May 2020

How to Define Your Brand Values (and why you should!)

Your brand values should encompass what you believe in and how customers feel when they engage with your brand or your services.

Your brand is everything! Don’t limit it to just the business or products you provide; think bigger! Brand values set you apart from other businesses. They include:

who you are

First, make sure to make these actionable! A potential customer could be torn between the choice of your business and a competitors and providing stronger brand values that relate more to your potential customer could be the difference between gaining or losing a sale.

Having strong brand values could be the difference between gaining or losing a sale.

How to define your brand values

Keeping clear and defined is key. You can summarize your brand values in a few short sentences. Placing them at a prominent point of your website will remind all your potential customers of what you stand for, as well as serving a reminder to yourself. We’ve put together 5 important questions to ask yourself in order to get clarity on your brand values.

How do you want your business and brand to be perceived?

Contemplate what matters to your business. Do you want to be perceived as reliable, trustworthy, hardworking and professional? Great! Try to weave these key words into your brand values. Do you want to be a brand that stands for something? Create a professional ethos and include the moral obligations your business abides by. Be clear with how you want your brand to be seen and this should communicate effectively with your ideal client.

Who is your ideal client?

Think about who you want to use your service; not just a simple idea of name, gender, age and education. Explore in more detail so you can get to know your dream clients: What do they do in their free time? What podcasts do they listen to? Where do they shop?

All of these personality traits need to be documented and referred to when considering your brand values. Writing down your ideal client’s personal profile will assist in marketing decisions in the future.

Why do you love what you do?

This should be the easiest question to answer. If you are passionate about your services and products, you are automatically passionate about your brand! Your ideal client will want to know a bit about why you have chosen your business and what aspects of your job you enjoy. This also couples as a way to understand you on a personal level. In a business where you are the brand, you need to market yourself with authenticity in order to show your ideal client why you will produce the best service for them.

What keeps you motivated to work on your business?

What makes you wake up in the morning? Is it reward driven or just because you a passionate about the work you provide? This is an important section of your brand values, as it separates you from your competitors and could resonate with potential customers if you are both driven by the same goals.

How will it feel to work with you?

In most cases your client will be working closely with you, therefore, portraying a personable friendly approach will always work in your favor. Try to be as real as possible. If your brand values are written just to put your business in a favorable light, it will be evident right away. Look back at your portfolio of work and think carefully about the process you worked through to complete it.

Create a professional ethos and include the moral obligations your business abides by.

Putting your brand values front and center

Once you know what your brand values are you need to let your customers know! You can put these on your website, weave the ideas throughout your content or add them as vision and mission statements that explain your goals for the business and what you do to achieve them.