Does your brand suffer from BVCT (Bland Values & Corporate Truisms)? If it's the case, this article might be for you. Brand values are the essence of every brand's identity. They act as guiding principles that influence every action, decision, and communication a brand makes. Branding speaks to the subconscious, subjective mind of people, and when these values are well-defined and authentic, and well represented and embodied, they build trust and loyalty, and create a deep, lasting emotional connection with your audience.
So let's explore how to develop distinct and personalized brand values that align with your mission, positioning, and overall brand identity. We’ll also see examples of how two leading brands, even if controversial at times for some, use their values to fuel growth and stay connected with their audience.
What Are Brand Values?
Brand values are more than abstract ideals. They are actionable behaviors and commitments that shape how you interact with your customers, employees, and the world. Brand values (or should we say, brand behaviors?) help to keep a brand grounded and authentic, guiding everyday decisions, including business decisions, while keeping the promise made to its audience. Your brand values should feel personal and distinctive, and provide a clear sense of what your brand stands for.
Examples of Brand Values
Here are examples from well-known brands:
Nike’s Brand Values Include:
Innovation
Authenticity
Inspiration
Every athlete in the world
Connectedness
Distinctiveness
These values go beyond the generic and truly reflect Nike's global mission and identity.
Tesla's Brand Values Are:
Doing the Best
Taking Chances
Respect
Continuous Learning
Environmental Responsibility
These values reflect Tesla’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation and sustainability. By emphasizing respect and continuous learning, Tesla fosters a culture of growth and collaboration, while its focus on environmental responsibility underpins its mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. These values guide every employee and partner, ensuring alignment with Tesla's vision of a cleaner, more innovative future.
Step-by-Step Guide to Defining Your Brand Values
1. Start with Your "Why" and "How"
This is your fundamental strategy platform and everything stems from it. Your brand’s positioning and values should emerge naturally from your mission ("Why") and unique approach ("How"). You can read this article I wrote about brand positioning vs marketing positioning to understand why it is so.
Start by reflecting on what your brand truly stands for and how you want to differentiate yourself in the market. For example, review your company's history and your founder's mentality, and figure out why your company started in terms of ethics, values and world view, more than in terms of products or services.
This is a very crucial part, and to be frank, you shouldn't even try to develop anything brand if you haven't precisely figured that part out. For example, Nike's mission is to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. This informs values like "Connectedness" and "Authenticity," which emphasize a genuine connection between Nike and its audience.
2. Identify Unique Behaviors
Next, think about how your brand can embody distinct values in a way that is genuinely, factually authentic. Instead of relying on overused terms like "innovation", "excellence", or "customer centric" (honestly, isn't it expected from ANY business to be customer centric, and isn't suspicious to feel the need to say it?), try exploring more unique, personal values that are really you. For example, why not try to focus on:
Cosmopolite
Passion
Accuracy
Discovery
Discretion
Activeness
These are strong brand values because they are more than ideals: they reflect specific behaviors and attitudes that probably gave birth to your company the way it did, and that your brand can bring to life in everyday operations.
3. Craft a Set of 3 to 5 Actionable Brand Values
Translate these unique behaviors of yours into 3 to 5 clear, actionable values. Each value should reflect real behaviors that your brand can actively demonstrate through its services, communications, or operations.
For example:
Cosmopolite: You naturally operate with a global mindset, embodying diversity and drawing inspiration from different cultures and places.
Passion: You are genuinely obsessed (and have always been) by what you do, and your deep enthusiasm and dedication is tangible in your products or services, and in the experience for your customers.
Accuracy: The attention is your priority, and you ensure that everything is delivered with precision and care, or is not delivered at all until it meets your precision standards.
Discovery: You constantly explore new ideas, question everything and do things differently, you push boundaries and encourage customers to embrace curiosity and exploration with you.
4. Avoid Generic Terms
Stay away from overused values like "professionalism" (which business isn't professional???), "integrity" (again, why do you feel a need to say it?) or "innovation" (well, it's easy to just say it...) unless you can give them a unique twist or context. For instance, rather than using "professionalism," which sounds like corporate truism to most, consider "Mastery"—a more personalized and specific value that speaks to expertise and dedication in your field.
5. Refine and Test
Review your values and ask if they are truly unique to your brand. Of course anyone can have values in common, but could any other company claim the same set of values? If so, go deeper and refine your set until it speaks directly to your brand’s identity.
Context: Brand Values in the Complete Brand Development Process
Brand values come after brand positioning and before brand attributes in the branding process, helping to cement how your brand will uphold its promises and positioning. They act as a bridge between your positioning and brand attributes, the next step in the process. Brand attributes describe the characteristics and personality of your brand, and they should flow naturally from your brand values.
For example, if "Passion" is a key value for your brand, your attributes might include "Energetic" and "Empathetic," reflecting how passion is expressed in your brand’s personality.
If you're interested in learning the complete sequence of a proper branding process, the Brand Master online course outlines all 53 key elements and essential skills of building a strong brand identity. It's probably the best way to ensure that every element, from positioning to values to attributes, and then visual identity, aligns perfectly for 100% consistency, authenticity and durability.
An Example with a Not-So-Obvious Relationship: Accounting Standards and Brand Values
How you live your values must be tangible in everything you do, and the relationship between accounting standards and brand values, while not immediately obvious, is a good example of how a set of values can be implemented in a company beyond just marketing. For example, if your brand values discretion or accuracy, you must also reflect these principles in your financial reporting and adherence to accounting standards.
Looking for Examples?
Check out Liza Furze’s list of 200 brand values for inspiration on how to craft values that are unique and meaningful to your brand. It's a great resource for inspiration!
Final Thoughts
Developing brand values is about defining who you are as a brand and committing to behaviors that reflect your mission and personality. Values that are specific, authentic, and actionable will help you create a brand that resonates deeply with your audience and builds lasting loyalty.
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