Finding Alignment in your Brand Values
I’m shifting my Brand Values, here’s why
You know when you hear a statement so often it because a-n-n-o-y-i-n-g? That’s how I feel at times with any terms that involve ‘Branding, Brands, etc’. They’re overused and overplayed because they’ve become words that people just throw out there and don’t stick to. Soon they are forgotten and so is their brand strategy, brand goals and the impact they are wanting to make.
Your Brand is your Business.
So what specifically does your business represent? How does it make people feel? Who do you connect with? Circle back to — I’m shifting my Brand Values. More: I’m niching in on my Brand Values. Getting specific on not only what they are, but how I am staying committed to them, in turn this has morphed my messaging, my ideal audience has gotten more specific, my content pillars have become zeroed in and I feel like I have focus on my path towards my Big Hairy Audacious Goals.
Previous Values:
integrity
rooted
authentic
inspiration
resilience
gritty
magical
New Values:
Nostalgia: creating emotion provoking brands that last in memory.
Intuition: building brands that feel organic and aligned to the client
Expression: uncovering the unique elements of each business and enriching them
Gritty: helping businesses push for more, expand the barriers, breakthroughs
Connection: build roots for each brand to have a home their ideal audience will hook into
Far Sight/Big Thinking/ Dreaming: guiding businesses to think bigger while seeing and leading them on the path to get there
OOF! Feels damn good.
Do you understand the difference between the two? How broad and generic were the first set of values?
Let me also state - I made an oops. Truthfully, Integrity cannot be a value. It needs to be the minimum you have with your business and your clients/customers. Inspiration needs to be a force that backs what you do on a regular basis. Authentic, if you’re faking it in your business, you’re not working one that is aligned with who you are and thus, what you value as a person.
So how do you get more specific on your Values? Better yet - how do you take those Values and turn them into Messaging?
You can start by asking yourself these important questions:
What do I and my business stand for?
What do I and my business stand against?
Who is my ideal audience? What kind of people would I love to fill a room with?
What do those people value?
How do I want them to feel when interacting with my Brand?
Once you’ve uncovered the answers to these, you should be able to shape your Values into 3-5 single words or short statements that will be the Core and Foundation of your Brand.
i.e. Education; Sustainability; Romance; Exhilaration; Care
The next stage: asking yourself how you will commit to those Values. What practises will you put in place to continue expressing these anchoring terms on a daily basis?
HINT: the commitments shouldn’t feel difficult. If they do, you haven’t found Values that you truly align with.
Take a good 45 minutes - 1 hour working through this. Be intentional and intuition driven.
Next week we’ll talk about how we can take those Values and Commitments, find our Pillars and turn it all into Messaging.
Pssst… Newsletter peeps heard this first! Want a jump start? Don’t forget to sign up for my monthly Newsletter!
