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Drive Purpose.
Lift Profits.

Build your business and make a difference with an integrated, authentic purpose-driven strategy.

How To Build A
Purpose-Driven Strategy 
That Works.

You want your business to do well and do good at the same time. And it can. 

Move beyond short-term donations and cause marketing gimmicks and think in terms of three core questions. 

What Is The Impact You Want To Create?

Take a moment to describe the better world you imagine. Do you want to clean up the oceans? Feed the hungry? Heal the sick?

What really matters to you? 

Successful social purpose starts with your authentic passion to make a difference. 

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How Will You Drive Revenue?

No amount of passion will create change if you don't tie financial benefit into the results.

To be sustainable, true social purpose has to lift your sales, too. 

How can you tie business growth to your passion to create a better world?

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How Will You Foster Engagement?

Movements are made up of people. Communities spawn from shared care. Your work can be a touchstone that inspires and engages millions.

How will you mobilize others to care about what you do? What is going to fill your team, shareholders, board, clients, vendors, and customers with pride?

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Make A Real Difference

In our transparent, networked world, inauthentic social purpose is worse than no social purpose at all. The key to successful social purpose is the sincere desire to make a real, measurable difference.

The place to start is to define the change you seek to create. 

  • What do we really care about? What change do we want to see in the world?
  • What do our customers, team members, suppliers, and distributors care about?
  • Where do those cares align? What groups are making a difference in that space?

 

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Integrate Purpose Into Your Business

Great social purpose strategy should show up as growth in the financials. The core business should benefit – and that benefit should be deliberate and direct.

Without a financial component, social purpose is often unsustainable. The best social impact strategies drive sales to create fuel for your business and the good you're creating in the world.  

  • How can we align the interests of our customers with the change we’d like to make in the world?
  • How can our products and services be packaged so that doing good and doing well work together?
  • Where is the need? What opportunities are there to serve that align with our core ethos, values, and offerings? 
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Inspire Your Team

Great social purpose strategies provide fulfillment to the people contributing to them.

No motivations are more powerful than our intrinsic motivations. If your team, supply chain, marketing channels, and consumers are excited and proud of the work they do, sustainable growth is much easier to achieve. 

  • What makes my team members proud? Where do they naturally lean in?
  • What causes align with that pride?
  • Who do we need to mobilize to make sure we create something that is long-lasting?

Case Study

Cruzan Rum

The Challenge
When Hurricane Maria demolished St. Croix – and shut down their distillery in the process – the leaders of Cruzan Rum knew they were facing more than a business imperative. They were facing a crisis of conscience.

The Work
Working with the team at Plenty, the team began to explore how to move beyond easy gestures to create something long-lasting that could impact the island beyond the next storm season. That inquiry culminated in the founding of the Island Spirit Fund, a bespoke entity designed specifically to address the unique problems in St. Croix. Through a deliberate, passionate process to engage their team members, executives, agencies, and distributors, the group navigated the tricky waters of competing demands and interests in a complex, high-regulated industry.

The Results
The results have been tremendous. In little over a year, the Island Spirit Fund has now directed well over $2 million directly to grassroots, on-the-ground efforts. And in process, the language and commitment created has shown up in some incredible places – including the label of Cruzan Rum itself.

How We Can Help

Social Purpose
Strategy

Articulate difference you want to make and integrate into your core business, and then develop the governance structure and funding models that best fit your goals. 

Brand
Development

Pivot your brand to better portray your passions and capture a new generation of cause-minded consumers.

Purpose-Driven
Culture

Listen to the needs and goals of your changing workforce, and create a culture that is strong and vibrant. 

Social Impact
Assessments

Evaluate your current cause work and partner networks, and determine the best opportunities for growth.

Campaign
Creation

Build new ways of engaging customers, and launch product and service extensions with an informed set of advisors. 

Partnership
Alignment

Evaluate the partners and players you have around the table, and get help moving everyone in the same direction. 

Ready for more?

For Further Information

We offer dozens of free eBooks, assessments, posts, and tools to help you build a purpose-driven business.

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Build Your Strategy

Learn more about Meridian, Plenty's custom strategic planning process that we use to create authentic, sustainable social purpose for organizations like yours. 

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Assess Your Culture

Read about the Five Keys Culture Assessment, a free diagnostic we use to help leaders figure out where to start when planning for social purpose. 

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Align Your Leadership

Take our free Lantern Leadership Assessment to help understand your passions and the passions of your team — and see how your results compare to thousands of other purpose-driven leaders. 

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Our Latest Posts on Purpose-Driven Strategy

We write weekly on social purpose, conscious leadership, peer-to-peer growth, and more. 

Build your business. Change the world. 

We're ready to help.