you have a customer’s trust, they are more likely to buy from you and stay loyal. Managing such an endeavor can be complex, as is content marketing in general. To remain aligned to your cause and true to your content plan, you’ll need the right tools. DivvyHQ’s content marketing platform can help. See how it works today by starting your 14-day free trial.