When it comes to Covid-19, there’s not much to say that hasn’t already been said. These times are difficult, crazy, strange and uncertain.
Our agency, like so many others, is feeling the impact. And although this is worrying, there’s also something positive in it too. The lockdown has forced to pause and think for a moment. It’s given us time to re-evaluate why we do what we do (which is award-winning marketing, just to remind you).
Thinking about your why is beneficial for every business. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been able to re-connect with our purpose, and remind ourselves what we’re here for: to harness the power of communication to help people achieve greater financial freedom and security.
Now we know this (or now we’ve remembered it) we can build for a future in a post Covid-19 world with a renewed sense of passion and perspective. And, if you use this time to find the purpose of your business, you can do the same.
What purpose means in the time of Covid-19
Most businesses – in fact almost all – focus on what they do day-to-day. It could be shoe making or selling houses, supplying computer software or helping clients with their brand (that’s us!). Getting stuff done is where your time and attention goes.
But that’s not necessarily where your purpose lies. Purpose isn’t what you do, it’s why you’re doing it. You don’t tend to deal with it day-to-day – and that’s why it’s so easy to lose sight of.
Right now is a particularly poignant moment to be thinking about why you do things. For some organisations, their why will be more obvious – a healthcare company, for instance, may exist to help people lead long and healthy lives.
It’s easy to feel, in comparison to this, that your company’s why isn’t valid or big enough. But, it’s a whole ecosystem of different whys that drives the world forward. Take a look at these whys, from some of the biggest global brands:
- Google: To organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
- IKEA: To create a better everyday life for the many people.
- Walt Disney: To entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling
- Charles Schwab: A relentless ally for the individual investor.
Some of these don’t necessarily seem ground-breaking, but they’re important because they make a difference in their own way. And that’s what your purpose should be about too.
At Moreish we have found it useful to re-evaluate our why in light of all that’s happening the world right now. Looking around us, we saw the massive impact that the coronavirus has been having on people’s financial health. That’s how we realised that financial health is really at the core of our business – and that actually, we exist to connect people with companies who will help them feel better about money.
So, don’t be afraid to take a look at the current crisis, and see if it has changed your perspective on anything. There might be something you want to put into your why that wasn’t there before.
The power of purpose
Having a strong sense of purpose is enormously powerful.
The business benefits have already been proven – the EY Global Leadership Forecast has shown that purposeful companies outperform the stock market by 42%, while 79% of business leaders surveyed by PWC believe an organisation’s purpose is central to business success.
That’s because having a strong purpose makes you better able to connect with your customer. In the same way people are attracted to leaders with a vision, customers are drawn to businesses that have a clear mission and a drive to get there. That’s why we always start with our client’s purpose when we’re creating a new campaign or idea. The why is the foundation, which we build into compelling value propositions that will resonate with your customers and differentiate you from your competitors.
Aside from the improved business performance, a clear purpose also leads to a strong culture. Research shows that millennials are 5.3x more likely to remain in an organisation when they feel invested in their employer’s purpose. And this is definitely something we’ve found in our own experience. Talking about our purpose as a team has given us huge drive and momentum to get through this difficult time.
After all, we now know exactly where we want to go – we only have to focus on getting there.
The right time to work on why
At Moreish, we have a unique dilemma. The future has never felt more uncertain, but we’ve never felt more sure of who we are and what we want to achieve.
This all comes down to the work we’ve done on finding our why. And it’s not just for us – every business can use this time to re-examine their purpose.
Leadership guru Simon Sinek always says ‘start with why’. That’s exactly what this moment is: it’s a massive re-start. We’ve been given a moment to pause. Let’s use it to focus on the things that matter – and then build from there
If you’d like some help with finding your why, get in touch.