What are brand values?
To some extent, finding the answer to the question “What are brand values?” means looking at your brand as a whole. Most brands consist of a range of “external” attributes, including a verbal identity, which outlines your tone of voice and personality, and your visual identity, which includes logos, colours, and fonts.
- Actionable: Your brand value proposition is something that needs to guide how your business works, just like your brand manifesto. When defining what matters to your company, choose actionable language. For instance, don’t just say you “value integrity”. Tell your customers that you work to do the right thing, and describe how you do that.
- Meaningful: Empty phrases that look as though they’ve been picked at random from a dictionary won’t do anything for your business. If you want your core brand values to resonate with your customers, they need to include things you’re willing to fight for.
- Clear and defined: Vague and value are two terms that rarely go together. When choosing the principles on which to build your brand, make sure that the things you stand for are easy to understand. For instance, Netflix has a slideshow describing what each of their values means, while Buffer explains their beliefs through bullet points.
- Memorable: Brand values don’t mean much if they’re not constantly represented by the things you do and say. Your customers and employees need to be able to remember your beliefs if you want them to have an impact.
- Unique: This is something that should go without saying, but your brand values definition should be a unique reflection of your culture and identity. You can’t simply copy and paste something that works for another business. Look at strong companies for inspiration, but make sure your core ideals represent your company DNA.
Step 1: Discover what matters
To start the search for your core brand values, you’ll need to move beyond the preset box full of dime-a-dozen company terms like “reliable”, “trustworthy”, or “friendly”. Those words might sound positive, but they don’t describe what makes your company powerful and unique. If you want your brand values to help you stand out from the crowd, then leave the idealised terms behind, and think about what you’re truly passionate about.
Step 2: Know your customers and competitors
As you’re going through your branding process, try to think impartially about the needs and expectations of your customers, while considering the pre-existing solutions that your competition has to offer. You might find that a quick competitor analysis helps you to find a gap in the market, or informs you that you need to re-think your values in order to better differentiate yourself from existing offers.
Step 3: Stand for something
How would your customers describe you to someone who was planning on using your brand? Would they say that you have exceptional customer service? Would they tell their friends that you have the cheapest products on the market – or the best quality this side of the UK? Find out what your customers already associate with your company, and try to grow your brand values from that.
Step 4: Stay consistent
As we mentioned above, a brand value proposition is something that should remain the same over time. While your logos, colours, and even your business name could change with time, the principles that you embody need to stay strong if you want the best chance of real brand loyalty.