Use “Moral Purpose” to Drive Your Digital Reputation

One of our most important jobs as marketers is to build and monitor our companies’ digital reputations as customers move online. At the core of your company’s reputation is moral purpose. Even a public company that has a financial responsibility to its shareholders can and should have moral purpose that it can clearly articulate to customers, employees, and other stakeholders.

Nikjos Mourkogiannis, a partner in Panthea Ltd, a London-based consulting firm, says that moral purpose is a value that, when articulated, appeals to the innate sense held by some individuals of what is right and what is worthwhile. He argues that four categories of moral purpose exist within the business world:

Discovery. The moral purpose here is the new; the moral basis for action is “a love of the new and the innovative.” Mourkogiannis mentions innovative, technological companies such as IBM, Sony, Intel, and Virgin. Sony’s founder explicitly stated that the “joy of technological innovation” was a reason for the company’s existence.

Excellence. The moral purpose here is the good; the moral basis for action is that it constitutes fulfillment. Businesses that embrace excellence would rather lose a customer than compromise quality. Examples cited by Mourkogiannis include professional and creative corporations such as Berkshire Hathaway, The Economist, Apple, and BMW.

Altruism. The moral purpose here is the helpful; the moral basis for action is that it increases human happiness. Examples: many political movements, most charities, many small businesses that exist primarily to serve their customers, but also major corporations such as Wal-Mart, REI, and Marriott. For example, since 1979 Marriott has targeted welfare recipients in its U.S. recruitment and training programs. This altruistic practice—offering people the chance to improve themselves—meets Marriott’s business requirements by providing a large pool of low-cost labor with a relatively low turnover rate that, over time, helps to guarantee its service quality.

Heroism. The moral purpose here is the effective; the moral basis for action is that it demonstrates achievement. The examples that Mourkogiannis cites includes ambitious companies such as Microsoft, Exxon Mobil, and S.G. Warburg (now part of UBS). Sir Siegmund Warburg built his firm into one of the top two merchant banks in London after World War II. Warburg, Mourkogiannis writes, “strove for heroism, directly inspired by the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, with the moral purpose of creating an aristocracy of elite financiers who would bring, as he put it, ‘the diverse potentialities of the human being to their highest possible level.’ The drive to win and to achieve gave him and his firm capabilities that their competitors could not even begin to emulate.”

Purpose Transcends Profit

Moral purpose is something you just can’t fake, says Mark Fuller, the founder and CEO of Monitor Group. It is not a strategy or a mission statement. It can’t be the management fad of the month. Companies that talk the talk but don’t walk the walk of moral purpose will be exposed during periods of stress that demand heroism, innovation, excellence, and commitment to the greater good. On the other hand, if people know what you stand for and see you stand up for it during any crisis, you’ll gain admirers and advocates who will praise you in blogs, reviews, and other conversations.

Mark argues that a real moral purpose has three characteristics:

It is enacted, not espoused. You can force people to sign statements of moral purpose (if they want to keep their jobs, they’ll sign), but unless they truly understand and embody the purpose, it’s a waste of time, ink, and paper.

It is integrated across many different functions. Employees in different departments—marketing, finance, human resources, customer service, operations, manufacturing, whatever—need to embrace the same moral purpose. Because it is integrated and departments do not work at cross-purposes, it gives the organization an enormous competitive advantage.

It is competitively relevant. It does not simply make people feel good; it helps the organization thrive in good times and survive in bad.

Reputation Is an Ongoing Challenge

To build your company’s reputation, you have to do the right thing, and you have to do it for a long time. You just can’t build a reputation overnight. Once you’ve started to establish your rep, you can add to it, polish it, and bring out various facets. You can’t be all things to all people, but your rep can in many ways reflect who you are and what you stand for. Keep your online dialogues going, talk about what your company is doing, invite conversation, listen to what stakeholders are saying all over the Web, and respond accordingly, with actions as well as words.

Larry Weber is chairman and CEO of W2 Group, a marketing services organization focused on digital constituency management. This article is excerpted from Larry’s new book, Sticks and Stones: How Digital Business Reputations Are Created Over Time and Lost in a Click.

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