PURPOSE-DRIVEN MARKETING

I’m very proud to be one of Australia’s leading purpose-driven marketers. Possessing a unique mix of skills and experiences in both marketing and happiness has allowed me to create a special point of difference for my clients. My list of clients includes the UAE Government, UC Berkeley, Calibrate Ventures, Trifork, Diebold and Plus500. And, with three published books on well-being and psychology and keynote talks on happiness to over 10,000 people across four continents, I bring a creative, empathetic, and forward-thinking perspective to the table.

I can assist you with various tasks such as project strategy, content strategy, social media marketing, blog and newsletter content, event marketing, SEO optimisation, paid advertising management, email marketing, community management, and more. Additionally, I can provide help for product launches, start-up support, founder support, brand audits, and business strategy and ideation.

If you want to learn more about how your business can connect on a deeper level with your customers and work together to achieve aligned goals, then click the button below.

Please take a look at a recent piece I wrote about the importance of purpose-driven marketing for your business and our world. It is titled This is why purpose-driven marketing is the best marketing a business can do.

Today there is an overabundance of choice, which brings with it significant noise and clutter. The aim for marketers is to cut through all the noise and connect with an audience. This means finding the right balance between being entertaining, interesting and helpful. In fact, a 2012 Forbes article, The Attention War, states just this. In order to reach new customers your content must tick 2 of these 3 boxes - it must be entertaining, interesting and/or helpful. In the 11 years since this piece was written, a new box has emerged, and it’s a big one. Brands need to show they care, they need to stand for something, and they need to genuinely be about more than just business as usual. 

As the past founder of the social enterprise, Hapzly, an organisation created to address this exact phenomenon, I saw firsthand this shift taking place. Where we spend our money shapes the world, and consumers hold in their wallets the power to make positive change - and, now they are beginning to know it. And, whilst many businesses and people have taken advantage of this new purpose-driven approach with clever purpose-washing and skilful green-washing and blue-soaking (the same thing but targeted on the burgeoning mental health space), more and more people are catching on to this and shouting out for authenticity and integrity. 

It is now not just a nice extra to have some purpose attached to your brand, it is becoming a downright necessity. As the world navigates cost of living pressures, rising inequalities where mining companies pay less tax than Australians pay on their car registrations, a burnt-out privatised education system where teachers are underpaid and overworked. An education system where University fees are up and HECS debts brazenly increased, and all the while university chancellors are banking million-dollar salaries. Not to mention a biased media that rarely touches on the hypocrisy of the West, the Monarchy, and U.S. human rights offences. Throw in Climate Change and conflicted deniers still hung up on a growth-at-all-costs mindset and protecting their bounty, and purpose-driven businesses are exactly what ‘we’ need. 

Purpose-driven and ethics-built businesses are hugely popular in industries so fundamentally connected to these big issues. A surf brand, for example, that isn’t sustainable yet has an audience that depends solely on the ocean to enjoy its products shouldn’t exist In 2023. And, this example can, and should, extend to basically all products and services - since it is pretty clear that everything connects to everything else (even if the neoliberal assault succeeded in promoting independence over interdependence to manifest the disconnected world we bear witness to today *This is why purpose and purpose-driven marketing is so important). 

And, I understand that running a marketing agency can be seen as a significant conflict of interest. But, having founded two social enterprises in sustainability and mental health and as the host of an (unpopular) society and culture podcast, with three books on well-being and psychology (also unpopular), I see this as one the best places to drive positive outcomes. As the director of an ethical, purpose-driven marketing and well-being agency, I ensure that we see things as deeply interconnected and ensure we use the power of business to raise awareness of important issues and demonstrate a commitment to ethics and a deep sense of responsibility. And whilst it is a good thing for our people (all human beings) and our planet (all living things) when done right and with integrity, character and compassion, it is also an excellent thing for business. It allows a business to build a greater connection and stronger relationship with its customers and clients, deepen engagement, rally people around an aligned vision, and accomplish a shared goal - essentially it works to revitalise community, connection and cooperation. And if we started with the 3 boxes a marketer must tick to connect with their audience, then perhaps these 3 things are the boxes we must tick to save humanity. 

A business is a collection of individuals, each with their own agendas or desires, and each needing to survive in an increasingly expensive world, but we can satisfy our needs while supporting the needs of others. It makes our work and our lives more meaningful and interesting (and enjoyable). In 2023, as a business and an individual, if you don’t have a purpose - something with depth and importance - then you will simply fall through the cracks and become lost, leading a life as Thoreau would say, “of quiet desperation”. 

#

Evan Sutter is the director of an ethical marketing and wellbeing agency by the same name, a 3-time author, keynote speaker, podcast host, documentarian, producer, adventurer, ocean ambassador, trail runner, ultra SUP paddler, activist, environmentalist and humanist. He plays at the intersections of all of these so we can construct an ethical life worth living.