What are brand values and how do I find mine?
Brand values are the beliefs that guide how you run your business. They should be the principles that matter most to you and the measuring stick by which you make decisions and carry yourself through the world.
Why should I have brand values?
You might be thinking: “That’s cute. But why do I need them?” Maybe you’re a company of one or perhaps you run a side hustle selling funky hats on the weekend; do you really need brand values?
I’d argue that they’re a wonderful tool to have in your business belt. When faced with a challenging decision, you can look at your values to guide you. And when your company of one becomes a company of two, you’ll have an established way of behaving that will seamlessly become your company culture. Lots of brands use their values to help attract new hires.
It even applies to funky hats. Your brand values will dictate who makes your hats, where and how, and under what conditions. They’ll influence how you market your hats, how you speak to your customers, whether you let them walk away wearing the hat that does nothing for them for the sake of a sale. (You wouldn’t, would you?)
Brand values help your customers choose you over your competitors. According to this study, 90% of Brits are loyal to brands who share their values. Because of what those values say about you. Because of what choosing your brand says about your customer as a person. (Think Apple versus Samsung, Ferrari versus MINI.)
Brand values can help you stand out or even shake up your whole industry. Think of a brand like IKEA whose cost-consciousness (one of their eight values) was a real disruptor to the furniture industry when they entered the market.
Who sees our brand values?
That’s up to you. Many companies keep them as an internal guide, referring to them when recruiting, onboarding, and for appraisals and performance reviews. You might find a brand’s values tucked away on the Careers page of their website, to attract the right kind of people to apply for vacancies.
Other brands (including famous examples Ben & Jerry’s, Virgin Media and LEGO) see their values as more of a customer-facing piece and might publish them as part of their About Us or even their Sustainability messaging.
Beware brand value banality
A bit like tone of voice guidelines that tell you the brand is authentic and relatable, brand values can feel a bit like a box-ticking exercise if the business hasn’t really thought it through and has just chosen the first words they landed on.
Then again, most humans hold similar core values, so how creative can you really be? My advice? It’s all about how you express that value to make sure it feels genuine and original, and not just a hackneyed old trope you trotted out about ‘empowering people’ to get to the pub quicker.
Just like many other areas of tone of voice and brand strategy, brand values experience trends which see different words falling in and out of favour. If you’re including a popular buzzword like ‘diversity’ or ‘inclusivity’, think carefully about how you can speak about it with authenticity.
Examples of brilliant brand values
Ben McKinney’s Benifesto
Ben neatly combines what matters to him with how he can help his customers in the brilliantly named Benifesto.
He shows us that brand values don’t have to just be standard words and sentences trotted out to fill a box. They can be as dynamic, creative and entertaining as the brand they represent.
Encouragement Manifesto
Mrs Feasts and Mr Fables ground everything they do in their values, their ‘code of behaviour’. And you’re unlikely to find a more uplifting, heartfelt set of values anywhere. It’s short, it’s poetic and in just 26 words, it’s eminently clear what they’re about.
See the Encouragement Manifesto
Patagonia
It’s become a bit cliché that this brand does the best in every kind of strategy messaging. But they do. Their values stand out for being simply put and harking back to their origins as a brand started by surfers and climbers.
How to choose your brand values
To arrive at your brand values, start wide before narrowing down. As you move through each of the stages below, gather a big map of words and ideas. If you can, keep track of how many times each word or theme comes up and from which source. To gather your words, you’re going to look in three directions.
Your company
First, start with you and your team. Focus for a moment on what you feel. Ask yourself what really matters to you. What really motivates you to work hard? What is your company here to do? What values do you have that help you achieve that mission? Think about future employees – what kind of people are they? What do they value?
Next, think about how you started. What mattered to you then? Does it still feel important now? Think about standout stories in your brand’s history, like the time you scored your first customer, booked that big event or received all that newspaper coverage. What do these highlights tell you about your values? And what about when the going gets tough? What does survival look like to you? What are the non-negotiables that will remain consistent no matter what?
Then, move away from feelings and memories, and look at actions and behaviours. Can you find evidence of values in the way you do things? For example, you say you care about attention to detail. The evidence is in the way you fold your napkins and the thoughtful garnishes in your cocktails.
Your customers
If you can, talk to your clients or customers. How do they perceive your values? What do they like about the way you carry yourself in the world? If you can’t talk to your customers, your reviews or testimonials can be a goldmine. What values shine through? Think about how you can show synergy between yourself and your customers through your declaration of values.
Your industry
Values are a piece of the brand strategy puzzle that should build a bridge between yourself and your customers, but it’s worth checking what your competitors are up to and what the industry as a whole is like, in case there are opportunities to get ahead and stand apart. For example, if you’re an independent coffee shop going up against the giants on your high street, a value like ‘Care in every cup’ or ‘Fair pay from farmer to barista’ really marks you out from the global brands.
Now look over your word map and see if any naturally join up into families. What themes come up again and again? For example, if you’ve got words like ‘bold’, ‘brave’ and ‘courageous’, you might be able to combine them into one value.
When you’ve narrowed it down (most brands end up with between four and eight values), go back to your team and your customers (if you can) and see how they resonate. Check you have a good balance of values that cover the themes that came up during your research.
For help finding and writing about your brand values, send me a message. Or if you just fancy a chat, find me on LinkedIn, I’d love to know your thoughts.