What does your business stand for? Creating your brand values
Your brand values represent what your company stand for.
They go beyond just the products or services you offer and encapsulate the emotional connection you want to create with your community or clients.
When you have a clear understanding of your brand values, it sets the tone for every aspect of your business, from the words you use in your communications to the decisions you make about what content to create or services you offer.
In this post I’m sharing the values for my own business - to give you an idea of how I think about this and what my business stands for.
The Little Design Corner Brand Values:
🎯 1: BE YOUR BEST
We have a culture of excellence and aim to out perform in our market. We deliver exceptional products and customer service that inspire people to take action and improve their lives. We know that only we are responsible for the results we achieve and we never blame others.
🥳 2: SURPRISE AND DELIGHT
We are committed to creating an exceptional customer journey and experience. This starts with high quality educational programs but is enhanced by fun and rewarding experiences. We aim to make a positive impact in our customers' lives.
👩🏻🎓 3: LEAD BY EXAMPLE
We are generous in sharing what we know. We aim to provide leadership to the design community and create a culture of collaboration over competition. We are always looking for new ways to grow our company and community. This is a community where everyone is welcome.
If you know me or have been part of my community for some time then hopefully the above brand values clearly represent what you think about The Little Design Corner (and me!).
Your brand values can be as simple as a few words or you can go in depth like I have to really define what your company stands for. The important thing is to make sure you do this process as it will really help to clarify your thinking around how you want to be seen in your market.
In case it's helpful I will add a snippet from one of my online courses with some examples of the types of brand values you might choose from. This list should hopefully give you some inspiration for defining your own values.
At the moment I just have my brand values sitting on my central dashboard in Notion (the tool I use to manage my life and business) and every time I open that dashboard I see the brand values there so I can be reminded of what we stand for.
If you want to learn more about how I use Notion you can watch this YouTube video here
Here’s how my values look each time I open Notion (a great daily reminder of what I’m aiming for with my business):
Here some ideas for how you might use your brand values once you’ve defined them:
Guiding Decision Making - e.g. what to write content about, how to interact with your community, the tone of voice you’ll use, what products or services to create
Employee Culture - e.g. helping to create a strong sense of purpose and create a positive work culture.
Customer Engagement - e.g. creating an emotional connection with your clients and community.
Product and Service Development - e.g. informing the development of new products and services
Marketing and Communications - e.g. setting the tone and messaging of your marketing and social media.
Brand Experience - e.g. creating a consistent experience for your clients and community a they move through your customer journey.
Supplier Selection - e.g. evaluating suppliers and partners based on their alignment with your own brand values.
Internal Operations - e.g. guiding internal decision making such as around ethical business practices or a commitment to sustainability.
Innovation - e.g. helping you to differentiate your brand and stay ahead of the competition.
Overall by clarifying what you stand for and incorporating these values into every aspect of your business, you can create a clear and consistent brand identity that connects with your clients and community, plus will help you stand out from the competition.
Thanks for reading and catch you in my next post!
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
