PURPOSEFUL CREATIVITY: Brands Must Find Their Why and Prioritize It

A purpose-driven brand is a successful brand. In today’s highly competitive business world, how do you stand out from the crowd? Modern consumers care about more than just your products and services. They want to work with brands that have found their “why” and are prioritizing it. Taking your brand to the next level of success means finding a sense of purpose - a purpose that makes a strong connection with your audience.

The “Why” is Important

Your brand’s “why” or purpose, will have a significant impact on how consumers view your specific company within the wider marketplace. Ultimately, a brand’s “why” becomes the ethos of its success. How you determine your “why” and market that purpose should align with who you are, and the spirit of your company. This definition or purpose is the driving force behind the connection with your ideal customer. Build a better brand when you define your unique “why.”

Brand Purpose: A Definition 

At its core, brand purpose is your reason for starting a business and what you and your company stand for in the first place. Sometimes, brand purpose is referred to as a “North Star” or “why.” Your “why” is the heart of your brand purpose, but that’s not all. Brand purpose is also about how you serve not just your customers, but your greater community. What are the unmet human needs your brand can fulfill?

When determining your brand purpose, it’s best to look at the matter holistically. How does your company represent your core values, and create value for your target audience, partners, and community? Purposeful creativity and North Stars boil down to how everyone touched by the company thrives together.  

Prioritize Your “Why” for Greater Results 

In the end, you’re brand is serving people with real needs and desires. Having a well-defined brand purpose will make your company stand out from the crowd and speak to your target audience and the community members you serve. People are drawn to the fact that their purchase can do more than simply get them access to the goods and services they want. Your brand purpose will make them feel like an integral part of something much more significant. With a brand purpose, you:

• Demonstrate that your brand is more than its products

• Show customers that your brand thinks beyond the next advertising campaign

• Inform customers that your brand goes beyond merely turning a profit, but wants to make a difference

We’re living in a post-consumerist age, where people are far more conscious about the products they buy and the companies they do business with. Consumers want brands to do more than just sell products or services. They want brands to stand for something bigger than their bottom line.  

Brands that inspire, believe in something, and make a positive impact in the world will reach a greater level of success than companies without a brand purpose. By prioritizing your “why,” you’ll forge a greater connection with your core audience, and build lasting relationships with your customers.

IS FAILURE THE QUICKEST PATH TO SUCCESS?

Fail Until You Can’t Anymore: Why Failure is the Path to Success

We’re taught to dread the big letter “F” from the time we are six years old. Before we even learn to tie our shoes, society is hammering into our heads that failing is one of the worst things you can do. But no matter how anguishing it can be, failure is the tried and true path to success. For business owners, especially, failure is not something to fear, but something to embrace.

Why is failure a problem?

Failure isn’t the problem. A person’s response to failure is where the problems start. No one is born wise or knowing how to make the best decisions in all situations. People are limited by their own experiences of the world and the information they have on-hand at a particular moment in time. Failing is inevitable. But another issue with failure is the way society views failure and those who fail.

A lot of shame goes into the word “failure.” People may be embarrassed to analyze failure and go into denial about it or avoid the topic altogether. Another issue is that people will get a sense of schadenfreude, and ridicule those who’ve had some success, but have made mistakes. Their accomplishments are minimized, while their failures are magnified. But getting wrapped up in negative emotions hampers a person’s ability to use a failing experience to their benefit, either their own personal mistakes or as a witness to someone else’s.

What are the consequences of how society views failing?

People are obsessed with avoiding failure, no matter what. This is one of the reasons why helicopter and snowplow parents exist. Failure becomes the big bad wolf that everyone must protect themselves and their loved ones against. The shame, ridicule, and embarrassment of failure when someone attaches a lot of emotional baggage to it can become too much. But when you’re able to move past the emotions and baggage associated with failure, you can see how failing can sometimes be the best thing to happen to you. If not, it’s impossible to grow, take risks, and become the person you want to be.

Why is failure a good thing? 

Failure is how someone builds confidence. People become confident when they do something, persevere, and eventually succeed. Also, failing gives people valuable learning opportunities. Failing, and seeing how to pivot your strategies keeps life interesting, and encourages self-sufficiency too. These benefits are incredibly useful to adults, children, and entrepreneurs.  

Is failure the quickest path to success?

Yes, it is. Failure is not the enemy of success, but comfort is. When someone stays in their comfort zone, they stagnate. Stagnation is the death knell of a company and personal growth too. Instead of avoiding failure, companies should learn to embrace it instead. For brands, failure shows you weak spots or holes in your skillset that you’ll need to refine. In this way, failure helps your company grow. The faster you fail, learn from your mistakes, and take action, the quicker you will succeed in business.  

WHY FOCUS IS A LUXURY WE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT.

Make Time for Yourself for Maximum Effectiveness
Focus is the key to reaching your goals and making your dreams come true. After all, it’s not possible to accomplish your objectives if you can’t spend time focusing on them in the first place. But while it’s easy to see how focus may be the key to reaching your goals, for some people, being able to focus is a luxury. But luxuries aside, the ability to concentrate on critical tasks is non-negotiable. Are you having trouble finding enough time in the day to make yourself a priority? Most people understand the importance of focus, but their lifestyle doesn’t make it feasible for them. Here are some tips and tricks for finding time for yourself so you can focus on your dreams.

Prioritize your list.
Rarely are dreams a “one-two-three” and you’re done type of process. Usually, there are tons of micro-goals and objectives you need to reach to get one goal accomplished. The overall big picture may take several steps to complete before your dream becomes a reality. In these instances, it’s very easy to become overwhelmed with everything you have to do to get to your final destination. But if that happens, you might get paralyzed and procrastinate. Instead, prioritize your list.

It’s more realistic to break down your goals into smaller steps that you can accomplish one day at a time in a few hours. Baby steps, and taking it slow is the key to winning the race. Finding just a few extra hours a day is far easier than blocking off huge chunks of time to reach your goals, once you get one thing accomplished, you’ll be encouraged, and will find the motivation to keep going.

The enemy of finding extra time is perfection.
Do you know how to recognize if something is “good enough?” When you’re trying to find extra time in the day to devote to focusing on your goals, perfection can be a significant drain on your time. Does the underside of the railing really need to be polished? Can you cut back on some of your chores so the house is at least sanitary, but you’re not spending your time alphabetizing the bookshelves? Look into where you spend a lot of time on little perfections that could be cut back on so you can squeeze some more time out of your day.

The key to focusing? Silence.
Your door does not need to be open. Seriously. Excess noise and punctuations in the quiet will jar your mind and ruin your ability to focus. Make it clear that you need the house to be quiet and that the door has to be shut while you’re working.

Emails and text messages can be a major distraction. Turn off your notifications, and put your phone on silent. If you must check email and texts, commit to doing it just twice per day - once in the morning, and once in the evening. If you’re swamped and really need to get caught up? Set up an autoresponder reply.

TV is another distraction. The noise of the TV can hurt your ability to focus, and watching television also puts a huge drain on your time. When you’re looking to accomplish a goal, give the TV a rest. Your dreams and your time will appreciate it. Keep these tips in mind to cut back on distractions, give yourself more time in the day, and improve your ability to focus.

REWARD!!!
Schedule a 15min call to discuss any challenges you might be facing and receive a free copy of the NY Times Bestseller -- The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary, by Gary Keller.

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