“Stay true to your values. That’s why you were a success in the first place, and that’s how you make incredible things happen.”- Rafe Offer

Introduction:

To me brand values are  one of the key things to help you enjoy your work and grow a successful brand. It all comes down to making sure everything you do and everyone you work with aligns with your values.

The first step is to know your values, this may take you some time, and is where a coach can really give you some clarity on what direction you want to go with this, it can be after all the backbone of your business. Your values, are what you stand for, what is important to you, what makes you different, how you work.

You have probably heard brands talk about their brand values, and this is very like that. Think of the brands you love, what are their values? how do know what their values are? Why do you trust this brand?

I believe that successful companies are successful because they have strong values that live through everything they do, they weren’t words that were pulled out for a marketing exercise, they were beliefs that the business owners wanted to live through the business and they were implemented with that in mind.

Some examples for you…

You can walk into any Apple store in the world and receive the same experience, every product has the same look and feel, you generally know what to expect with them.  They have been consistently market leading since 1997, this is when Steve Jobs took over with his “Think Different” campaign, this campaign was designed to represent the core values of Apple, and to resonate with the staff as well as customers.

At the time of this campaign, Apple’s core value was: to make the best products in the market and focus on selected products so that they can develop and innovate.

They wanted to innovate and be market-leading. It was around this time that they introduced the iPod, which was at the time extremely innovative and became a big market leader. You can see how even now, Apple’s value to focus on selected products puts them in a great position to develop their market-leading products.

Let’s look at another global brand, McDonalds. You generally get the same service and standard whichever branch of McDonalds you visit. You decide to visit McDonalds because you know what to expect. On their website, they have this statement:

When we live our values every day and When we live our values every day and use them to make decisions – big and small – we define McDonald’s as a brand our people, and the people we serve, can trust.

Which actually encompasses how values should be used for all businesses.

When setting your values, don’t just think of them as a branding exercise, they really need to reflect you, your business, what you stand for and who you want to serve as a business. There is no point setting a value of something you want to be if it is not authentic to you because how will you ensure that lives through your business?

Once you have your values, where does alignment come in?

You should be using your values to inform your business decisions, who your target audience is, who you will employ or sub-contract to,  which suppliers you will use, what your brand identity looks like, what type of work you will pitch for, how you will charge.

Once the decisions are made, use your values to help your business thrive, use your values to inform your messaging, to serve your customers and clients, to inform you refund policies even.

No matter what business you are in, no matter what values you choose to support your business, by aligning with them you will not only have a more enjoyable business, but you will have a business that thrives.