: 0:05

Welcome to the Small Business Marketing Huddle. Our show is all about taking action. We equip you with the marketing knowledge and confidence you need to make real progress. So let's huddle up and listen in to the latest episode with your host, Lily Richmond.

Lily Richmond: 0:31

Hey, this is Lily. Thank you so much for being here today. If you're already subscribed to the show, thank you so much. You definitely make the Huddle an awesome space to be, and if this is your first time here, don't forget to hit the subscribe button, because today, like in every episode, I'm going to cover a marketing topic that I really think you have to learn if you want to master your marketing. Now, make sure you listen until the end, because I'm also going to share a brainstorming exercise and worksheet that is going to help you define your business purpose and three immediate actions you can take to use that purpose in your marketing activities. So let's get straight into it.

Lily Richmond: 1:15

In today's episode, I am going to talk all about purpose, and there are three reasons I want to teach you about purpose in this episode. Firstly, it's the new year, right, it is a great time to really refocus on why you're in business and really what you need to do to achieve your vision of success over the long term. It's always a great time to reflect and plan ahead. Second, you might be thinking about a new business idea and you're going to take the plunge and you're going to get started on that, and that is super exciting, but there is no better place to start than by defining your purpose first. And the third reason I'm going to talk about purpose today is that it really does touch all parts of your business, including your marketing. That is the one surefire way to be clear and consistent in your marketing so that you can connect with your target market and you deliver on what you promise. So today I'm going to teach you some simple ways to focus on your why, because for your marketing to be successful, your why needs to come before the what the doing aspect of your business. So what does it mean to have a purpose for your business? To my mind, no one describes purpose better than Simon Sinek, if you've not come across him. He's an author, an inspirational speaker and generally a bit of a guru on business leadership, and Sinek says that people don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it, and to me, this really is the perfect definition of what purpose is, and there is a great video it's a TEDx talk explaining this in more detail, if this is really piqued your interest, and I have dropped a link to that video in the show notes, so be sure to check that out if you're interested in finding out more.

Lily Richmond: 3:17

So purpose requires you to think about why your business exists. And if you think it exists to give yourself a paycheck or make you loads of money, then you definitely need to think more about your purpose, because those results that you achieve, the money that you make and the success that you achieve, is an outcome of delivering a business which has a purpose. Okay, so that's kind of an outcome or a result of doing a great job running a business and ultimately, you're going to be more successful and you're going to make more money if you're clear on what your purpose is, because it makes your business more compelling and more trustworthy to your consumers. Now you might be thinking, boy oh boy, this is all corporate theory, I don't need that, I'm a solopreneur, or my business is really small. Well, I'm here to change your perspective and challenge your thinking on that. I would say it is just as important for a small business to be clear on its purpose. And why is that? Well, I think of it in terms of three E's It'll make you more efficient, it'll make you more engaging and it is definitely going to make you more effective. And that's not just for your marketing, that's going to be across your whole business. And how will it do that? Well, let's start with how it makes your business more efficient. If you know what your purpose is, then you know exactly what you and your team if you have one should be doing every single day. You're going to save a load of time. You're going to save a load of money and resources Because you're going to start weeding out activities that are not helping you drive towards what that purpose is. You'll be focused, focused, focused, and this definitely applies across all of your marketing activities.

Lily Richmond: 5:15

Now, if you can describe and believe deeply in your purpose, it makes you more engaging. Your customer can understand your business really clearly and they get the underlying reason why you exist beyond making money, and they'll connect with that. It makes you immediately more trustworthy if you're doing something for a greater purpose than just a means to an end making money. Having a clear purpose also means that the marketing you do is going to be way more engaging, because every piece that you put out into the world will and should link back to that purpose and it will be consistent. Now you don't have to say in your marketing what your purpose is, but you need to make sure that your marketing helps you achieve that purpose. And finally, having a clear purpose makes your business more effective Because you're more likely to achieve the results you want by being efficient and engaging right. The results of your marketing efforts are going to be better Because you'll prioritize and spend wisely, you'll focus on the right activities for your business, and the activities you do will, in themselves, be immediately more engaging and enable you to connect with your target market.

Lily Richmond: 6:31

Now, before I share a way to come up with your purpose, I want to put out there that your business does not have to save the world. There is a lot of chatter, and there has been a lot of chatter in the business world about being a purpose led business and that you have to have a purpose that connects to a greater good in society and that you'll hear, to help save the world, and that's very noble. And there are plenty of businesses out there that, just by their very nature of what they do, they can do that and that's great, but it isn't for every business. You know it goes without saying that we have to all be good citizens and we have to do our bit for our communities and our environment, but it doesn't mean that your purpose has to be driven in that particular direction.

Lily Richmond: 7:19

More than anything, your purpose has got to be believable and it's really got to be authentic and it's got to fit your business and what you offer. You have to believe it, first and foremost because if you don't, well then it's not right. But also, consumers are savvy, they're pretty smart and they will see right through it. So be honest and be authentic. So let's use some examples. Right, if you're a dry cleaning business, your purpose might be enabling my community to look their best every day. Or if you run something like a pizza takeout service, it might be delivering the hottest, freshest pizza seven days a week. See how it has to fit your business and what you do. And it's got to be inspiring right. That's the idea of purpose. And even if I share what my purpose is for my business, if marketing on demand, my purpose is to help small business owners make better marketing decisions. That's what gets me up in the morning and everything I do is geared around how I help small business owners make those better marketing decisions. So how are you going to come up with a purpose that is just right for your business?

Lily Richmond: 8:32

After the break, I'll give you some specific questions and tasks for you to bring that purpose to life. Okay, so are you ready to devise a meaningful purpose to guide your business? I've created a handy workbook for this exercise because I appreciate you might want to think more deeply about these questions and take your time, and you might not be in a place or a space where you can write down the questions that I'm going to ask you, so you can get the workbook at marketingondemandco Slash purpose. So what I want you to do is brainstorm the answers to these five questions. Number one why are you running your business and go deeper than to make money? What's the greater, deeper meaning for running your business? Why did you start in the first place? Number two what are you and your team, if you have one, passionate about? What are the passions that your team and you have about running that business? What do you care about? Number three what does your community or the wider world in which you operate need? Now, that's in relation to what your business offers. And number four what is your business good at? What are you known for? And number five how do you create value for your customers Meanwhile making profitability for your business? So those are the five questions.

Lily Richmond: 10:04

Once you've brainstormed those you know, take some time over them you might want to jot down a lot of ideas and you might want to come back to it, but now that you've answered these five questions, you can use the outputs to create a one sentence purpose statement that inspires your community and taps into your passion and strengths and value creation at the same time. Now, a good way to come up with the sentence is to start it with I get out of bed every day and make a difference by if you're a solopreneur, for example, or self-employed, or if you have a team you could start it with we come to work every day to make a difference by filling the blank. Okay, so that gives you an idea about how you can structure the sentence. Keep it really short. Super, super short is better. So those are the five questions and how you can create your purpose statement. Now, finally, how does this apply to your marketing? You're thinking.

Lily Richmond: 11:04

Here are three things that I know that you can do to embed purpose into your marketing right away, as soon as you've defined it. Number one what elements of your customer experience do you need to change to live up to your purpose? Using our pizza takeout company example, are you really using the freshest ingredients? How easy is it for a customer to order? How do you make sure your pizzas stay hot? If this is what your purpose is, could your packaging be improved to retain the heat?

Lily Richmond: 11:35

See how purpose touches all aspects of your business, and that includes your marketing the way you answer the phones, your email campaigns, how they're structured, what information you share. If you write blog posts, for example, how does that connect back to the purpose? Are you blogging about topics that relate back to that, or are you going totally off-piste and talking about something totally unrelated to your business? Bring it back to purpose. So that's how purpose can help you really improve your customer experience. Number two identify all of the marketing touchpoints that you have and where you can start to include some of that purpose messaging into it. Think about things like your social media bios, your website, email footers, brochures. These are just some of the examples.

Lily Richmond: 12:23

Now, I said earlier that you don't actually have to include your actual purpose statement in your messaging. That's not required, but you need to get the intent behind that purpose into your messaging. It's the how. So how do you bring that purpose to life?

Lily Richmond: 12:40

Number three and finally review the next. I would suggest 60 days at least of your marketing activity. If you've got that much planned in advance, is it aligned to your purpose? What do you need to change in order for you to bring that purpose to life in your marketing campaigns that you're running? Is there messaging that needs to change? Are there activities that you're doing right now that no longer fit because you've come up with something and you think actually my purpose doesn't really align with what my marketing activity is? Is there something missing? Are there new ideas and opportunities that you've actually thought of as a result of that brainstorming that you could put into your plan? So those are three quick and easy things that you can go away and do to start implementing purpose into your marketing as well.

Lily Richmond: 13:24

Wow, we, there is really a lot for you to take away and digest from this episode. I appreciate that, and don't forget to make this really super easy for yourself. Pop over to my website and grab a copy of the workbook so you can work through the brainstorming and the actions I've just shared, and you can get that at marketingondemandco slash purpose. Thank you so much for being part of the huddle today. I really do hope you got some value out of this episode and it's motivated you to go and think more about the purpose of your business and how important it is, and making sure that you connect with your customers and you're consistent all the time.

Lily Richmond: 14:07

Now don't forget to hit subscribe, because next time I'm actually going to kick off a series of episodes that are all designed to tackle where to start with your marketing. It's quite possible that you're about to, or have just started, a new business, and I thought this would be a perfect way to support you in the new year, since you might be brimming with new business ideas, especially if you've set some resolutions of things that you are going to do this year. So you don't want to miss that next episode and that's first one is going to drop on the week commencing the 15th of January. Thank you so much for listening and I'll catch you at the next episode of the Small Business Marketing Huddle. Now for the legal jargon. This podcast is for information and education purposes only. We make no business performance claims or guarantees in the information shared. The podcast content is general in nature and does not constitute advice for your unique business situation.