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Ep. 6: How to Identify Your Brand’s Core Values
31 Plays1 year ago
Join hosts Chloe and Darci as they explore how defining your brand values and infusing them into your marketing helps you connect with your audience, build trust, and inspire customer loyalty.
82% of buyers want a brand’s values to align with their own and, again and again, we’ve seen that play out in real time. From Starbucks to StickerMule, when a brand’s audience realizes its values don’t align with their own, many decide to shop elsewhere.
Whether you've just begun to define your brand values or are looking to further refine them, this episode offers practical steps to help small business owners uncover what truly drives their business and communicate it in a way that inspires long-term brand loyalty.
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Website https://sweettoothcreative.com/
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Transcript
Introduction to Brand Jam Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to Brand Jam, the brand strategy podcast for colorful and compassionate brands. I'm Darcy, the candy-fueled copywriter behind Sweet Tooth Creative. And I'm Chloe, owner of Conscious Design Studio, Chloe Ariel Design. On the show, we'll be talking about what it's really like to build a brand from scratch when you're a business of one. And how to find what works for you so you can create a brand that grows with your business without burning yourself out. At Brand Jam, we believe there's no one right way to be and embracing our differences enhances the experience for everyone. So if you're a fan of bold flavored branding and are trying to do business better, come hang out. We're so glad you're here.
Risks of Lacking Brand Strategy
00:00:41
Speaker
If you aren't thinking about it, if you aren't being intentional in your strategy and your audience discovers a mismatch, they're going to feel betrayed and you will not get them back.
00:00:52
Speaker
Think about the types of things you consume and buy from companies that you trust. I just switched dog food companies and now I'm paying more for a company that I trust more.
00:01:06
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome to Brand Jam. We are on episode six.
Importance of Brand Values
00:01:10
Speaker
Today we are talking about brand values. So the core principles at the heart of your business or what your business stands for. I'm so excited to talk about brand values. Brand values are super important to my business and to Darcy's business and pretty much everyone's business if you have them defined and even kind of if you don't. Yeah, there definitely is something that you want to be thinking about from the start. As with all things, it's going to evolve. You don't have to get it right straight out of the gate, but you want to be putting that thought into what is driving your business because that's what your audience is going to connect with ultimately. Exactly. Your brand values help you build trust with your audience, provide clarity to them and to yourself as well. Yeah, and it's you'll hear authenticity being thrown ah around a lot. And unfortunately, as with all buzzwords, it's kind of watered down. its meaning, but authenticity is one of those things that like it's a buzzword because it's important. And being clear on your brand values and operating from a place of being in alignment with your brand values is the secret to being authentic with your audience.
00:02:22
Speaker
Oh, not a secret. Just spilling the secrets. So brand values are basically what your business stands for. And if you're like a personal brand, if you're a business of one, these might be similar to your own personal values. If you are a larger business, it might look a little bit different. Yeah, your brand values are really important guideposts for your business. They inform things like your key messages, your voice. It helps you define what kind of audience you want to target and what kind of brand experience you want to deliver. It's going to tie into how you structure your offers. So, and like I said, you don't have to have them nailed down perfect right from the start. It can involve, but you do want to be thinking about this in the beginning and working towards really getting clear on them. One of the most important things that your brand values can do for your business is to help filter your audience. So if people come to you and they don't have the same values as you, they can just keep moving along. And if people come to you and they do have the same values, they're really going to resonate and start to build a lot of trust with you. Exactly. like
00:03:29
Speaker
We look for that in our relationships with other people. We want to be friends with people who share our values. It causes conflict if members of your family have conflicting values. So it makes sense that people, especially as we have seen a shift in what drives people to buy, people care about voting with their dollars. Audiences are a lot more aware of what their money is going to support and that has a lot of power in their buying decisions now. So being clear on your values doesn't mean you have to explicitly state them, but having content that aligns with them, you know, making it clear who you are, what you stand for as a brand is a really important piece of building a highly engaged audience.
00:04:16
Speaker
Mm hmm. Yeah, I mean, think about the types of things that you consume and buy from companies that
Real-life Brand Alignment Example
00:04:23
Speaker
you trust. I mean, I just switched dog food companies and now I'm paying more for a company that I trust more. And that's pretty much why I'm paying. I mean, I know they have higher quality ingredients, but the main part of my switching was because of their values. They don't sell to big box stores. They only support small businesses. And that really aligns with my value. So I'm now paying more for dog food, but I feel good about it. and you can do the same thing with your business. Exactly. And then on the flip side, if people think you align with their values and then find out you do not, which is highly topical because although this is going to be released later, we're recording this in November. I participated in BDS Boycott Divas Sanctions, that movement for a decade, but we are seeing people who are realizing
00:05:12
Speaker
that they're they've been very loyal and spent a lot of money with companies that are turning around and doing things they find just incredibly inhumane. So to bring it back around, you want to be clear on these things. You want it to be tied into everything you do because if you aren't thinking about it, if you aren't being intentional in your strategy and your audience discovers a mismatch, they're going to feel betrayed and you will not get them back.
Visibility and Evolution of Brand Values
00:05:40
Speaker
Yeah. Well, that brings up a point in why it's so important to have your values where people can see them, not only in the the content that you're making, having them just be infused in the behind the scenes strategy, but you can even post your actual values on the internet for people to see. I have them on my website and that doesn't mean that they can't still change and evolve with your business. You can still edit them. You can still change them. But once you've established your values, it's important to you know kind of show them off. Yes, I love that. I am a big fan of the value statement. um I have had multiple iterations of my value statement over the years and every single one is inevitably what gets the most comments.
00:06:22
Speaker
like most engagement on my homepage. I get emails or I'll have people who buy from me and then say, yeah, when I went to your website and I saw that, I was like, oh yes, I have to work with her. So to clarify, a statement is not enough. You have to then be in alignment with those values. But if you have done a good job of kind of digging deep and finding the right values for you, then that will be so much easier than any other like strategy that you try and enact with your marketing because it's gonna be natural. ah hu Well with that being said so if we are a new business and we're trying to define our values let's let's walk through how that might well first of all how many values there does somebody need?
00:07:09
Speaker
So I recommend sticking with like three to five. Some rooms do one so like there's wiggle room but I think like if you're just starting out five's okay because you're probably going to whittle it down. You're going to realize that some of those five overlap and maybe there's a better value description that covers both and simplifies it but maybe maybe you do need five all allow for that too but i would start with trying to identify three to five and then basically like trying them on and coming back periodically.
00:07:44
Speaker
and re-evaluating if you need to but if it's super overwhelming do three if you feel confined by three to five like whatever works for you to start and then keep coming back to it yeah i think it's good to do like at least a yearly check in when you're checking in with your business with other things check in with your values too yeah even if you're not thinking about them directly they are going to be in every part of your business if you got them right, basically. Cause like I I've restructured my offers. I made some pretty big changes in the last year to how I provide my services. And I was not explicitly thinking about my values at the time, but now looking back on it, that shift totally aligns with my values. Just bringing it back to my point that like your brand values are going to keep popping up in other places.
00:08:33
Speaker
And sometimes it's because you're intentionally doing it, but again, if you chose, well, they're going to do it naturally too. Yeah, especially if you are a ah business of one brand of one exactly or businesses of one. Um, which I am, I now desire to ever have a team, nothing against it, but there, I have my reasons and this is what's right for me. There's probably going to be a lot, if not a complete overlap between your brand values and your personal values. Um, so in that way, it does feel a little bit easier in some ways to define them. I mean, depending on your own level of self introspection and
Defining Brand Values from Scratch
00:09:16
Speaker
self-awareness.
00:09:16
Speaker
So with that being said, how how would we start to define them if if we're just starting from scratch? Maybe we don't have a lot of introspection. We don't have, you know, we're not starting from a lot. Let's talk about the process of how someone could come up with brand values. Yeah, I would say if nothing comes to mind immediately, there's a couple of different things you can do to start kind of finding a good starting point or, you know, getting it narrowed down and starting to try someone. The first would be bringing you back to the the brainstorm or the brain dump and just kind of like stream of consciousness, writing to yourself about your brand, what you want it to be, what you want it to stand for. Another way is if you are at a point where you have created content, even if it's not a ton, go back and look through the content, what value you show up. And by that, I mean, you know, what principles if you have taken a polarizing view of something, if if you're like, most people say this, but I say this, why? What's, what's at the heart of that?
00:10:16
Speaker
Well, and I just read something that someone was having the practice of three whys. So it was very similar where you ask why once what's at the heart of it. And then once you have that answer, you ask why about the second answer and then you do it three times and then you really you end up with kind of the root of question. Yeah, and that's a great like, that's a great specificity exercise. And it's something I've either talked about in the past episode, or we'll talk about in a future episode in terms of like the writing something again and again and again in a row, and it helps whittle it down same concept. So that's a really good one.
00:10:54
Speaker
Another exercise you can do for identifying your brand values or a starting point for your brand values is to look at your offers. Look at what outcome benefits, change, improvement you want to provide for your clients or your customers. How are you making their lives better? And then again, work back. Why? What is the driving force behind that? What's at the root of it? One of my brand values is Delight. And how I came to pinpoint that was because I noticed that I naturally, like when I was making my brand choices.
00:11:29
Speaker
I chose things that basically gave me dopamine and that I i felt would give other people dopamine. It's why I like lean into puns and cheesy turns of phrase because I'm just like, i I look for those little things and I appreciate them and I enjoy them. Why? Well, because it's nice to feel good. Yes, but why? Well, because we need that in order to do the harder stuff, to endure the harder parts of being human and to refuel so that we have the energy to go forward and make change. Okay, so delight is something that I prioritize in my business and for my audience. That's why delight is one of my brand
Interrelation of Brand Values
00:12:09
Speaker
values. And it ties into another brand value of mine, which is abolition, because I think we need to drastically change things. And life could be a lot better for all people, not just some people, but to sustain that we need delight. So you're also going to see that your values work together.
00:12:27
Speaker
even when they don't directly overlap. Yeah, exactly. What about you, Chloe? like Can you think of one of your brand values and tell us how you identified it? Was it obvious to you? Did you have to work back from something? Did it show itself over time? I think ah one of my brand values was kind of the starting point for why I started my business was because at a young age of 14, I learned that design is really powerful and it influences daily decisions of everyone. And I was like, Whoa, that's a lot of power. I don't want that getting in the wrong hands. Like, um I think I could use that to spread some good in the world. And so that's when I made the goal to start a design studio that could do good in the world and spread non toxic positivity. So that kind of points at my one of my kind of overarching values, which is kindness, always just, you know, spreading, spreading a little joy, spreading goodness, wherever I can.
00:13:26
Speaker
Yeah, and I love that. And that is a really great example of and another way to uncover your brand values. As you're doing the brainstorm or whatever, the brain dump, ask yourself, why did I start my own business? Because like this shit is hard. It's hard to run a business. It's a lot of work. And it's rewarding and it has trade-offs that are great, but it's all it's a lot. so I'm assuming if you're doing it, there's probably some good reasons and some of them are going to be values-based. um Some of them may be circumstantial, but even those can tie back into your values. What have you experienced? I mean, a large part of why I am as anti-capitalist as I am, as abolitionist as I am. is because I became disabled at 19 and drastically changed my worldview. Prior to that, I was shielded by a lot of the privileges I hold. Not that i I was already socially justice minded, and it's not only because it affects me now, but I didn't realize how much ableism I was missing. And I ultimately ended up starting my business because I couldn't work in a traditional office. I couldn't fit into the box that they wanted me to fit into. I needed accommodations. I needed to work from home. This was prior to the pandemic when that was very hard to do, but I pursued this path because it was one of the few that let me do it.
00:14:46
Speaker
So ask yourself, why did you start your business and take voice note about it, talk to someone about it, write about it, and see where that leads you. Yeah, the corporate life was not for me, ah not sustainable for my mental health or anything like that. So not that running a business is any less exhausting, but doing something that I'm really passionate about that I know I'm doing you know, some good for the world allows a little more leeway and I'm allowed to set a lot of boundaries that you can set in a corporate world. Yeah, there's a difference between struggling because the boss said you have to do it that way because it puts the most money in their pocket and struggling, but being able to create the processes you want, the way of working that you want and all of that and it just being hard because
00:15:35
Speaker
by nature, it is hard. yeah So I'm with you on that. the The corporate life is not for me. It's not for most people. I mean, yeah some people thrive there, but in general, I don't think it serves us. I'm guessing if you're listening to this podcast, it does not where you love to be either. Yeah. we I think our listener is probably in line with us on this. So there you go. I'll throw out one final thing you can use if you're struggling to come up with a starting point for your brand's values and this one may be narrow divergence specific if i don't know it's hard for me to say but one thing that identifies something that should either be a key message or a core value depending on what the that something is is what can i not stop talking about what's the thing that when it comes up in conversation i'm like oh.
00:16:26
Speaker
okay and then I'm like probably gonna info dump on you um and or just like end up having a three-hour conversation about what thing and you know what values lie at the heart of that so pay attention to this is basically summarizes my whole approach to my brand decisions.
Personal Interests in Brand Values
00:16:46
Speaker
It's like, what lights up my brain? Let's go with that. yeah When business is hard, it's easier to do the things that naturally light up your brain than to try and do the thing that you're doing because people said this is what will work. Yeah, I mean, if someone brings up accessibility or anything accessibility adjacent in a conversation, I kind of have to hold myself back. to not take over the entire conversation and just monologue at someone. But so my passion for accessibility kind of leads into a bigger category that's the kind of inclusion and diversity. So that's another where you can start with something really specific and then think about what is the broader
00:17:23
Speaker
category that that fits into, that turns into a value. Exactly. And you do want the values you choose to be the broadest point of a category. So say you choose five brand values to start and you have two that overlap pretty strongly, it's worth taking a closer look at those and saying, is there one value that encapsulates both? Because that is something I find myself doing a lot with clients. If they have started on their brand values, they have a general idea. Sometimes I will be like, feet we can merge these two. Sometimes they do need to remain separate, even if they have some overlap. You want your values to kind of be covering everything.
00:18:05
Speaker
because then you're going to come back and this social post may may only talk about this one little facet of that value, but it goes in that pillar. Yeah. and you're you can have like longer definite like On my website, I have the short version of my value and then next to it, I have a couple of sentences that explain kind of what that means to me and what that covers in my world. and you can and Even internally, you could have your overall values and then underneath it, you can list all of the things that go into that. And so then you can use that while you're making your content. When you're doing the exercises, we've described what you're initially working towards is an internal document outlining your brand values, something that clearly states this is one of our core values and here's why this is another and here's why and so on. And that's purely for your own reference or for your employees or contractors to see.
00:19:00
Speaker
From there, you can create a value statement that's public facing. Maybe it's on your website, maybe it's part of your proposals, but something that's meant for clients to see. And maybe you'll keep it really simple and they'll look the same, but maybe not. I've had a couple of different value statements on my homepage over the years, and they were always things that embodied my values and showed people where I stood, but didn't explicitly say, my core values are X, Y, and Z. You can keep it to a more conversational style statement that's like, hey, this is what I really care about. And just talks to your audience in your own voice.
Public Value Statements and Client Attraction
00:19:35
Speaker
At one point, I had a list of the phrases that embody different social justice movements that I supported. um So this I think this might have been like my first or second iteration. So we're talking years ago, but
00:19:49
Speaker
it I mean, it had all the all the recognizable ones um like for disability. It's nothing with about us without us. It had Black Lives Matter, it had Land Back, it had Free Palestine, and probably a couple other ones. it was but i I made it a point to kind of like cover all my bases because I was like, if anyone disagrees with any of these things, like please don't work with me. I'm good. And it was just a simple list, but it was very effective. And like I said, people responded to it. I am sure some people responded to it by clicking away. That's fine with me. Other people responded to it by being like, Oh, I'm going to follow you on your socials and definitely work with you in the future. Great. Awesome. They ended up being clients I loved working with. So yeah, so there's multiple ways to do a value statement, but these exercises are where you start.
00:20:41
Speaker
Then the next step is the internal clear-cut value guide posts that we've been talking about. Then you move on to a value statement and then you infuse it into all of your content. Yes. If you're stuck, something you can also do is go to the Wide Web and search some brands that you like to support or not and see what their value statements are because seeing the values of brands that you don't like could be just as valuable as the ones that you do. And it could also be a good practice just to double-check the companies you're supporting that your values do align. Yeah, you can definitely, I mean, mission statements are another place, another search term you can use. There's a little bit of a difference between mission statement and value statement, but for the purposes of figuring out how this works when you're just starting out, searching for, like, you can find Nike's mission statement, you can find whatever. One thing I will say is, like, don't do the vague thing. Even if it's a big name, I can't remember who specifically it is, but there's a global brand that I read the mission statement and I was like, what is this? It's so vague and it just would never, ever pass muster today, but because they started out in 1912 or whatever, it's a whole different thing. So beware the vague statements. You don't want to be vague. You want to be specific. But certainly do look at what other brands are doing and use that to help you figure out what you want to do, what the right approach is for you. Yeah.
Evolution of Brand Statements
00:22:17
Speaker
And you brought up a good point, again, to reiterate that this should grow and change with your business. It shouldn't be, I mean, years from now, you probably won't have exactly the same statement. It probably won't align anymore. The world will be doing different things. It can and probably should change as your business grows. Yeah and I like I will say once you get it right though it is one thing that usually doesn't have to change like your strategies are gonna change even your approach can change the structure of your business can change you know years down the road suddenly on a pivot whatever the huge things can happen and
00:22:55
Speaker
And in some ways, like we're all learning and growing. I am aware of things and issues and causes that I was not aware of 10 years ago. right so So yeah, so it certainly can change. But if you do it right, this is not something that's going to need a ton of tweaking short of those those scenarios where your worldview expands. something huge happens like COVID and you realize that you were completely unaware of something. um so So yeah, it certainly, it can change, not locked into anything, but if you can get to something that is really aligned with you at your core, there's also a very good chance it will not need to change. Yeah, I mean, yeah, change for the right reasons is good. Just changing it just to change, not so much.
00:23:51
Speaker
Yeah, no changing on a whim is basically but yeah the rule. These are not things that will change on a whim. These are not things that will change with trends. If they are changing because of external trends, then you didn't tap into your authentic values. I think if you can spend and your time doing any sort of like internal kind of um ideation work around your brand identity, this is the most important thing to do. I would agree. So yeah, so go do it and then report back. It's a proof of comment. Let us know how it went.
00:24:29
Speaker
That's it for this episode of Brand Jam. Check out the show notes for links to the resources we talked about. If this episode hit the spot, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review. It helps Brand Jam reach more listeners, so we really appreciate it. Thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time.