Marketing With Purpose: Quick-Start Checklist

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This checklist is designed as a practical companion to the original guide: Marketing With Purpose – A Guide for Startups to Communicate and Design for Social Impact. You can duplicate this Notion page and use it with your team to reflect on your marketing efforts, identify gaps, and take steps toward more values-aligned communication.

Whether you're a founder, marketer, or social impact lead, this tool helps ensure your brand storytelling doesn’t just scale — it serves. The goal is simple: help startups embed purpose into every campaign, every product decision, and every story they share with the world.

✅ Duplicate it, share it, and go through it together.

Make it a conversation starter. Make it a standard.

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🔍 1. Reflect on Your Current Impact

[ ] What is one thing your company gives freely to others?
[ ] Who benefits from your product beyond just paying customers?
[ ] Are there any underserved communities or social goals your product naturally supports?

🧭 2. Identify Your ICS

What sets your company apart? Fill in each below.

ICS Pillar	Your Answer
Innovation	What makes your product unique or better?
Care	How do you treat your team, users, or community with respect?
Society	How does your work benefit the world beyond profit?

👀 3. Audit for the Impact Blind Spot

[ ] Are you creating social value (even unintentionally)?
[ ] Are you talking about it clearly — or at all?
[ ] Is this reflected in your website, pitch, or internal culture?

🎯 4. Find Your Level of Purpose Messaging

Level	Description	You Are Here? ✅
1. Accidental	Doing good without realizing or sharing it	[ ]
2. Observed	Aware of impact but not using it in messaging	[ ]
3. Communicated	Talking about values but with no structure	[ ]
4. Designed	Purpose is embedded in product + story	[ ]

✍️ 5. Craft Your Purpose Message

Use this simple formula: