(This is the first in a series of posts detailing the four most important factors in clarifying your brand purpose.)

As the idea of having a brand purpose started to trend, we saw the inevitable happen. The bandwagon fired up and the opportunists jumped on board. Eager to claim a purpose, too many of these early adopters went big. They decided their purpose would tackle something like global hunger. Or third-world poverty.

Don't get me wrong. These are noble causes. And some organizations are well positioned to embrace a purpose like this. For example, if you're a global corporation in a food-related industry. And you have the resources to actually implement programs. And the connections and know-how to ensure those efforts actually have impact. Yes, I believe your purpose can be to address world hunger.

But, not so much the local mortgage company that decides it's going to jump on end-world-hunger bandwagon with no real plan or program. This kind of opportunism is what caused a backlash against the idea of adopting a purpose.

Go big or go home?

For some reason, this belief developed that if you were to embrace a purpose it had to be world-changing in scope or it wouldn't be a purpose worth pursuing. This is absolutely the wrong way to approach purpose.

In fact, I advise most organizations to do just the opposite. Start small. Figure out the difference you can make in one life. Just one life.

This approach allows you to really explore a purpose that is meaningful and believable. After all, you're talking about one life. Which means, it's going to be easier to define how your impact is going to be personal. And real.

Where do you go from here?

Your could stop here. Or you could expand on that purpose to explore the difference you could make in a community. Your purpose may even grow to the point that you decide it can have an impact on the world. If it's believable and demonstrable, then pursue it.

There is no one model to follow. But there is this one truth: the place to begin is with the difference your purpose could make in one life. Start here. Let this guide your efforts. And then see just how far it could take you.