Surveys show that the average person in the world today sees up to one hundred thousand marketing messages a day; almost all of them urging them to spend their hard-earned money on some shiny new gizmo or service. Selecting which to buy often comes down to the brand in question, and that decision very often rests on the values at the core of the brand, how authentically they are expressed, and how meaningfully they are communicated to the audience.
Beyond one-time transactions, brand values can play a significant role in turning one-off customers into enduring and loyal ones.
The Value of Having Values
Tough competition means it is critical to stand out from the crowd. Communicating the right values can mean the difference between being overlooked and selected.
A brand’s values make an emotional connection with your subconscious—the place where 95% of our consumer choices are made. So while your prospective customers may not be consciously aware of it, it is your values and your ability to communicate them in a way that effectively taps into your customer’s subconscious that really drives their choices.
If you’re wondering exactly what are brand values and how you can define your own, you’re in the right place. Read on to get the low down on everything important about brand values.
What Exactly are Brand Values?
In simple terms, brand values refer to a business’s foundational beliefs; the ideals that guide the brand’s actions. For instance environmental consciousness, diversity, innovation, or high quality. Brand values are an essential part of the brand’s core identity. They guide the actions of the brand and give meaning to its existence.
Tempting as it may be to pick a bunch of lofty ideals, it is important that your business can ‘live’ these values. So ensure your brand values honestly reflect what is truly important to the company behind the brand. Your values will form an integral part of your brand strategy and must be implicit in every communication to employees and consumers.
Brand Values and Guiding Principles
While brand values guide a brand’s actions, they are not themselves guiding principles. They are more, since they actually set down what the brand stands for.
Guiding principles on the other hand describe how the brand should act and behave to meet these values and achieve its goals.
For instance: if ‘transparency’ is your brand value, your brand’s guiding principle would be to communicate helpful information about your company, perhaps its origin, processes, manufacturing, and pricing of its products.
If simplicity were one of your brand values, your brand communications would be clear, free of jargon, easy to understand, and free from unnecessary information.
Benefits of Brand Values
a. Customer loyalty and business growth
Studies consistently show that consumers reward brands whose values and actions define them as wanting to make the world a better place.
b. Identity and personality
Your brand values are interlinked with your identity and personality. How you communicate these and how these impact your communications help establish a strong relationship bond between your customers and your brand. Your brand’s core values are the glue that binds your brand’s relationship with your customers, thus, directly impacting your business success.
c. Talent acquisition and retention
Smart hiring is not just a buzzword, it is the human element that helps both employers and employees decide whether they are ‘made for each other’— a decision that can impact not just tenure but productivity too.
People whose personal values align with your brand’s values are more likely to pick you as an employer. This ultimately creates motivated, passionate, and efficient employees.
d. Decision-making
The values that define your brand are veritably a part of your business’s DNA. So it is vital to remind your audience of what the brand stands for and what the people behind the brand really work for. Your brand values should inform your decisions and align business actions with your brand purpose.
Developing Your Brand’s Core Values
There are a variety of ways to identify, define, and build your brand’s core values, here are a few that you can use
- Brainstorm with your team
It is essential that your values be true to the brand; if you pick a set of values and act in a manner that is divergent to them, things will start to go south quickly. It is important that everyone who matters in the organization share these values.
So, ask what they believe the brand stands for.
Try to describe the standards of behavior it upholds. Look for common threads in your thinking.
- Survey your customers
There’s a lot you can learn from your customers, especially your long-term customers. After all, there must be a reason they choose to buy your offerings. Talking to them will help you identify themes that your existing customer base strongly identifies with. Distill these and validate them with your own team and other customers. They will lead you directly to your brand values.
- Analyze your competition
To paraphrase the Godfather, know your competition. The way they operate can offer helpful opportunities or whitespace to establish your own set of values. For instance, negative reviews about customer service can lead you to focus on strengthening your own customer service and building it into a set of values that can make your brand a more attractive proposition.
Brand Values in Action
Once you’ve shortlisted values that seem intrinsic to your brand, cull the list till you have about three to five main brand values. Yes, your brand can stand for many values, but too many values will lead to dilution, and reduce association with your brand. Having just 3-5 fundamental values will help keep you and your people focused and more consistent in your strategy.
Each value can be supplemented with one or two guiding principles. Articulating these helps your organization implement the values consistently across your business.
It is critical that your employees and stakeholders buy into your values, and that means communicating your values and guiding principles internally so your employees know and understand how to implement them. The foolproof way is to add them to your brand guidelines, where your team can see them regularly and ensure their day-to-day work is aligned with these values.
Stay true to your values. We cannot stress this enough. Merely defining and communicating your brand values is not sufficient! You have to ensure that the customer experience is aligned with your values. This also means your own processes and people must live those values because any action that isn’t aligned with your values can negatively impact your brand’s image and reputation.
In Conclusion
Brand values are qualities or characteristics that truly power organizations to achieve their mission and vision. They help you build a blueprint for how things should be done and how your people should behave. Brand values and guiding principles are critical to any brand strategy, and real estate businesses cannot afford to ignore them. Defining and communicating your brand values authentically and consistently is crucial for building deeper connections with customers and attracting the right talent to grow your business.
