Sharing Your Brand's Values Through Storytelling

Sharing a set of values with customers is one of a brand's most important sources of emotional connection with its customers. I have written before about brands that do this well.

There are a variety of ways to communicate those values, but one powerful way is through brand storytelling, especially if the story is about the founder's vision or legacy. Often, this is found in the "Our Story" section of the "About Us" section on websites.

Here are some good examples of that:

• Patagonia
• Newman's Own
• Burt's Bees
• IKEA
• Zappos
• The Body Shop
• Ben & Jerry's
• Minnetonka
• Warby Parker
• John Deere
• Trader Joe's

I hope these examples help you think through how you might tell an emotionally compelling story about your brand highlighting its origins and its values. 

Purpose Driven Brands

In our over commercialized, consumer-driven world, being purpose driven is a refreshing change. Not too long ago, a new type of corporate entity emerged - B corporations. According to www.bcorporation.net, "B Corps are certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency." California has two corporate forms specifically designed for social enterprises, the Benefit Corporation and the Social Purpose Corporation. Other states have followed suit in developing these types of entities. The Body Shop, Newman's Own, Working Assets and similar companies were some of the first to operate out of a social conscience. I have written much about Patagonia and sustainability. Dove's Real Beauty campaign is another example of promoting positive change in the world. Life is Good focuses on spreading that message. Even Zappos focuses on "delivering happiness." And Change.org empowers people to drive positive change in the world.

Consider the advantages to organizations of being purpose driven - increased emotional connection to employees and customers, greater employee and customer loyalty, true employee and customer engagement, focus on win-win rather than win-lose, better employee morale and stronger commitment to the organization's success.

In 2014, Deloitte conducted its Core Beliefs and Culture survey. In that survey, it found that purpose driven organizations are much more likely to deliver strong growth and returns than non-purpose driven organizations.

And, here is the most important aspect of purpose driven organizations for brand managers - brand mission, vision, values, promise and positioning are central to the success of those organizations. The brand becomes the entity around which management, employees and customers rally. 

Consider transforming your organization into a purpose driven organization with a purpose driven brand.