Leading With Values to Grow Your Brand
Chances are that you became an entrepreneur because you wanted to be an agent of change. You wanted to not only change your own life, but you wanted to be a change in the lives of the customers you serve as well.
So it can be frustrating when the message we want to communicate isn’t landing the way that we want, or when it gets lost in the noise of the marketplace. There’s a very specific group of people we want to speak to, but sometimes we find we can’t reach them. Instead, our conversations revolve around the functional side: how much does something cost, what does someone get, etc.
As a brand consultant and coach, I usually see that people with these frustrations have something in common: They aren’t communicating their values as a brand. Knowing what you stand for as a brand and how you want to spread that to your audience is vital in making sure you find your audience.
SAY WHAT YOU STAND FOR
When you began this journey with your brand, you were probably told at one point to write down your business core values. You may have jotted down your values in a notebook somewhere but never revisited them.
Or maybe you haven’t done this at all. Maybe you still need to sit down and take time to clarify and verbalize what your unique core values are as a brand.
What are company values? These are the beliefs that drive you as an entrepreneur. These are the philosophies that you hold dear that helped lead you to start your brand in the first place. Company values should be the foundation you build everything else on to create a connection with your audience.
Using these values—this idea of what you stand for on a personal level—is what should lead all of your messaging to your audience. And I mean all.
It should be in your social media, in your welcome email sequence, in your hero message on your website. Your values should be the thing that repeats in all communication with your audience.
Don’t get stuck thinking, “I’ve said it once, they get it!” because they didn’t. Your audience needs to hear this over and over again before they decide that they want to do business with you on a deeper level. Knowing what you stand for turns conversations around price and product into conversations about more meaningful things.
GROW WITH IMPACT
When you know your values and begin communicating them over and over again to your audience, this is when you’ll see growth in your brand. This is when you will find yourself in a place where you not only increase your profits, but you’re making that difference you wanted to make in the world when you started your brand.
I can’t overstate the importance of values in business. This is way more important than any marketing funnel or email sequence. Getting clear about what you stand for and leading with values in all of your brand messaging will have more of an impact on your business than any of the other stuff.
Why is that? Because there is no campaign that can make up for how important it is to connect the right people to your brand’s heart and soul. Connecting with these people will take your brand where you always wanted it to go.
