Fortunately, you can learn much of what you need to know about purpose-finding and marketing strategy from a 99 cent box of Trader Joe’s tissue.

Every Aspect of the Trader Joe’s Tissue Box is a Purpose and Marketing Role Model

If you don’t have a box of Trader Joe’s Tissues in front of you, click here for pictures of everything but the bottom panel.

Notice the quirky, fun design. Notice how you feel as you read each side panel message. “I’m here for you when you need to pick up icky things … you’re sick, …you’re sad … run out of toilet paper,” followed by Tissue’s signature, like “you’re welcome, Tissue.”

Notice the friendly reminder at the top of the box (like something Mama would have said when you still listened) not to leave Tissue in your pocket when you do the laundry.

Purposeful Marketing (Not Advertising) Makes Trader Joe’s a “Firm of Endearment”

“You know me better than most of my relatives do.  You care about what matters to me and the world we live in.”  That’s how I feel every time I walk into Trader Joe’s.  So many others concur and love spreading the word about how cool it is to shop there.

You can’t buy authentic endorsements like that.  But you can develop happy customers who are happy to spread your good word, according to the book Firms of Endearment, you start by caring not just about stockholder returns and CEO pay but also about all stakeholders.  Or as Firms of Endearment authors David B. Wolfe, Jagdish N. Sheth, Rajendra S. Sisodia call it , SPICE:  Society (including the earth), Partners, Investors, Customers, and Employees.

As a Firm of Endearment, you’ll undoubtedly pay your CEO’s and upper managers way less than the norm while paying employees and lower managers way more. You’ll spend little on advertising, lots on community and customer service. Not surprisingly, you’ll have astounding employee and vendor loyalty, so they’ll stick with you in hard times and help create much more profit than the norm.

Trader Joe Tissues Tips for Becoming a Firm (or Nonprofit Agency) of Endearment

Here are some tips my business planning clients and I have created:

1.    Enlist customers, donors, employees, future employees, and others to help you brainstorm all the ways you can truly say, “We’re here for you when…”

2.    Be authentic. My husband, who provides personal services for busy people, is there for you when you when you want to free up time for more important things … you want to be better organized … you want your animals cared for when you are away.

John’s also there for you when you want something translated into and out of Latin.  He doesn’t get many Latin gigs, but this service tells others that he’s intelligent, he’s willing to study things well, and he’s got a sense of humor.

3.    Be specific and focused. If we’re not careful, we overload a message with “this is how I do it” statements” or “this is the story of how I discovered this” or just too many sentences, all loaded with clause after clause after clause.  Boring!

4.     Know What Matters Most to People You Want to Serve. In business, it’s called marketing research.  Miss Manners might call it getting to know someone.  So, meet with current or potential clients.  Discover what matters to them, how they express what matters, where they hang out, and so on.  Listen at least 6 times as much as you speak.  Then listen some more.

5.      Walk your Values Talk; Talk the Values You Walk Without Proselytizing. On the bottom of the Trader Joe’s box (not pictured on the link above) an 1890′s woman tells her man how she can make him feel better by accepting her offer of a Trader Joe’s tissue.  The statement that the product is 100% recycled, and no chlorine bleach was use in making the tissues simply states values that are important to the Trader Joe’s crowd.

What Can You Learn from the Trader Joe’s Tissue Box?

Over the next few weeks, discover how some friends and colleagues are being inspired to clarify their purpose and do better marketing. Now, here’s a challenge:  how much more clear could your purpose be, how much more juicy and fun could your marketing be if you let the Trader Joe’s Tissue Box inspire you?

As always, many blessings, and please add your comments below,

Pat McHenry Sullivan

Today, the best most new businesses get from the bank is not a loan but the advice to start a business by bootstrapping.  But what if your bootstraps are kind of puny?  If just can’t get enough from your credit cards, your savings, your family, friends or any payout you got when you were laid off?

Out of Oakland and Berkeley, CA come some powerful insights from one of the best bakeries anywhere and from a local law firm that focuses on sustainable, socially responsible businesses.

Arezmindi Bakery:  How It Launched with Minimal Capital a Few Years Ago and Last Year Increased Profits in a Down Economy

Arizmendi has an unusual business structure.  In this worker co-op, everyone makes the same income (currently almost $20/hour), depending on profitability, plus a share of last year’s profits (which could add $3-10 more per hour) plus great benefits.  Because everyone is responsible to make the business work, and  all voices are heard, the quality of the goods are superb.  So is customer service.

Arizmendi was inspired by the popular Berkeley, CA business, the Cheese Board, which helped launch Arizemendi.  Cheeseboard staff trained the first Arizmendi staff, shared recipes, and even passed on used equipment. That, plus a lot of old-fashioned elbow grease, helped them get off the ground in the cooperative model, which bankers don’t understand or appreciate.

For a full article on the Arizmendi success story, see /www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/running-a-business-with-26-ceos/Content?oid=1577035.

Are Investors Your Best Small Business Finance Model?

If you’re careful and creative, you might generate plenty of money for your small Main Street business by seeking investors.  But before you imitate Wall Street, Oakland attorney Jenny Kassan of the Katovich Law Group  suggests you be very careful to avoid inadvertently running afoul of state or national securities laws. Contrary to popular belief, securities laws can apply even if someone lends you money for your business, even a small group of local investors who want you to succeed.

Katovich suggests four options for raising funds that don’t require extensive, expensive securities-compliance work.

• Form a cooperative.
• Get donations.
• Sell memberships.
• Pre-sell a product.

For more about funding pitfalls, plus tips and examples of the four options above, see Kassan’s article, “How to Raise Money But Not Break the Bank.”

How to Tap More Creative Ideas from Oakland and the Rest of the East Bay

Oakland, CA and the rest of the cities on the east side of the San Francisco Bay are a hotbed of creative innovation, with a focus on green and socially responsible businesses.

A local free weekly, the East Bay Express,  just launched a new monthly small business issue containing the two great articles mentioned above.  (Full disclosure — I’m one of many small business owners in the area to advertise here.)

Stick with this blog as we explore more about the socially responsible and green businesses.  If you just can’t wait, check out three more of my favorite East Bay resources:

Sustainable Business Alliance: a great model for getting together with fellow green wizards in your area.

East Bay Green Tours, a mind-blowing experience of what can happen when businesses, local government, entrepreneurs and social organizations unite to create a thriving “Green Corridor.”

The Hub Bay Area, a recent addition to a fast-growing international network of gathering places where people with ideas gather to make those ideas happen — and have fun!

As always, many best wishes for your successful, creative work.

Pat McHenry Sullivan