How to define your brand values (and the reasons why you should)
Even if you’ve not formerly identified them yet, your brand values most-likely already exist, deep-rooted in your business. Taking the time to uncover and pinpoint your core brand values is an invaluable exercise that no entrepreneur with big plans should skip.
On a basic level, being clear on the values that drive your brand will enable you to make decisions more incisively and help you to keep going forwards in the right direction.
Furthermore, when your values permeate your branding, and filter through to your visual identity and content, they’ll help you to connect on a deeper level with your ideal customers and set you apart from the competition. You earn people’s trust when your values align with theirs.
Reframing the question
If you’re struggling to figure out and articulate your brand values, here are some alternative prompt questions to help you define yours:
What is important to you about the way you run your business?
What matters to you about the way you behave towards your customers, staff and suppliers?
What do you stand for? What do you believe in?
What do you strive for in your business?
Another way to think about it
Contemplating the things that you strongly dislike or that intensely frustrate you in other brands, can also reveal useful insights into what matters to you most. If, for example, automised faceless customer service leaves you feeling cold, perhaps treating your clients as individual human beings is one of your core values.
Narrowing down the list
Initial brainstorm complete, I recommend whittling down your list to 5-6 core values. Home in on the values that differentiate you. And most importantly choose values that are authentic and inspiring to you (and your team if you have one). Your ideal customers will most likely care about these things too.
For extra clarity, try to describe in a sentence what each core value means to you.
Example brand values
Florist: Champion local and seasonal – using naturally in season British grown flowers and foliage, that capture the time of year, are at their finest, all with fewer road or air miles.
Business coach: Prioritise wellbeing – empowering people to proactively take care of themselves in order to cultivate the optimum conditions for creating a successful and sustainable business.
Stationery designer: Consider every detail – crafting meticulously thought-out notebooks and planners, from the choice of materials used down to the most subtle of finishing touches – which make all the difference to the experience of using the stationery.
A final note
Remember, your core values are the principles that will help guide your actions. And they help people feel a connection with your brand. So whether you’re drafting a new Instagram post, deciding if a project is the right fit for you, or evaluating your brand colour palette, always keep your values in mind.