Together Digital Power Lounge, Women in Digital with Power to Share

Power of Purpose In Business

• Chief Empowerment Officer, Amy Vaughan

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Join us  as we uncover the impact of purpose in the business world. In this episode, "Power of Purpose In Business," host Amy Vaughn speaks with Lorraine Schuchart, founder of Prosper for Purpose, a certified B Corporation. Explore what truly resonates with an audience as Lorraine shares her journey from copywriting to entrepreneurship, driven by a desire to make a difference in communities. Discover the necessity for companies to focus on values and purpose beyond profitability. Learn how purpose-driven businesses excel in customer loyalty, employee engagement, and profitability. Lorraine highlights the importance of aligning a company’s vision and mission with its core purpose to create a unique brand that stands out. Explore the power of purpose in business and its influence on brand, talent attraction, and long-term success, only on The Power Lounge.

Featured in the Episode

Lorraine Schuchart

Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorraineschuchart/

Guest Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorraineschuchart

Guest Website: https://prosperforpurpose.com/

Amy Vaughan,

Owner & Chief Empowerment Officer

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amypvaughan/

Takeaways

  • Brand Purpose Articulation
  • Benefits of Purpose-Driven Companies
  • Consumers' Quest for Authenticity
  • Evolution of Business Purpose
  • Discussion on "Purpose-Driven" Misuse
  • Emotional Buying and Storytelling
  • Long-Term Strategy in Branding and PR
  • Purpose-Driven Vision and Alignment
  • Internal and External Consistency

Quotes

"We align everything with the company's purpose through a golden thread”  - Lorraine Schuchart

"We need to evaluate the influence we have, as it shapes our purpose."- Lorraine Schuchart

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction

01:03 - Exploring Passion for PR and Varied Writing

06:54 - Harnessing Creativity for Business and Global Challenges

13:12 - Addressing Work Environment Hurdles for Women

18:19 - Prioritizing People and Planet in Business Practices

23:49 - Engaged in Collaborating with Purpose-Driven Enterprises

28:43 - Crafting Brand Impact: Time, Dedication, and Investment

35:02 - Articulating Vision, Embracing Purpose, Engaging Leadership

40:07 - Encouraging Interactive Engagement from Live Listeners

46:56 - Disney-Inspired Business Philosophy Elevates Customer Experience

51:29 - Attracting Attention with Clientele Rooted in Strong Purpose

53:34 - Business Mission Propelling Profitability and Competitive Edge

59:33 - Paramount Role of Reputation Management

01:03:19 - Outro

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Speaker 1:

Hello everyone and welcome to our weekly power lounge. This is your place to hear authentic conversation from those who have power to share. My name is Amy Vaughn and I am the owner and chief empowerment officer of Together Digital, a diverse and collaborative community of women who work in digital and choose to share their knowledge, power and connections. You can learn more about us and join the movement at togetherindigitalcom. And today we are diving into the power of purpose in business with our extraordinary guest, lorraine Schwartz. She is the founder of Prosper for Purpose, a brand strategy and public relations firm that is making waves as a certified B Corporation or B Corp. With her extensive background in copywriting and PR, lorraine has become a master at building what she calls a category of one brand.

Speaker 1:

Over the next hour, lorraine will guide us through the transformative power of purpose in business. We'll explore how to clear well-articulated purpose and how it can drive brand influence, attract top talent, boost profitability and create lasting impact. Our listeners, today you're going to walk away understanding why a stated purpose matters, how to articulate your purpose in a memorable way and how to weave that purpose through every aspect of your business. I don't know y'all. This sounds pretty exciting, so I hope you're all excited, as I am, to sit down and get inspired, be challenged and empowered as we uncover the power of purpose together. Please join me in giving Lorraine a warm welcome. Lorraine, thanks for joining us today in the Power Lounge.

Speaker 2:

I'm really looking forward to this. I'm a big fan and I'm excited to talk about purpose, which I could discuss forever and ever. So this is good. I will keep my answers brief.

Speaker 1:

Hey, you know what We've got the time. I'm excited, and I know our listeners are also excited as well. You know all of us within the Together Digital community know we're a part of something bigger than ourselves. And I myself, you know, being a mission-based business and business owner, you know purpose is central to what we do. So you know, and also, having been a marketer and advertiser and someone who still believes, while you know, the bottom line is important, you know we all want to work for purpose. You know, I think that's something deep-seated within us. Each, you know, as individuals, you know. So we all want to work for purpose. You know. I think that's something deep seated within this. Each you know, as individuals, you know. So I think this is something that's going to relate to a lot of our listeners. But first, I always love to start with having our you know guests talk a little bit about their career journey. What led you from similar path both former copywriters, yay copywriters into PR and eventually finding Prosper for Purpose.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. So I will say that I'm still a copywriter and a PR practitioner. We talk about branding and I think most people think about it as the foundations, which of course that's where it starts, and people think of it as visual, but actually copy drives design starts and people think of it as visual, but actually copy drives design right, and your purpose drives your copy, and so I just think that I call it the golden thread that you pull through your business. And so I actually went to school to be a teacher. I wanted to teach writing and I wanted to someday be a college professor, but along the way I was kind of redirected through all the writing courses I was taking, so I was focused on journalism but didn't really want to be a reporter, and so I just started taking all these different classes marketing, advertising and public relations and I really fell in love with the idea of PR because it was telling other people's stories, and so I started out doing PR and actually nonprofit fundraising for the American Cancer Society, and then from there I jumped over and took a job as a copywriter, which I loved and really fine-tuned my writing from a different perspective.

Speaker 2:

Journalism is very different from copywriting, which is conversion writing, which is also very different from content writing. So I just loved having all these different kinds of writing and in school I'd study creative writing and journalism. So there's just many different kinds of writing and I was learning so much early in my career and so that's really how I got started. I always went to the job and the environment, so you could say I was laying my own foundation along the way rather than what I'd be doing. So I was interested in a company and what they stood for, without really being able to articulate that, if that makes sense.

Speaker 1:

Go into that a little bit more. What they stood for Do you mean like the companies that you were going in and working for?

Speaker 2:

yeah, so, um, I felt like. So I worked for the american cancer society and we had a family history of cancer and I just really felt like I could bring stories of early detection and um and and work with the media and write the newsletters and raise the funds for cancer research that I could really make an impact.

Speaker 2:

And in my next job, um, I was actually working for a newspaper and so it was kind of like, well, I don't want to be a journalist, but I can work within their, um, their copywriting and design department, so really helping support a newspaper that was bringing news to the public. That just really resonated with me. And every job I chose and throughout my career I ended up going back and forth between nonprofit and for-profit work, because there were elements of each I liked. I always was kind of Aspiring to what is the impact that this organization is trying to make and how can I contribute to it?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, no, I absolutely agree. I think and I love how you broke that down copywriting as being conversion writing. It's so true, and I've I've often said that too. In fact, I'm pretty sure I said that this morning. I was mentioning to you, before we came on live, that I was having breakfast with my husband and I was on a soapbox about something related to marketing, and it was really about, you know, if I wanted to do it be creative for the sake of being creative, basically writing for the sake of inspiring then I would have been, you know. Or art for the sake of art, then I would have, I would have become an artist or a writer.

Speaker 1:

But I always wanted to use my creativity to solve problems, for business problems or to help make people's lives better business problems or to help make people's lives better. And so it was always for me. I was really fascinated early on not early on, actually like I took a gap year in college because I didn't know what I wanted to do and then I started to learn, oh, there is such a thing as marketing and you can be creative and get paid relatively well, and you can use your creativity to solve problems in the world, and then you actually get to see the impact and you said it, I wrote it down, I was like impact of what you have written or the ideas you've created and how it has helped motivate people to action. And I a hundred percent agree with you. I think at first, you know, I was in Chicago and I started out and went back to school and it was all about, you know, getting on big brands and getting the salary and things like that. But I think it was all about, you know, getting on big brands and getting the salary and things like that.

Speaker 1:

But I think it was some of those first um projects that I had the chance to work on that had depth to them or that had purpose to them, that definitely stuck in my mind as well, that I was like, oh, anything that has purpose behind it. I definitely wanted to lean more into. I was working on PNG when I was able to jump on a project that was in collaboration with Love has no Labels, which was so, so awesome to get the chance to do that, and people that I'm still connected with and every year those families reshare our photo shoot from that campaign and it just it makes me so happy whenever I see that and you know there's no other work that I've done like that that shows back up in that way, you know, and it's so different and so it's kind of got that double effect right Of it had impact, it resonated with people, it helped solve the business problem, but it also had an important impact on people's lives as well. So I could definitely see why and how you were drawn to that. But was there for you then like a specific moment?

Speaker 1:

Was it within, like the cancer? You know research in the cancer?

Speaker 1:

that you had that moment that sparked that like this is my passion.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and even before that I think I remember being a little girl and, um, my parents, my, my mother's aunt no, I'm sorry, it doesn't matter, but anyway it was my mother's uncle passed away and I had two younger sisters and my mom said she was taking the train and I remember going with my dad and my mom and my two younger sisters got on the train and I stayed behind and I was really sad about that. But a neighbor watched me after school until my dad got home and one night my dad, who was a city manager, took me to a council meeting with him and it was in a basement and I remember he told me that I could sit in a chair. I ended up sitting on the stairs. I had a book, because I never went anywhere without a book, but I didn't read the book. And I remember watching the meeting and hearing them talk about their building a high school and how to make things more, you know, accessible for the residents, and I didn't even understand every word that they were using.

Speaker 2:

But I remember this feeling coming in like, oh, this is what my dad does. He makes people's lives better where we live. I want to do something like that, and so I think that seed was planted in me and through different opportunities, it grew and kind of flourished. So it wasn't one moment. It's more like I said it's like that, that golden thread that you can really somebody called it breadcrumbs, you know, you look, you can only see. In retrospect you can look back and say this is where it started, these are the things that watered it along the way, and then it fully flourished when I decided not to continue to work for other people but to start my own agency. I never aspired to be an entrepreneur. I was very happy working for other people, but I kept finding things I didn't like in that environment Some little things and then finally, some really major things and decided that I just have this idea how I want work to feel and how I want business to look, and I'm just going to create that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Yeah, it's so funny, lorraine. We were having um an onboarding, so together digital does like peer grouping and matching for our members every quarter and we were doing our onboarding for our new kind of uh, incoming peer group members and one of the women was a long time, you know, person, creative, you know probably decade, decade and a half long agency veteran and was like, oh, I just have so many skills I wouldn't even know where to start if I was to start my own business. And you know, I think we do kind of face that a lot oftentimes where it's like what is my purpose, what is my passion, what am I really good at?

Speaker 1:

And I do think sometimes it's reflecting and looking. You're right, it's, it's a reflective practice. It's looking back and remembering even as far back as as childhood sometimes, and remembering, before the world got its hands on you, what really brought you joy and got you excited. And I loved it. Because she's like I'm going to walk away and that's what I'm going to work on this weekend is just kind of really thinking back to what were those things when I was a kid, before you know all of the shoulds of the world kind of got ahold of me and told me what I should be and how I should work and what I should be doing and who I should be.

Speaker 1:

So I'm excited to see kind of what she comes back with.

Speaker 2:

I love that she begins to find that purpose. That's a good exercise.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, and I do think a lot of folks yeah, maybe women for sure, and I'm sure that there's men out there as well, but there's just so many systems within large organizations that don't necessarily work in the favor of women. And so, you know, when it comes to systems or cultures within our you know current work environments whether it's we're going back to the office or even before COVID, when we were still in the office it's just there's a lot that we would like to see done differently, and it is a very difficult thing to do your full-time job. Plus, you know, if you're raising a family, raise a family and then try to work to change that and not be the one at the helm, and sometimes having and running your own business might be the way. All right, let's talk a little bit about this term that we mentioned earlier in your introduction, which is this category of one brands. Can you explain a little bit about what that means and why it is important in the business landscape?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think that I don't know who originated that phrase it definitely was not me, but I think I have my own take on it and this is what I work with my clients on, and that is what do you see about your industry that you don't like, right? And so that's why I started my business to begin with. There were things, not only in my industry but in business in general, that I didn't like. That I didn't like, and how can you move away from that and create kind of a different philosophy and look at, is there a paradigm shift that I can create a philosophy around? And I think that's how brands become category of one. So you think about.

Speaker 2:

I have a podcast, and when I give examples about brands for good and creating category of one, I often refer to Apple and say you know, we all had cell phones, right, it wasn't that they invented the cell phone, but they invented a version of a phone that we wanted to engage with. And so talk about blue ocean strategy. What is no one else doing? Tom's Shoes is another good example. You know that model's been applied to all different kinds of industries since then, but it's the buy one, give one.

Speaker 2:

And so what is wrong in your industry and for me, it was the same thing in my industry that it was in business which was the purpose of business as profit and that just never sure we have to make money, right, we have people who are dependent upon us, all those things. But I felt like that was simplifying and also just incorrectly stating what business could be. It was limiting business, right? So if we're only pursuing profitability, then we've got these blinders on, and not that people wouldn't care how they achieved that profitability, but you're reporting to in big companies anyway, your stakeholders, whereas my philosophy was how do we look at business from a shareholder perspective or, I'm sorry, a stakeholder perspective? Right, and there's lots of other people that were thinking the same thing at the same time and even before me who were writing about it and talking about it. But realizing it for yourself creates this profound impact.

Speaker 2:

You know, you see places that are prioritizing profit above people and they can't keep employees and that guess what cuts into their profitability because it takes so much more money to hire and train a new employee, rather to invest in the one that you have, and so I think, for me, when I work with clients, I really use that term to explain how they can create their own category of one by looking at the paradigm shift that they want to create in their industry, and then I help them with articulating that really. So we're like the bridge between this big vision that you have and being able to build a movement around it, which is sometimes what it takes.

Speaker 1:

I love it. It's like you're at the breakfast table with me this morning. You were up there with the breakfast table with me this morning, laurie, I love it. You were up there with the soapbox with me. Metaphorically speaking, I was preaching this, I was talking about you know. I just I wish businesses would start to just get their heads around it. It seems such a simple thing, but you know, at the end of the day, like you said, it's like it's just. It's so hard to just leave behind the almighty dollar the day.

Speaker 1:

Like you said, it's like it's just, it's so hard to just leave behind the almighty dollar and I think, um, it's just going to take time, I think, for things to prove themselves out, and I guess that's just all it is. Is is time, um, but it's like being in love with the, the, the product that you provide, right, or the shiny object syndrome that's just been going on forever, versus falling in love with the problem that you're trying to solve. It's just like it's something that comes up constantly in this podcast.

Speaker 1:

If you kind of go back and listen to the last 10 episodes, I'm pretty sure we say it every other episode and I all I can think of and I know it sounds highly idealistic of me, but it's just I cannot help but think of you in our very capitalistic society, what would our world, what would our country, what would our culture, what would our society look like if businesses realized the role that they do play in all of those things that I just mentioned and actually started to focus less on those shareholders and less on the profitability and more on like the B Corp, so that triple bottom line of people and the planet and profit, right, like to say that, like all of those things deserve our attention.

Speaker 1:

You know what would, what would our future and what our world look like if businesses took that stance, because they do play such an important part, um, in our world and the ways in which we all live. Um, yeah, it's pretty big and I don't know that everybody realizes how big um companies and corporations do kind of impact basically everything about our day to day Um, but it's so. I don't think it is so idealistic, even though I say that it is?

Speaker 2:

I don't think it is either, and and I definitely think that there is a wave towards this. You know, when I became a certified B Corp, I think there were maybe a thousand, and that was in 2016.

Speaker 2:

There are now more than 9,000 certified B Corps, so they've been growing and not everyone that uses business as a force for good decides to become a certified B Corp because it's a lot of work you know, but you know it is and I, you know I I guess I say that kind of tongue in cheek, but the reality is it's very hard and it takes a long time, and for me it was important, especially because I'm in the marketing world, and in the marketing world people expect you to jump on the latest bandwagon or to say things that aren't really true. And what appealed to me about the process is that they verify like you have to upload all kinds of documentation and they're looking at how you're governed, how you give back to your community, your environmental impact, your impact on employees and workers and you're graded on all those things. And I really liked that I could say we don't just say we stand for these things, we actually have the certification to show it. But there are plenty of companies out there doing wonderful things that aren't certified and maybe never will certify. But I think, you know, I think the concept of purpose is growing.

Speaker 2:

When I started Prosper for Purpose in January of 2013, I chose the name because I felt like well, I felt like well, prosperity should come from purpose, right, and then the prosperity that a company has should be reinvested and furthering their purpose, their reason for being beyond profit. That was kind of like my own siloed thinking and it was really about how can we and when I started, you know you have those informational interviews with people in your world to get their reaction yeah, and everyone thought that my intent was to work with nonprofits and I said, no, we certainly can do that and help them make more money so that they can invest more into their purpose. And I did have that background in nonprofit fundraising as well as marketing. But what I really want to do is reach more companies and help them create that thread of purpose that goes through what they do. And people kind of looked at me and you know I had the, the equivalent of the nice pat on the head and oh, that's so nice that you want to do that.

Speaker 2:

Oh, you're so cute, yeah, you're so cute, and someday you'll grow up and realize that life doesn't work that way, but guess what the pat is on them, because it is, is what it is working that way certainly not the trend is yeah, not as quickly as I would like to see, but sure. I think there's a huge groundswell of companies that want to bring more purpose into their work yeah, that was definitely.

Speaker 1:

My next question is how that has evolved, like the concept of purpose and business. I mean, have you found that to be something that is more readily accepted? Are you kind of seeing more clients open to the idea? Do you find more people finding you Like? What does that look like since you've established yourself in? Was it 2013?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. So primarily the first couple of years we did what most people do Like unless the client was doing something bad. If they were open to incorporating some kind of purpose in their business, we would work with them. But as time has gone on, we've really chosen to only work with companies that have a purpose. Maybe they can't fully articulate it and that's why they're coming to us. Or maybe they're saying we want to do good as part of our work, but we don't really. You know, a lot of them just can't articulate what that is. You know, can you work with us?

Speaker 2:

But what happened was initially, a lot of the time, people came to me and told me their marketing wasn't working and they were so frustrated They'd hired their, fired their marketing person. They'd been through three agencies and I always started and this shocked me. I mean it won't shock you because you're in business, but being someone who had never had my own company is. I interviewed these business owners and founders and you know, maybe successive CEOs. I would say you know, tell me about your company, tell me what's special about it, tell me why you started this business as opposed to another business, and I would take notes and I would pull up their website and I would say, well, look, none of that's here. Oh well, people don't care about that. Yeah, they actually do care about that.

Speaker 2:

And guess what, if your marketing agencies weren't asking you these questions? That's why the marketing wasn't working. Wasn't working because you know you have to give people something to work with and you have to give them the things that will move the needle. People say you know, may give me a thousand words, 10,000 words in a conversation, and it's my job to distill it down into those key messages that really represent what that company stands for. And as I realized that that was possible, I really wanted to double down on that's what I, you know I want to do. I want to work with people that that are driven. Let let me just say one thing there are very few business owners that if you ask them why did you start their, your business, that would answer I wanted to make money, right? Yeah, that's not why we start a business.

Speaker 1:

No, no, it's a scary, risky thing and in fact, most especially if they're small to medium, don't make a whole lot of money.

Speaker 2:

No, that's true, and so at the start, yeah, at the start. So when we're focused on our marketing or our business choices in general, on what's going to make me the most profit, we actually risk losing employees and other stakeholders. Because, let's be real, people see, when you're only about money, exactly, and if you're frantically trying to increase your margin, you're going to be desperate in the choices that you're making. So this just was, like you know, choirs of angels singing when I finally realized like nobody's marketing's working because nobody's talking about their purpose. Right, even when they have it, even when they know what it is, they're not talking about it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think it's one of those things too people seem to not quite understand. And it's funny because we've all seen and heard, by this point ad nauseum, the Simon Sinek talk the start with the why right. And you know Sinek talk the start with the why right. And you know Fred Rogers the famous quote once you've learned somebody's story, you can't help but fall in love with them. Like we are human beings, we don't just buy for the sake of buying. We buy emotionally, whether it is a car or a frigging box of cereal. It is, there is some emotional reason as to why we purchase what we purchase. It's inevitably, it's there. There's, like the science behind it, there's the data behind it. Go back to our podcast with Nancy Harhut on using um, using psychology for um and behavioral science for marketing Um. But it's funny because people seem to want to get to the place of marketing, like Nike and I'm like. But you don't understand.

Speaker 1:

Nike has such broad awareness. But they started with a why at one point, at one point you didn't know who they were and all of their messages were very visceral and were very much about the struggle and the strife and the and the keep going and the just do it. But it took so much time and effort and constant influence and a lot of money and a lot of awareness, you know, and a lot of years to just be able to throw up that swoosh and have all of that impact in that one little mark. Yeah, but you can't just go from zero to that little swoosh in that mark, people. You can't just throw up your logo and get all of that feeling from everybody Like you have to put in the time and the effort and get people to understand what all of that emotion entails. And so you're so right. People have to understand the why. They have to understand the story. You have to bring them along in the journey and that takes time, energy, effort and, yeah, sorry, folks marketing and money.

Speaker 2:

And that's why the companies that do invest the time and resources to do it are going to be more profitable. Because when you talk to people about branding is more than your website and your logo. It's actually about how you build an experience between your stakeholders and your company. They're like, oh, that's too much work, that's just too much work. We'll talk about why we started, but like we're not going to, we're not going to be doing that. It's too much work. Well, yeah, it is, and you know I've seen clients that we've. Unfortunately, and this is like someone says what do you like least about your business? This is it when you work really hard to get all the pieces together and give them everything they need and it just kind of goes like this right, like we can't do everything in a business. We have a core area of strength Even if we stay with a client on retainer and do the implementation of the marketing, there's still other pieces they need to do.

Speaker 2:

And it's not easy and you know most companies over time feel like, well, I'm not seeing an ROI, and you know so maybe we don't need to do this thing. And that just breaks my heart because you know, trends show, Forbes reported and other outlets have reported, they've done studies and back in 2022, they started saying we're now seeing purpose driven companies gain market share. Oh, yeah, Well, duh, yeah, Right. We're like sure, Of course, but you know everybody was watching. It sounds good in theory, but let's see what actually happens. But it is a long game, just like.

Speaker 1:

PR. You know like.

Speaker 2:

I say I build brands. A lot of that is the PR work, which is not just media relations. There's so much more to it, but it's a long game. And so I always tell my clients you can't hire me for a month to do a press release and make some recommendations and expect an ROI. It's just not going to happen.

Speaker 1:

Yep, read my mind, lauren. I literally wrote down here lone game it is, it gets to the detriment of you know us in digital marketing. As much as I love it, it is. It's kind of like kids, right, and instant gratification nowadays, right. It's like they just want I want to watch the show right now. Bring it up and you you're. You're back in like a, somewhere where there's not a Netflix or a Hulu and you can't get the kids to understand that no, I can't bring up SpongeBob, right, this second.

Speaker 1:

Okay, this is how TV used to work, is you have to just wait until it was on right, just trying to explain to these clients, like no, you have to let a campaign run for six months and you have to be continually optimizing so we can actually learn and understand insights. But then also, like, when it comes to you and your brand and your story, like you have to be telling it constantly and guess what? You're going to get sick of it. You're going to be telling it so much and so often, but people are distracted and they're not living in your world. They're busy living in their lives, in their own world, and you're not going to be top of mind all the time, but you need to be there and consistent enough that it does start to stick. So you're going to get tired of hearing it, but they're not and need to be there in a way that they're not, but in enough that it sticks for them at some point.

Speaker 1:

But that's going to take, like you said, a long time. It's not immediate, it's not right away and, like you said, it is all about the storytelling and the purpose and it is, it's an overtime type of thing. It's not immediate gratification. Sorry, spongebob fans, that's not how it works.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and you know I get it People, you know they, they only plan so far ahead, they can only see so far ahead, and so there's so many other elements that impact this.

Speaker 2:

So you know, we start with company's vision too. So we start with purpose and then we go to vision. People are like oh, you start with mission. I'm like no, because mission, what you do on a day-to-day basis is how you achieve your vision, and it's your purpose that drives it. So we do everything in a different order, but to me it makes sense, because we're weaving that golden thread and that's where we start.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I was going to say that was my next question is, as companies are trying to define their purpose. If they are struggling there, what is? What kind of advice do you have for those leaders who are trying to articulate their company's purpose?

Speaker 2:

Right. So if you're not the founder, then you know it's a little bit more challenging, but you look at what is the impact that your company makes in the world. So I was head of PR for Joanne Fabrics right, everybody knows Joanne. This was yeah, it's been more than a decade because, of course, I've had my company for more than a decade, but it was really about creating, connecting people to their creativity wherever that was, and so they weren't necessarily a purpose driven business. But when I was hired, I was hired because when they interviewed me, I talked a lot about that. I talked a lot about you know, we have to be able to look at the impact that we're making and that's kind of our reason for being right and when we can articulate that, that just helps us move further towards our vision. And so I think for companies, if you're the founder, you need to spend some time just like you told the new member thinking about why did you start this company, what are the breadcrumbs that you can look back and see that maybe led you here. And if you're not a founder, it's taking that step back to look at what does our company make possible for people and what would it look like if we could kind of take that to the nth degree, right. So with nonprofits it's easy.

Speaker 2:

The American Cancer Society, they would go out of not that they're in business, but they go out of business. If there were cures found for cancer and I say cures because cancer is many different diseases, right, and so their vision would be that cancer is 100% treatable or even doesn't exist at all. But for companies, it's a lot more challenging, right. So you think about what do we make possible and what would that be in its best version of itself? And those conversations and I don't think it's something a CEO should do alone if they're not the founder, but not only with your leadership team what we do is we bring people together from every level of the organization and we practice a form of appreciative inquiry, which was developed by David Cooper Ryder in Ohio, who's at Case Western Reserve University.

Speaker 2:

But anyway, it's this process that we take people through. So you have different voices at the table, and that's something that a lot of companies tend to miss. Like, your receptionist has a lot of insight into what you make possible, right? The person who is the deliverer of your programs or services or products has a different insight, and so why not bring those people together? So that's that's what I would say, you know as a place to start bring people together if you're not the founder, and really have conversations about why do we exist, what is the impact we're making. And even if you are a founder, if, if that's challenging for you and you have other people on the team, it's a good conversation to have.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I love that. Have you ever come across a bonus question? Any cause? This was another kind of conversation that we had with one of our existing business owners. With a lot of business owners within the community is like if you find you're kind of needing to pivot your business, maybe you started it for one reason and you're just kind of finding it's just it's not landing well, you're not finding clients, or you're just not finding joy in the work anymore and you really want to kind of make a shift. Do you have any advice there?

Speaker 2:

Yes, so we are branding process. We call brand for good, and that's the name of my podcast now as well, and most of the time no, not 100% of the time, but most of the time you can still look at your purpose, your reason for being, and you can pivot your business without having to change your brand, Because your brand is based on sure elements of it will change. We're going through what I'm calling an up-branding.

Speaker 2:

We're elevating, but it's with a more. You know we keep focusing Every time we do a rebrand, which is about every three years because we do three year plans, we really get clear on at this phase of our business and for me also, this phase of my journey, here's what I want to be doing and here's how I feel I can have the best impact and here's what people are interested in and where do those three overlap.

Speaker 2:

But I think most of the time you can pivot. So, like Prosper for Purpose, if we became a digital products company and did more than marketing, say, I brought in experts in operations or tech or whatever the name and the essential brand could stand and still be relevant for that pivot. So most of the time you can pivot within your brand. Sometimes you can't and then you look back to how can you still connect your purpose and sometimes then it's your personal purpose to what you're doing?

Speaker 1:

Awesome, I love it. That's helpful. Thank you, um, let's see our next question. So, uh, oh, and I also want to just say for our live listeners, because we always have live listeners with us during our podcast um, feel free to use the chat and let us know if you have any questions for Lorraine as well. So as we get closer to the end, I will keep an eye out on the chat in case you have any as well, and then Kaylee will drop in any links that we have so that you all can connect with Lorraine as well. Once a company has defined its purpose, what are some effective strategies for weaving that purpose into every aspect of their business? Because we don't want to do all this great work on creating a good purpose and then sort of kind of just leaving it out. Right, I think that's. I'm sure people have done that before.

Speaker 2:

So how do we?

Speaker 1:

avoid that.

Speaker 2:

So we used ourselves as the guinea pig for this and now we use it with our clients as well. We had a client a couple of years ago. They hired our team to be like their internal comms, their work with their HR, do all the things, create the systems and processes for this, and it was so good. So, basically, you take your purpose, you articulate it into your key messages. If you have an internal marketing team, they can do this for you. If not, it really does expedite the process to work with an expert. So how can you take that purpose and turn it into what are the five key messages? I like five. It's enough that you can be diverse in your messaging, but you're honing in on five key points. And how do we take our values? So we do purpose vision, mission, values that all is part of the foundational piece. And if this is our purpose, what kind of values support it?

Speaker 2:

And so that all is incorporated into training of the existing team, incorporated into training of the existing team and then we take it to our hiring process, and so when I hire, I ask specific questions related to my company values. So one of our values is integrity and so I ask people so integrity is one of our values Can you share a situation in which you felt that either a situation or an experience wasn't in integrity, or your own integrity was challenged, and how you navigated that? And you get some really interesting insights into people based on how they answer that. And so, from hiring to onboarding your employees to, we also have our clients take that into their employee assessments. So you're being assessed against not only company goals but values. How do you exemplify these values in your work? And typically that comes not just from your direct supervisor but from some peer reviews as well. And then from there it's that golden thread.

Speaker 2:

So what does your company do? So how do you choose? You know your providers. Here's some things to think about. How do you, if you run events? You know most companies, especially larger companies. You know they'll bring their employees together and they'll do different things or they'll, you know, run, they'll participate in consumer events or run consumer events.

Speaker 2:

It's really we look to pull that golden thread through everything the company does. So it's all aligned with their purpose. And it's also, you know, something like we look at our strategic plans and we say, okay, if things don't align with our strategic initiatives, even though they might be bright and shiny and maybe could give us an ROI, we are really going to default to a no, unless it can somehow get us further to our purpose, right. And so it really becomes that you know guardrails for everything, and but it's also something that's incorporated in the founder gives speeches. How are we bringing that forward? Marketing materials how are we bringing that forward? So you give me an aspect of business and I'll tell you how we can pull that golden thread through it.

Speaker 1:

I absolutely love this. It reminds me a lot of um. Earlier in the year I did a talk for the better business bureau to help some other businesses learn a little bit about marketing, branding sorry, brand reputation and it was this kind of like inside out approach which feels very much like what you just said, but it's kind of like putting in that little like Northern star of purpose inside of it, which I think is so important to embed that there. First, because it creates that character, that consistency. It creates that character, that consistency that breeds that, you know, and establishes trust, which leads to loyalty and creates that reputation which is what people want, right, because that's, you know, the thing that brings them back. Um, ultimately, what, what, what customers want. And then also, yeah, right, as you were saying it, I was like, oh, yes, what you want to say no to.

Speaker 1:

We also do a Goal Getters workshop with Together Digital and just for women in general, just to help them establish value based goals and as we take the time to kind of look at our own values we've talked a lot about that just even as individuals, by understanding, like, your true core values. That is such a great filter for you as a person. Even to know like this is. This is how I know what to say no to it. But it just kind of doesn't align with what I'm moving towards, either as a goal or as a value.

Speaker 2:

It just makes it easy, because sometimes it's just hard to say no to things it is hard for all of us, and I love that you said North Star, because that's what we call purpose. Purpose is always our North Star guiding us.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, when it keeps everything into alignment, like I could even see how this would fall into, like your customer service and everything. You're creating such a consistent customer experience here as well, right, so that then people know what to expect. You know, I was also on. I recommend this podcast. I was on a podcast recently called Bippity Boppity Business oh, fun, hear me out for a second, right, so fun.

Speaker 1:

And her whole philosophy is that it's like the Disney angle for all things business, and I think a lot of people discount her because it sounds and feels cutesy, but I think it's brilliant because I mean, what other company in the world is bigger, doing things better than Disney for as long as it's been doing it? Right, and what's cool about it was that you know, as a guest I don't know that I've ever come up with some of the answers that I've come up with, having been on other podcasts before that I have been because of her, her unique creative angle, you know, and lens on business, then kind of looking at it through that Disney lens. Um, so customer experience was definitely something that now it's like it's always been in my brain but like even more than ever I'm like customer, customer, customer, you know, because it's like they're the ones we're here for, we're the ones, they're the ones we're here for, we're the ones, they're the ones that we're working for. So if we're not thinking about them first, then why the hell are we here?

Speaker 2:

you know, yeah, and and I will just say that when I explain branding, our definition of branding, it's that circle of everything you say about yourself and everything your stakeholders so primarily your customers, but your employees and everybody else experience. So it's message, experience, and that overlap determines your brand, because if you're saying a lot of stuff, that they're not experiencing you're in big trouble.

Speaker 2:

But if you can deliver on your promise, then you're in big trouble but if you can deliver on your promise, then you know you're in alignment and you create this movement of people who are really invested in your brand yep, exactly, and this is people.

Speaker 1:

This is how people like I'll end up on a podcast.

Speaker 1:

They're like oh how do you have a member base of of over 500 women who you know you've a 97% retention rate, and I'm like, oh, because I care about them, I would do anything for them, like, I do remember one-on-ones and onboarding, and I have a calendar that is open to them on a weekly basis and I want to make myself accessible for them. We do annual surveys, like we listen, and everything we do is, again, like for them. Now, granted, that's exactly why we exist. They're our purpose, they're our mission, like our values are their values. But, you know, when you are a membership organization, that really, really should be the reason you exist.

Speaker 1:

In my opinion, and maybe for other businesses, that isn't when, like, they have a product or a service but at the end of the day, I mean, I don't know, I don't know. Are we all that different? All right, I would love it if you could share an example of a client who successfully transformed their brand by embracing a clear purpose. I love a good transformative story, if you've got one, and I'd love to hear what sort of changes you observed.

Speaker 2:

Um, I think that there are a few. I'll I'll pull a basic one out. So we worked with a builder so we've worked with several builders actually but they were really invested. They just wanted marketing right, they were really invested in just getting the word out, getting a greater market share. But what we found out interviewing them was that they had children with some health issues that they had traced back to environmental toxins from their home. Oh wow. And so they had decided to incorporate into the business options for consulting and use Of more environmentally safe products. And but they didn't really they didn't talk about that in their marketing. And so by having many, many conversations about how this was really a differentiator, you know, and could be ultimately a purpose driven driver of their business, we were able to bring that message forward.

Speaker 2:

So that's a super simple example. The purpose was already there for the fact that that was part of what they did and why they did it because they knew if their children were suffering. Look, and we all probably suffer from environmental things, and just like everything.

Speaker 2:

I have allergies. Other people don't doesn't mean that they don't react to a high pollen count out in the world. It just means that they don't test as allergic to that pollen count. So I thought that that was really important.

Speaker 2:

We've worked with a lot of clients and I think I mentioned that as we went forward in share it, so it's not as evident then, but it's still about how do you articulate that in a way that resonates with the people that you do want to work with, right and so you know, if you were able to say, we create products that will you know, because we care about your children as much as we care about our own, and then tell your story and people are going to be flocking to you, right and um, and that's what we want. Like, marketing isn't about reaching everyone. It's about reaching the right people Exactly. And so you know I'm not a marketer for someone that just and so you know I'm not a marketer for someone that just you know profit into furthering that purpose and getting closer to achieving their vision, and that's who I tend to attract.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Those great examples, all right. We often hear about purpose driving, brand influence and attracting talent. Seems like a pretty easy connection to draw, but I would love it if we could talk a bit about that. And then, does it continue to contribute to profitability and can purpose and profit exist harmoniously?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, even the business round table came back and said you know, we have advocated for decades that the only purpose of business is profit, but studies are showing that a business's purpose can actually drive profitability by creating a competitive advantage. And then also what we were talking about pulling that golden thread of guiding decisions and actions towards that greater vision or purpose right. And so purpose-driven companies can outperform their competitors in terms of customer loyalty, employee engagement and even market share gains, which are showing now. They can grow faster, achieve higher levels of innovation and retain more employees, which also makes them more profitable. And so you know there are reports and you can Google them and find them that purpose-driven companies are experiencing higher profit margin gains.

Speaker 2:

So I love that. I just it makes me so happy because when I think about the world, at least you know someone idealistic as I am and I think you are we want to think that the good guys are going to win, right, the people who care about more than money and it's not to negate that profit in business is important, but the and profit and purpose and planet and people, those are all important. And so we want those companies to win and more and more consumers want those companies to to win, and we're seeing consumers take much more active role in researching the brands that they're supporting and making sure that they're actually walking the walk and not just saying things as part of their marketing campaign.

Speaker 1:

Oh, 100%. I mean, I think I'm trying to remember the exact stat. I don't have it. I'm actually returning the talk that I did about brand reputation into a workshop for some small businesses for Cincinnati Startup Week, in partnership with the Better Business Bureau, but I think I know it was like it was over 60 percent of people will choose a brand based on perception, and I do see perception and purpose both being closely tied to one another. See perception and purpose both being closely tied to one another. Right, because they people believe that if a brand stands for something, or at least has consistent, you know, decent values or like, is trustworthy, um, in other words, it stands for something, then, um, they're more likely to purchase. Yeah, and it cost isn't always the the factor. In fact, cost is sometimes not the deciding factor that they will choose the brand because of its purpose or because of the perception versus the actual price.

Speaker 1:

Instead, I I coach a lot of women. We've got a lot of women within the organization that you know talk a lot about wanting to work for a sense of purpose. They want to work for companies that have values, you know, and it's you know we all have to work for companies that I felt had better, healthier cultures, better work environments, more flexible work environments, because I felt, like you know, there's more currency than just my salary going into play. 100%, awesome, all right, we are at the last question before we go into our fun little lightning round, which it looks like we may have time for unless we have any questions from our listening audience. But, looking ahead, how do you feel about the role of purpose in businesses evolving, which we've touched on a little bit here? But if there's anything else you want to add, and what trends or changes should our audiences be prepared for?

Speaker 2:

Well, I think our audiences should be prepared for Gen Z. I love Gen Z. I think what's happening is great. I love the millennials too. I'm not a millennial, I just love that. People. You know we're less trustful and and of course, that's a double edged sword, but the positive side of that is that people do do more research, do more research, do more verification, and they want the companies that they work for and the companies that they buy from to care about more than profit and to do good in the world.

Speaker 2:

And I think that even companies that don't necessarily care about that and are really still profit driven are going to be forced to consider this because the market demands it, and I love that. I really do.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I do too. This is the information age is there's. It's just too easy for people to find out what they need to find out about you, where your products are manufactured, I think T-MU, is it T-MU? What's the what's the um that's out there, like people can just figure out. What are you paying your people? Where are your products being manufactured and made? Um, all of that kind of stuff. I mean reviews are a great. I mean, granted, there's like a whole bunch of crazy stuff.

Speaker 2:

That's like a whole crazy industry now with fake reviews, which is evil in my opinion, whether they're good reviews or bad reviews. It's just wrong.

Speaker 1:

It's all questionable now, but there's still loads of information to be found. Yes, right About that. So, like the fact that people can just kind of drill down and educate themselves and it's really just a couple of clicks away. I mean, you're right, there's just a lot of stuff like reputation and things like that that have to be managed there. It was so funny. My daughter was out school shopping for we were back to school shopping for shoes and she's Gen Alpha and she was looking at a pair of Nikes and she's like oh, I don't want these ones. And I'm like oh, why? Like you know what's wrong with them. She's like there's a QR code on the tongue. It's like oh, she's like I don't want that. What is that? People are going to scan me or something I don't. I don't know what that's about. I don't even know. But the fact that she like did not find that cool and she didn't know interest whatsoever, and of course, our marketer means like oh, let's see what it is Like once. None of it.

Speaker 2:

I thought that was really really interesting, yeah, who knows what Jen Alpha will do? Interesting, yeah, who knows?

Speaker 1:

what Gen Alpha will do. Yeah, I know right, case study of one, but I was intrigued. Yeah, all right, let's see if we can get through these in the next minute. Lorraine Okay, all right. Most overused buzzword in the purpose-driven business.

Speaker 2:

So I think the most overused buzzword in business is actually purpose driven. So I'm flipping your question a little bit, and that is because it's used incorrectly. I hear people say all the time you know we're going to, we're going to use our purpose and this is how we're going to achieve our goals. And then it turns out what they're talking about is their purpose is profit. Their purpose is these are how many products we sold. Their purpose is you know, we're purpose-driven.

Speaker 2:

We define our sales goals every step of the way. Stop using purpose-driven the wrong way. People Purpose-driven the phrase is now used to mean and this is the evolution of language right, you can have a purpose-driven strategy to achieve anything used to be. Now, if you're purpose-driven, what is your purpose beyond profit? That's what that phrase means in today's lexicon. Use it correctly, thank you Commercial? Over.

Speaker 1:

That's your TED Talk, your superpower, if you were a purpose-driven superhero.

Speaker 2:

I think my superpower this is a good question is really being able to look inside individuals and organizations and kind of see into their heart, if that makes sense and then, hear it back to them in language that. I've had clients cry when we presented their brands.

Speaker 2:

And it's just like my husband's a portrait artist and he gets that, and the first time it happened to me I was like, no, I know how you feel, but I didn't make it up, just like he doesn't make up what someone looks like You're mirroring back to them and it's so powerful. Yeah, a little bit of looks like You're mirroring back to them and it's so powerful.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, a little bit of x-ray vision with mirroring power. I love it. All right, last one, lorraine, then we will wrap it Coffee or tea. When brainstorming brand purpose, what's your go-to?

Speaker 2:

Coffee in the morning and Diet Coke in the afternoon.

Speaker 1:

I dig it All right Awesome. Thank you so much for this, lorraine. This was a wonderful conversation. I hope all of you feel more inspired and empowered to go out there and find, whether it's your individual purpose, your brand purpose, your company purpose, whatever that might be. Please go check out Lorraine and the wonderful work that she's doing with Prosper for Purpose. Thanks for being our guest today.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much, Amy. Thanks for having me here in the Power Lounge.

Speaker 1:

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Absolutely Me too. Everyone, have a wonderful rest of your Friday. Hope to see you all next week. Until then, keep asking, keep giving and keep growing, take care. Bye everyone.

Speaker 2:

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