Your brand’s true north, it’s your values that allow you to identify where opportunities do and don’t align for your business, how you make holistic business decisions and how you craft team morale and culture.
Whilst we see a lot about creating a visual and voice identity [how our brand looks and sounds], our values are what our brand feels like. Brand values create customer connection and unforgettable experiences between you and consumers.
A solid exercise to pinpoint what brand values connect with you the most is to actually write down a list of values that don’t align with your business and why. With every word you write down that doesn’t align with your brand, brainstorm an alternative that does. This exercise reveals the passion points you’re most hungry for your brand to be known for (and not known for).
Now, let’s not just stop there. Writing down some motivating words on a piece of paper isn’t what defines your brand values. These values are what you vision your employees to be motivated by, the reason people walk through your doors each day and why people revisit your brand time and time again. Brand values need to be actionable and stand for something so using “doing” words is a powerful way to start.
Let’s use the word flexible for example. Sure, that’s a great value and it evokes a positive feeling but how does it measure up to reading Boldly Embraces Change? That’s the power of actionable values – they make you want to get up and act on it.
It goes without saying that brand values need to be meaningful. In fact, your team should be able to recite them. Steer away from copy and paste values and think about what really makes you different and why your customers choose your business.
Once you’ve crafted that list, let’s think ahead to the future. Brand values should stand the test of time and stay consistent within your business during growth and evolution. Powered by passion and ambition, share a value that you aspire your business to be known for. These values inspire your best work every day. Include this in your brand values and keep chasing that goal!
Living those values each and every day is the final piece of the brand values puzzle. From decision making, hiring team members, your customer experience to the way you market your brand, when your brand values are clear and defined, you’re able to clearly identify what needs to align to see your brand bloom.
