Identifying and Creating Your Brand Values
Establishing your brand values is incredibly important for any business - small or large.
One of the reasons why it’s so crucial is because of both of these foster connections with your ideal clients or consumers. Shared values are frequently the reason why someone decides to buy from you or work with you. Having strong, authentic values really boost your business and create a connection with customers.
That being said, a lack of alignment in shared values can also be the reason why someone decides against working with you. It might also be the reason you decide against working with a potential client yourself -- because their values don’t align with your own.
So, if your goal is to attract the best-fitting customers and clients possible, having clear, relatable brand values can help do exactly that. These values also play a role in establishing your company culture for your team and clients, an incredibly important part of the working dynamic.
So how exactly do you create your brand values?
Well, coming up with brand values should be a highly intentional process.
We recommend starting with a brainstorming session and asking yourself a few key questions. Start with one page in a journal for each question and write as many answers as you can come up with. If you feel stuck, give yourself a time limit for each question, and when time is up move on to the next question regardless of how much you’ve filled out.
Ask yourself:
What do I value?
What does my team value?
What about my clients and customers?
What are deal-breakers when it comes to my values?
What do I want to stand for?
What kind of values make sense for my brand and what I’m building?
The most important part of developing a brand identity is authenticity. These values should be things you truly believe in, and that you want to be inherent in everything you do. Make sure to live and work with your values, they’re not just for show! Nothing is more insincere than a brand using empty words to gain an audience. Most importantly, customers will see through it eventually.
It’s also important that your brand values are consistent with your overall mission and purpose, reflecting your topmost priorities. Clear, actionable brand values that you can employ regularly to guide the way are best.
While you’re brainstorming your values, you can establish and reflect on your personal values and working values too. Both are just as important as the other. Your brand values are more outward-facing, these are things you will explain in a more direct way in your company voice, marketing, and overall essence. Your personal and work values are more inward, about the way you want to work with your clients and employees.
Considering both the good and bad experiences you’ve had with companies can help inspire you as well. For instance, in a past job I worked for a company that didn’t value people’s time very well. This led to long arduous meetings that didn’t really move the needle. It felt like these meetings took us away from more important work and didn’t make people feel like they were appreciated. This experience allowed me to better value the time of others, so I try to run efficient and effective meetings to show this to the people I work with on a regular basis. This is a great example of a personal/working value.
At KRSTN NDRSN, we have 6 different core values: Going Green, Fight for Feminism, Self Love and Body Acceptance, Operating Ethically, Diversity and Inclusion, and Giving Back and Community. These values are all close to my heart, and I wholeheartedly believe in each of them. We are always doing our best to work with them at the top of mind.
If you want help working on your brand values together, let’s get in touch!
Want to dig deeper into your values and what motivates you? Grab a copy of our Understanding Your Why Worksheet! ✨
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