In this article, we are going to take a closer look at the importance of brand values to your overall brand strategy.
The creation of a clear brand strategy is key to making sure that your business differentiates itself from competitors, grows in the right direction and ensures everyone within the company works towards the same goal.
A core brand strategy consists of several elements:
- Why does your company exist – what is its purpose?
- What is the goal? Where do you see your business going? What is your vision?
- How are you going to get there? What actions will you take to reach that goal? What is the mission?
- Who are your customers? What do they need?
- Who are your competitors and how is your business different from them?
- How will the company and its employees display your company’s behaviours?? What are yourbrand values and how will you define them?
If you need help creating a brand strategy, why not start a conversation with us to find out how we can help you to build your brand while ensuring you speak directly to your target market?
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What are brand values?
Brand values are the overarching principles behind how a business behaves, guiding both decisions and actions you will take to achieve the company’s mission and vision.
They embody both the brand identity and company culture, creating a unique brand personality that resonates with customers and sets the business apart from the competition.
Brand values lie at the heart of all communications both internal and external and are, therefore, crucial for building brand loyalty by aligning employees and customers alike with these core beliefs.
The importance of brand values
Brand values are not just about what your company does, they should characterise everything your brand stands for and how you want it to be perceived.
Here are some reasons why your brand values are important:
Standing out from the competition
Your brand is unique, so your values will be different from those of your competitors.
This will help you to differentiate your products and services through tone of voice, messaging, and positioning.
Building customer loyalty
Customers who feel a strong connection with a brand will tend to be more loyal and help to promote it to others via word of mouth and recommendations.
Brands that algin themselves with customers’ values will benefit from this loyalty.
Just think about your favourite brands.
Do you talk about them to your friends and family?
Are you more tempted to write recommendations to brands with whom you have affinity?
Consistency of messaging and behaviour
If there is a guiding set of beliefs, principles, or values at the heart of a brand, it will be much easier to be consistent across all touchpoints, reinforcing the brand identity and helping to build trust.
Better decision-making
Having clear brand values provide focus for decision-making at every level of the business, ensuring decisions drive growth towards the mission and vision.
Trust
There.
We have said the word.
Overused in the marketing environment, we agree, but nonetheless, you want your customers to feel comfortable in doing business with you.
If you can instil trust because customers know what your brand stands for, they feel more confident to continue buying from you.
Employee engagement
Brand values are the foundation of your employer brand and when aligned to employee core beliefs and values, they will feel more connected and motivated to do a good job or provide the best service for your customers.
Alignment can also improve the candidate experience, lead to higher retention rates, and enhance a brand’s reputation because employee satisfaction is higher.
Enhancing business reputation
The better your brand reputation, the more positively you will be viewed and represented, resulting in more business opportunities.
How to define your brand values?
Believe it or not, your brand values already exist, but they may not be written down anywhere.
They embody the spirit or essence of your company, are evident in how you do business and are present in how you want your brand to be perceived by others.
Here’s how to develop your brand values:
Collaboration
Talk to the rest of the team to discover the key components or concepts that lie at the heart of your brand identity.
To help you to do this, you can pull together information from a number of different key areas, such as employee research, competitor research, and customer feedback to find out the key trends or concepts that lie at the heart of the business, differentiate you from competitors, and resonate with stakeholders.
Identification
From the key trends and concepts, identify the unique and memorable values that form the essence of your brand and how you want it to be seen by others.
Prioritisation
The next step is to prioritise them, based on how important and relevant they are to your brand and whether they encompass the brand mission and brand vision.
Definition
Once you have identified and prioritised your brand values, you need to add a practical definition that will guide behaviours, decisions, and actions.
Communication
The final step is to communicate the brand values to all stakeholders, internally and externally.
Messaging, tone of voice, and brand behaviour should be guided by these values, whilst employees need to understand how they can embody them in their actions and behaviour.
Brand values are an essential part of any brand strategy.
They help to build trust, reflect personality, and differentiate one brand from another in the marketplace.
Moreover, when aligned with stakeholder values, they can establish a connection that provide a foundation for higher engagement and motivation of employees and building a loyal customer base.
If you don’t know where to start and would like to talk to us about the importance of brand values, Make a Brew can help. We can work with you to create a brand strategy for your company, helping you to define your brand values to make sure your brand stands out from competitors. The first step in this process is to simply book a brew here.
