An Easy Guide to Transforming a Brand into a Movement

Every brand operates in a society, each with its own challenges and opportunities. In order for a brand to thrive and continue to be of relevance to the communities or societies it serves it has to first fully understand the environment it operates in and find strategic ways to merge its own core values with it. We live in an era of movements around delicate social issues that can put companies at risk with “cancel culture”.

Cancel culture is a practice that encourages a community to blackball, isolate and shun an individual or brand that has shared a questionable or controversial opinion, or has had behavior in their past that is perceived to be offensive. For the savvy brand, some movements have provided them great business opportunities. In order for a brand to transform into a movement it has to adopt the concept of “Movement Marketing”.

Movement marketing can be defined as an innovative marketing model in which brands tap into existing cultural movements that align with their shared values, passions and goals. [1]

Movement marketing can result into a long-term marketing strategy that can be extremely beneficial to the growth of brands as well as impact positive change in the community it serves, when done correctly.

Here is an easy guide on how to turn your brand into a movement;

1. KNOW AND ESTABLISH YOURSELF IN THE COMMUNITY – It is extremely crucial for Brands to understand their purpose and company values as well as practice internally first before extending these values to its community. What are you passionate about? What sparks your interest? It is also very important to understand what type of community that you operate in. What are its challenges? Its opportunities? How can you drive positive change? This way, the effort will be mutually beneficial. People respect and and appreciate businesses that are authentic and operate from a place of passion rather than them merely trying to make a profit.
2. RESEARCH AND POSITION YOURSELF – Research, like any other business aspect is paramount. It is important to get all the facts right before embarking on movement marketing. Pick a social issue that you know you will be dedicated to and passionate about especially one that aligns with your own core values as a brand. Position yourself in the community to let people know that you are passionate or advocate for a certain social issue or cause. A brand has to be involved fully to earn the trust of the community.
3. AVOID PUSHING SALES – Many brands are notorious for leveraging on social issues. This does the opposite of gaining trust from society and makes people often feel exploited. So if you’re looking to impact change, be selfless and give more than you will take. Actively prove to the community that you care about the cause. Add value. Be of service.
4. BE CONSISTENT – Once you have positioned yourself, your purpose and cause, be consistent. Continue to be of service, continue to learn more and do more for the movement. Consistency makes you relevant and ultimately builds brand trust.

By expertly navigating the tumultuous waters of social change, you can take your brand from strength to strength.

written by Taonga Kaonga Account Manager Taonga is more than an account manager. With a qualification in Communications -now- turned -marketer, she is responsible for implementing marketing strategies that help her clients increase brand awareness, generate leads, and acquire new customers, basically solving problems. She finds new ways of creating amazing content that is useful and effective to grow her clients’ online brand.