Do you know what you value as a brand?
Let's backtrack and understand a few undmanetals:
Stage 1: Business: You identifying just as a business, which is essential marketing your product service or message.
Stage 2: Personal Brand: You are incorporating you into what you do and creating a community that feels connected to you, not just what you do or sell.
In that 2nd stage of building your personal brand, you know the value of letting people in on who you are, your interests, process and you serve your audience, not just sell to them.
There's an element that requires intentionality and purpose. And that is your brand values.
Your brand values are the beliefs and principles that your brand stands for that guide your development, decisions and messaging. They are at the heart of your brand's mission and hep you to determine your vision for the future. A successful brand directly, and indirectly, infuse their brand values into all they do, from sales copy, social media content, relationships. And they are the dominant reason why your audience connects with you over other competitors because consumers want to feel aligned with who they're purchasing from. Not only does building and understanding your brand values yield to a deeper connection with your audience, but it helps you assure that the business you're building is one that is rooted in purpose and passion.
Let's recap the benefits. Knowing and implementing your brand values help you...
define your decision making.
build strong, authentic connections with your audience.
increase engagement.
create strong, clear messaging.
tie a deeper purpose to your product, service or message.
build a brand that's rooted in purpose not just profit.
BRAND VALUES IN ACTION
Jessica at Desert Stone Studio has palpable brand values. She's an amazing silversmith. But, at the core of her brand is the desire to empower and encourage women. And she uses her platform to speak to women consistently. She ties it into her launches and everywhere in-between.
Here are some examples that you just have to see and read for yourself.
Jessica shares about things that her community can relate with: beauty, happiness, sense of purpose, addiction, affirmation, toxicity, motherhood, struggles, triumphs and female support. And her community is hooked in. There are thousands of talented silversmiths, but for many consumers, Jessica stands out above them all, not just for her beautiful work, but because they connect with her values. And beyond her success as a silversmith, she has a business that has value, purpose and passion. She is fulfilled int he connection she gets to create with her community and the ways she gets to reach women and have conversations beyond just her products.
HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR BRAND VALUES
Most parts of our brand fundamentals go back to one key foundational element: our personal journey. When I work with clients to build their personal brands, we always start here because most of our values are derived from our experiences.
What experiences, negative or positive, have you gone through that has brought you here?
What lessons have you learned that you want to infuse into all you do?
What parts of those experiences relate to your ideal customer that would build connection and engagement?
What are the values you feel passionate about directly and indirectly weaving into your messaging?
Identifying our brand values isn't the most common struggle.
The greatest challenge is when you come to a place where you understand that to express your values you need to share more of you and your journey and fear becomes a clear reality. (And I have a whole post on how to overcome this). To express your values in a way that's authentically and deeply engaged takes courage because most often our brand values are derived from our experiences.
For those of us determined to live a life of passion in all we do, identifying and implementing your brand values is imperative for your personal and professional success. Assuring that they are apparent in your content, language and verbiage allows you to attract a community that's deeply aligned with your brand and connected to your product, service or message.