WHY SHOULD ANYONE DO BUSINESS WITH YOU?

Being able to answer this question gives your business purpose for its existence, a reason for people to connect with it, which from a business point of view, also helps you differentiate yourself from competitors.

Whether you are being asked by a consumer, an investor or even the government, answering this question is the key to unlocking purposeful business connections that have the potential to drive more revenue compared to your business’ competitors.

The purpose of this article is to help you embed purpose into your business, while making you understand why it is important for you, in this era, to have a purpose-driven approach to doing business.

What is Purpose?

Purpose can be defined as a business' reason for being - the deeper meaning it brings to people's minds, the contributions it makes to serving the world instead of taking from it, and a powerful competitive advantage that leads to new ways of reaching for profits.

It has been proven however, that it is easy to misunderstand purpose. Nowadays, many brands and public figures aggressively attach themselves to social initiatives with the aim of showing how 'good' and 'selfless' they are, as they smear their names all over their kind gestures. The problem is that a lot of these brands do not have a meaningful and relevant reason for doing what they are doing. For example, during this pandemic, some alcohol brands have found it easy to donate gallons of alcohol-based hand sanitizers to 'help limit the spread of coronavirus'. However, as soon as it is announced that there will be a ban on alcohol sales as these contribute to social gatherings, the same liquor brands burst into complaints, calling for the ease in alcohol restrictions. The intention here is not to assume that these brands are unfair for making their claims, instead it is to point out that they are guilty of contradiction. These brands aligned themselves to a purpose that is irrelevant to their business objective. The very reason of limiting the spread of COVID-19 (which they communicated through sanitizer donations) is, according to them, irrelevant to the closure of alcohol sales. Furthermore, these kind of claims are not made because the closure of alcohol sales had nothing to do with promoting social distancing, the claims are made by because the ban is emptying the businesses’ pockets. Therefore, when these alcohol brands donated sanitizers in the first place, it was never about limiting the spread of the virus, instead one can assume that it was about using the virus as a promotional tool for maintaining relevance. Thus we can see that purposeful initiatives can backfire when the message behind them is inconsistent with a business' objectives.

Purpose is your why. It should answer the question of why it is better for the world to have your business or brand in it. It is something that goes beyond profit alone. None of the technical elements and information around your products and services matter when they are not built on a purpose. For example, if you tell someone that you are selling ikota/bunny chow, expect an "okay" as a response, since there are many people who sell it. If you tell someone that ikota yakho (your bunny chow) has the best sauce, most chips, and the softest bread. Expect an "oh alright" as an answer. However, if you say to someone: “iKota belongs to all of us, even those who want to keep healthy. That is why we have included, in our menu of deliciousness, a healthy kota made from brown bread, low-frying the chips with olive oil and replacing the processed meat with a variety of salads to choose from." Then you can expect a reaction that stimulates positive word-of-mouth amongst the health-conscious community, and a new market where health-conscious people become consumers of something that was once considered unhealthy.

Thus, purpose requires you to ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing, and to understand your role in fulfilling the needs and aspirations of your customers as this will help your business/brand play a more vital and relevant role in the lives of customers or clients, employees and even investors.

The Relevance of Purpose:

Purpose should be treated as a guiding principle that directs your brand’s communication – its behaviours, actions, and goals. Put simply, it is about having something bigger to work for, with the potential of inspiring your employees, customers, and other stakeholders in your business. It is important for your business or brand purpose to resonate with people, as this will mean that anyone who has a purpose aligned to yours, is indirectly being served through doing business with you. For example, a person who believes in taking care of the environment, is fulfilling that purpose by simply buying from a grocery shop that offers paper bags instead of plastic bags for packaging their goods. This example also highlights that having a purpose does not mean that your business or brand should be striving to save the world, it is all about the intention behind your business’ actions. The important thing is that your purpose should authentically resonate with customers, motivate people, while being true to the capabilities and strengths of your business.

The benefits of a purpose-driven business are based on growth, engagement, and innovation. More than 50 000 brands across the globe were part of a 10-year growth study which showed that companies built on enriching people’s lives through purpose did better in the market by 400%. Across multiple industries, marketing or communication that reflects values attracts meaningful engagement with all stakeholders: employees, consumers, shareholders, and the brand’s community. Furthermore, a competitive advantage can be achieved through inspiring employees or partners around a shared and purposeful mission as it will help them respond to the question: “why am I working here?” or “why am I working with them?” When you understand what your brand stands for, even innovation becomes concentrated on a purpose.

For example, Facebook’s mission statement reads: “to give people the power to build communities and bring the world closer together”. The brand has thus, introduced innovative features to their app with the aim of contributing to their mission, not purpose, mission. However, emerging research has revealed that social media platforms like Facebook can contribute to not only depression, but loneliness, which ultimately contradicts their overall mission of bringing people closer together. As for helping people build communities – Facebook has been found to play a significant role in fuelling political divisions across the world, which is part of the reason why some countries are adamant on reducing the company’s influence through restrictive policies.

Consequently, one can decipher that Facebook has no concrete reason for innovating… just because there is a new feature of adding stories and more buttons to your Facebook profile, does not mean these innovative features are reducing the brand’s contribution to political divisions, depression, and loneliness. Therefore, focussing on purpose, before making mission statements, allows innovative brands to innovate for a reason.

There are various ways in which you can embed purpose into your business or brand. Just because your business started off without a purpose, does not mean it is too late. The technique that you can use is called OVIE, it is inspired by the name of a childhood street game and is thus a reminder that purpose should be enjoyable, instead of being a burden. OVIE stands for Observe, Validate, Initiate and Embrace.

1. Observe your Circumstances:

This is where you scan your environment so that you understand the greater needs of the people who live in it. A strong purpose is taken from crucial insights about the category of your business/brand, the social context in which it exists, its products or services, as well as its consumers. In the example of selling amakota (bunny chows), the process of observing your circumstances would be as follows: Firstly, you would need to understand that in the category of selling amakota (bunny chows), competition in the neighbourhood is very high, and is usually based on which kota is the most delicious, its price, as well as the distance and time it takes to get it. Secondly, you would observe the social context of your kota business, for example, one of the underlying issues in the community would be a high rate of illnesses reflected by long queues at public clinics, which has some people opting not to buy any fast food in the area. Thirdly, you gather some insights on your products, in this case, ikota/bunny chow, the health effects of its ingredients and what steps you can take to include a healthier variety for your consumers. Lastly, you gather insights on your consumers: what healthy foods/vegetables do they like? Are those foods compatible with your kota? How can you make the food healthy and enjoyable at the same time? The important thing is that your purpose is sustainable, distinctive, makes a difference (it does not matter how small or big), and lastly, attends to the needs, ambitions, and values of your customers.

2. Validate the insights:

After observing your environment, you must validate the insights against the strengths of your business. You do not want to get lost in a purposeful initiative that has no alignment with your business, which is why you should remember that not all insights require action. You cannot promote veganism when you have already stocked up on polony (not that there is anything wrong with being a vegan), but you can include a healthier option in the menu. It does not matter how you choose to define your main purpose (e.g., supporting people who want to keep healthy); the important thing is that your purpose is validated by the strengths and capabilities of your business, including what you value as a brand. For example, let us say you have a natural gift of making good food or you have at least hired people who are skilled in that department, you do not have a big budget for organic veggies from the supermarket, but have access to a wide network of street vendors who sell the freshest, and cheapest fruits and vegetables that you can use to make salads for your kota menu. All of this relates to the strengths and capabilities of your business.

Now that your purpose is clearly relevant to your strengths, you need to validate it against the values of your brand. Let us say your kota business started with the intention of making enjoyable food to share with people because that is what you, as the owner values. You would then ensure that your healthy kota does not taste awful and its price does not exclude your customers as that would go against the values of your business.

3. Initiate the Purpose:

Having observed your business' circumstances and validated your insights against the strengths, capabilities, and values of your business, you should now be convinced about the purpose you want your business or brand to serve. Initiating your business purpose is like happiness; it starts from within. Firstly, you must understand that for your purpose to be initiated from within the business, you must take on a leadership role. You must lead by example whereby you passionately express (through action and communication) the business’ purpose to your employees and other internal stakeholders of the business (e.g., investors/shareholders/partners) so that they are inspired to serve that purpose. You as a business leader must believe and be genuinely inspired by the purpose, as this will make it easier for the energy to be reciprocated. In the case of a kota business, you would let your employees know that when they come to work, they are not just there to receive a salary, but, through their cooking, are supporting people who want to keep healthy, without excluding them from the kota culture. Embed the purpose in the culture of your business through strategic decisions, such as allowing employees to come up with their own recipe for success, share those recipes with each other, and setting aside time for training so that they can master the recipe and skills needed to make this deliciously-healthy kota. It is also important to hire people who are not only skilled but are emotionally vested in fulfilling the purpose of your business… it is no use having someone who feels that your efforts for serving a purpose are useless, and that the only thing that matters is that you pay them, because that will demotivate the people who actually belong, and consequently lower the quality of your product or service. Remember, the more they see how passionate and committed you are to fulfilling your purpose, the easier they become motivated to help you.

4. Embrace the Purpose:

The final stage of embedding purpose into your business requires you to embrace it by communicating that purpose with the external public. This means that the purpose of your business should be visible across all your consumer interaction points which include posters/banners, social media channels, ads, website if you have, flyers, and word-of-mouth. How you communicate your purpose is also very essential. A brand psychology expert named Simon Sinek notes that the best way to do this would be to start with why the business exists or what its purpose is, followed by how the purpose is fulfilled, and concluded by what the product of this purpose is. In our kota example, this is how you would tell people why they should do business with you: WHY: ‘We believe iKota/bunny chow belongs to all of us, even those who want to keep healthy’. HOW: ‘We have included, in our menu of deliciousness’, WHAT: ‘a healthy kota made from spinach bread, low-frying chips in olive oil, and replacing the processed meats with a variety of salads to choose from’. The HOW and WHAT are not relevant if the WHY is not clear. It is the purpose that drives interest, and makes the audience willing to hear or read about the HOW and the WHAT.

When communicating your purpose, it is essential that you allow others to collaborate with you so that the business touches more lives. In the case of your kota business, this could be a collaboration between you and a bicycle delivery guy that uses portable food warmers to ensure that your kota gets to your distant customers while maintaining the same quality. You should also focus on engaging with people instead of merely advertising to them by recognising that they are also stakeholders of the business, thus they have their own views that they would need you to listen to. As time goes by, show the progress you have made in fulfilling your purpose: for example, this could be done by looking at the number of sales for your healthy variety of kotas to see how many health-conscious people you have supported. Play around with the OVIE technique and remember that your business does not have to be a super-hero, but it can choose to positively touch lives. What really matters is that on the day someone asks why they should do business with you; you would have an answer because your purpose will speak for you.

Contributor: Bandile Kwinana (founder and administrator).