Meaningful

[MEANINGFUL MONDAYS] Becoming meaningful - Part Two

  • 8 February 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 227 views
[MEANINGFUL MONDAYS] Becoming meaningful - Part Two
paul
Rank
Userlevel 5
Badge +1
  • paul
  • Director of Brand at Typeform
  • 13 replies

Hey y'all, I'm back for another #meaningfulmondays session.

Following last week's discussion on what meaningful means, Let's talk about what meaningful brands do and how that makes them – and their communities – successful...

 

 

There's been a ton of research done about meaningful brands. It shows that meaningful brands are more successful and attract more loyal customers.


Meaningful Brands deliver on three things:

  1. Functional Benefits - make sure whatever you create ticks the right boxes for your customers and includes what's needed to help them accomplish what they need to.

  2. PersonalBenefits - think about the benefits beyond your product and its function. Who do you want your customer to become? What aspirations do they have and how does your brand tie into that?

  3. CollectiveBenefits - contribute to the greater community and make it a better place to live and work in - beyond your community of customers and employees.
     

💡 To what extent does (or could) your business deliver on these three attributes of the meaningful framework? How could we, as a software service, better help you to deliver these kinds of benefits to your community? Happy to discuss in the comments below.
 

Come back next week to find out how we are making Typeform a more meaningful brand – and what's in it for you!

If you're itching for more meaningful brand chat, check out out our interview with Adam Lisagor, Founder of Sandwich and maker some of the world's most iconic product explainer videos. Adam speaks to Paul about his views on being a meaningful brand.

Become who you want to become.

4 replies

James
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Thanks @paul for making my Monday morning less meaningless – and for helping me start my week with purpose (as the sage @john.desborough would advocate).

As a Typeform employee I certainly feel the collective benefits. It's refreshing to work somewhere where one of the company's main goals is to care for its community. From seemingly little things like sending a box of goodies sent to workers' houses – to offering free accounts for folks using Typeform to help others fight the impact of Covid-19, I've been impressed. And it definitely doesn't feel like ticking off a box - typeformers genuinely care about each other, their customers and the wider community (and I'm not saying that to get a raise :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: )

Gabriel
Rank
Badge +5

Thinking beyond product is the key. Not to say it’s easy to build a kick-ass product that people love, however there’s an over saturation of products in the market at the moment, and replicating features and functionality ain’t that complicated. 

That’s why I think the brand mission will soon become one of the main reason people choose this or that brand over a competitor. We tend to say that we are what we eat, I think we can also say that we are what we buy. 

"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito".
john.desborough
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

@paul - thanks for your thoughts today on meaningful brands. I have worked for big companies (EDS, HP as examples, with clients such E&Y, AON, ABN AMRO, GM, Kraft, etc) and they are ‘all about the brand’ … But, in those days, not yet in the framework you describe - certainly for the functional benefits but less on the personal and community.. but that is changing for them, however slowly. 

at the personal level, I see that many organizations will have to overcome the “slick salesguy pitch” from the past about how product x will make them successful and made the sale but a) the product was not all that the salesguy stated and b) the ‘customer success support team’ was not there behind actual product.  Over the years of working with software company partners to implement solutions for clients, I have worked with a number of firms that not only had the product functionality BUT also the in-house support team to focus on and ensure customer success (a cost centre in the early days of its existence but so critical) AND invested in developing a community of developers and users (from customers/clients) that provided tremendous support for the individuals and the organizations using the product to try and change their world. 

<throwing bouquet>

what i have seen to date with Typeform, as a user and trying to make it work for me and my wee micro business, is that you are ticking all the boxes so far - this Community investment moves the needle well into the ‘green’ zone. 

</throwing bouquet>

from my igloo, I see the Typeform software having an impact on the Functional and Personal components of my business already. The Community angle is on the way and I believe that i will start to see the impact/my ability to leverage the platform to benefit the community around the beginning of April - fun things, for me anyway, are planned .. lol.. 

@James - ‘sage’?? sheesh that makes me sound as old as i actually am.. when tablets were made of granite and a stylus was a tool to make drawings in the dirt under the shade trees during lectures

 

keep up the fab work !!!!!

If your third coffee of the day is not helping you with your Typeform, maybe we can help you find your answers...
paul
Rank
Userlevel 5
Badge +1

Even if you don't use the Meaningful Brands framework, as @john.desborough mentioned, the language is different but the meaning is relatively the same. Here's some research from Edelman, and they keep it simple.

Solve my problems. Solve society's problems. Enrich my life.

The meaningful brands of the future will stand-out on all three dimensions, and make it integral to their overall brand strategy.

Become who you want to become.

Reply


Still need help?

Don't be shy and ask the community.

Ask your question here!
Community T&Cs