Looking to make your business stand out and increase brand engagement in a busy market space? Your brand values are the perfect place to start!
As the cost-of-living crisis continues to rise, the battle for customer attention has never been higher, but so is the desire to save pennies and avoid big spending.
Creative content can come cheaply, but a great (and completely free) way to get audiences interested in your brand is through the values you promote across platforms and campaigns.
So, looking to develop your mission, vision and values to their highest potential? You’ve found the right blog, my friends.
Hang on, what are the mission, vision and values?
Your mission, vision and values are the foundations your brand is built on. Put another way, together – they act as the manifesto informing your customers who you are, what you stand for and what you bring to the table.
Just to be sure, let’s break them down individually:
The Mission: Your mission needs to communicate the purpose of your business. Through your products or services, what is your brand’s objective?
The Vision: Your vision needs to provide audiences with what your business will achieve as a company and what it desires to become as it develops throughout its work.
The Values: Your values should reflect your business’s principles and ethics. As a brand, what are you passionate about? Why is it important customers, workers, and society see a positive impact from your brand?
Taking the time to perfect brand values is an excellent starting point in shaping a distinct brand that stands out from competitors. If your mission, vision and values are detailed and thorough, audiences will relate to your identity.
Anything else my brand values will improve for my business?
Your brand values won’t just attain the customer’s appreciation – but your team’s too. By making sure your values reflect your ethic toward the work environment, your employees will feel a sense of belonging and importance within your company.
And on the topic of teamwork, your brand values will additionally create a focal point team members can refer to that drives the creative identity your brand executes throughout areas such as campaigns and social posts. This is essential if you want to achieve efficient, productive work that feels consistent across platforms.
In a nutshell – strong brand values will shape a recognisable identity, nurture employee motivation and resonate with audiences; overall increasing brand equity and engagement.
But wait one second! Before you head off to snazz up your values, we have a few recommendations that will make sure you’re following best practices in this highly competitive market.
Our top tips to get the ball rolling
- Research, research & research
Every business, big or small, will have brand values. Whether it’s an about page on their website or fused through the copy on CSR-related social posts – every brand wants audiences to know what they’re about.
For inspiration, look into how other brands present themselves and their services to customers. Take it a step further; explore the values of brands similar to yours and mark the similarities and differences in how they portray the brand identity.
Don’t panic if you find a brand that shares the same values you do. Most brands today share similar goals and objectives – from healthy work environments to sustainability and cultural sensitivities.
It’s not about using values nobody else promotes; it’s about making the delivery of those values unique to your brand identity, tone of voice and marketing approach.
- Transparency & authenticity are key
In an always-on marketing environment, audiences are more aware of branding than ever before.
In fact, 88% of consumers say that authenticity is a factor when deciding what brands they engage with and support. Having great values won’t be enough to hook in an audience. What’s important is showing how your work follows through on them.
Basically – teach, don’t preach! Demonstrate to customers the practical strides you make as a business and how you contribute to improved services within your field.
On top of that, 66% of consumers say transparency is one of the most attractive qualities of a brand. Honesty is everything; if you’re not open with your customers, it’s harder for them to see your brand identity as genuine.
To achieve transparency, keep your values realistic. If you tell the world you’re about to solve the cost-of-living crisis, chances are your brand will be bashed when you’re spending time on Twitter talking about unrelated issues.
- Value is also practical
Your brand’s value isn’t based solely on your statements. It’s also about how the customer can interact with you.
73% of consumers cite customer experience as an essential factor in their purchasing decisions. Value comes from the experience audiences have with you, and there are plenty of methods you can integrate to improve that relationship.
Consistency is vital, but creative assets must also be accessible to all audiences. Make sure your branded fonts, colours and imagery can be understood by everyone (it’s only going to increase the number of eyes on your content).
Make the most of technologies such as screen-reader software, voice descriptions, and subtitles. This will emphasise the value you see in your customers and result in better connections. For more insights into brand accessibility – check out our blog covering the topic in detail.
Lastly, did you know it only takes 1/10th of a second for people to form a first impression of someone? Chances are, you’ll want customers heading to your website to check out your products. But if your website is slow or unresponsive, sayonara, website!
Performing a CRM audit of your website and making sure there’s value for customers to keep clicking is just as important as the forward-facing values you set out as a business.
But don’t break a sweat – we can help with all these issues! If a CRM audit tickles your fancy or your business is looking for expert consultancy in brand strategy – contact our team of creative and marketing strategists now.
