You’re probably familiar with the advice ‘deliver the right product, to the right place at the right price’. And you’d be right in thinking this was the key to successful sales…’was’ being the operative word.
Today’s shoppers demand more than a good quality bargain. Thanks to advances in technology and communication, modern consumers are more clued-up than ever about ethical and moral issues and they want their purchasing choices to reflect their beliefs.
A good product or service is not enough. Successful brands are those that put principles at the heart of their organisation, giving them the edge over competitors.
Take this article in the Guardian, for example, which shows organic food and drink sales are at a record high, enormously benefiting organic brands like Abel & Cole. Or the news in Ideal Home that Hobbycraft is responding to a huge spike in brown paper sales at Christmas as shoppers shun traditional non-recyclable wrapping paper, by innovating with a range of decorate-your-own, plastic-free brown crackers.
Even bands are taking an ethical stance – Rolling Stone was one of the many publications that reported the news that The 1975 have vowed to only play festivals with a gender-balanced line-up.
Shoppers are voting with their wallets and brands are taking notice – and your business should too!
Here are our top tips for finding the purpose within your business, to help you do good while setting yourself apart from the competition:
- Be authentic
Stay away from that bandwagon! This isn’t about riding the waves of a trendy issue. You should promote values that are true to your business and reflect causes you truly care about. Ask yourself why you started up in the first place – to help people? To support your local community? To provide a less wasteful service? Integrity is everything.
- Live and breathe your values
If, for example, your key message is that your service or product is more environmentally friendly than your competitors, this should run through all aspects of your operation. So you could:
- commit to using video meeting technology (Skype, Zoom, Facetime etc) instead of travelling to meetings or use public transport where possible instead of a car, if travel is necessary
- only use recyclable office materials and stationery
- choose suppliers who reflect your values
- get involved in community environmental activities such as litter-picking.
- Tell your customers!
Whether you’re a shampoo brand using plastic-free bottles, an accountancy firm committed to equal gender pay, or an ice cream producer that only uses Fairtrade vanilla, remind your target audience at every relevant point of contact. That could mean including it on your packaging, in your recruitment ads or in your social media biographies. It seems obvious but you’d be amazed at the number of businesses that miss these easy wins!
Our passion for supporting local small businesses underpins everything we do at Izzy PR. As a small business ourselves, we understand the struggles of getting started and maintaining a healthy bottom line. That’s why all our services are bespoke, tailored, affordable and specifically designed to address these challenges. We know that a thriving local business community benefits us all! We also give back to local charities by providing a percentage of our services pro-bono.
Tell us the beliefs that get you fired up and are the reason you do what you do. We love hearing about what makes businesses tick!
