Purpose is becoming the heart of marketing

The next mega-trend shaping the future of marketing in 2018 is the notion of Purpose. High performing marketing leaders say they’ve become more focused on purpose-driven marketing. Top marketers are 2.2x more likely than underperformers to leverage purpose-driven methods. The reason is simple, consumers demand it. Recently I worked with a team of researchers at the Economist and found 79% of consumers prefer to purchase products from a company that operates with a social purpose (data to be published by the Economist Insights Team early 2018). Purpose-driven marketing is a holistic approach to growth and the new heart of marketing.

While traditional marketing tells about products and services, purpose-driven marketing is contextual by aligning with conversations our audience cares about past just our products. Just as Tesla did with the conversations about moving away from fossil fuels, brands like Cotopaxi are aligning with their consumers by supporting social issues such as healthcare, and sustainable living. Cotopaxi uses their platform to talk about improving the welfare and education of their workers and those in their supply chain. This aligns with their eco-conscious adventure bound customers by focusing on improving the world, not just selling more products. They are happy to read about why Cotopaxi uses Lama wool, and their efforts to save the farmers of Peru. 
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With purpose driving the conversations Cotopaxi is able to create authentic experiences their consumers are looking for allowing them to break through in the highly competitive outdoor sports arena. As a result, they sold over $900k of a single sweater in under 30 days, then repeated this success with a backpack a few months later! Profits of business must be expanded to included stakeholders such as employees, and our communities. This change how we view the profits of the business allows brands to relate to their worlds in new and powerful ways, allowing them to break through where other methods can’t. Marketing of the future must have a heart.