How to Choose Your Brand Values

When it comes to writing an effective Brand Story that wins your best customers and opens the door to the impact, income, and influence you were made for, your Brand Values will keep you on the right track to reach success on your terms.

After all, you didn’t start a business to succeed according to anyone else’s definition but your own. If your Brand Story is the roadmap to success on your terms, consider your Brand Values the compass navigating you toward your North Star (your Purpose).

In a recent post on Instagram, I shared how your Brand Values are also the key to remain true to you. After all, people want to be doing business with people — not faceless businesses.

The Power of A Human Brand

Check out these statistics from Entrepreneur.com and the Nielsen Report about the power of being human online:

1. Brand messages shared by employees on social media get 561% more reach than the same messages shared by that brand’s social media channels. (Entrepreneur.com)
2. 92% of people trust individuals when they make recommendations over that of a brand — even if they don’t know the person! (Entrepreneur.com)
3. 82% of customers trust a brand more when that company’s senior management is active on social media. (Nielsen Report)

So what does all this mean?

The days of hiding behind a cold logo are over. The more personable you can be with your customers, the more relatable you seem, which only adds to the Know -> Like -> Trust factor.

The Know, Like, Trust Factor.

A recipe I first discovered from the wonder woman entrepreneur Jenna Kutcher, the Know -> Like -> Trust factor explains how to convert casual buyers into loyal superfans who buy from you first and refer you to their friends.

In this increasingly personal market, nurturing a customer is like making a friend. You first meet through witty quips on social media, then email for a coffee date, and soon, they’re your go-to when you’re crying on the floor in a puddle of snot wanting to quit this entrepreneurship thing (only me? Oh, okay).

Once your customer gets to know you through the reflections of your personality online, they begin to like you as they get to know you better. Finally, they learn to TRUST you as you show up sharing the same message (your Brand Story) consistently.

Your Brand Values ensure you’re sharing the same message, consistently and with integrity, enough to earn their trust.

How to Choose Your Brand Values

One common question I hear all the time is: “are my Brand Values the SAME or different from my personal values?”

While personal values apply to you and how you treat your loved ones, your Brand Values often marry your own convictions (your Why) with what your customers need.

Here is how I suggest picking your Brand Values:

1. Map out your Brand Promise by filling out the sentence: “I help [my customer] [overcome problem] [to achieve goal].”
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2. Based on your Brand Promise, write out the Top 3 ways you help your customer overcome their problem. This includes:
   1. Your Plan. In 3 easy steps, how do you get them from Point A to Point B? An example: “Sign up for a chemistry call; choose one of my packages, and let’s help you overcome anxiety to build a business with less stress and more ease.”
   2. Your Personality. Your Brand Story is not just WHAT you have to offer, but WHO you are that helps them along the way. As such, you have unparalleled qualities which qualify you to be the best Helper along their journey as the Hero of an epic story. Write out all your accomplishments and qualities of your personality which make YOU the best person to help your customer achieve their dream. Then, circle the Top 3.
   3. Your Purpose. This is your Why, or the North Star I spoke to earlier. Your Purpose is what truly sets you apart from other service providers in your niche. To find your Purpose in your Brand Story, complete the statement: “I believe [my customers] deserve…” (what kind of life do you envision for them?)
3. Now, look for patterns across your writing and select Brand Values that align. I recommend 2 at best; maximum, 10.

Here is a list of Brand Values from Scott Jeffrey to start.

How to Choose Your Brand Values

Take a look at the list below, which features over 200 Brand Values. Daunting, I know, but the following are 3 steps to help you narrow down values according to your Brand Story.

1. See which words resonate based on what your customer needs and your Brand Story (Who you are x What you offer x Why you do what you do).
2. Look up definitions for any word which catches your eye that you’re still unsure of.
3. Write statements in the active tense to expand upon each word (see below for an example).

Acceptance Accomplishment Accountability Accuracy Achievement Adaptability Alertness Altruism Ambition Amusement Assertiveness Attentive Awareness Balance Beauty Boldness Bravery Brilliance Calm Candor Capable Careful Certainty Challenge Charity Cleanliness Clear Clever Comfort Commitment Common sense Communication Community Compassion Competence Concentration Confidence Connection Consciousness Consistency Contentment Contribution Control Conviction Cooperation Courage Courtesy Creation Creativity Credibility Curiosity Decisive Decisiveness Dedication Dependability Determination Development Devotion Dignity Discipline Discovery Drive Effectiveness Efficiency Empathy Empower Endurance Energy Enjoyment Enthusiasm Equality Ethical Excellence Experience

Exploration Expressive Fairness Family Famous Fearless Feelings Ferocious Fidelity Focus Foresight Fortitude Freedom Friendship Fun Generosity Genius Giving Goodness Grace Gratitude Greatness Growth Happiness Hard work Harmony Health Honesty Honor Hope Humility Humor Imagination Improvement Independence Individuality Innovation Inquisitive Insightful Inspiring Integrity Intelligence Intensity Intuitive Joy Justice Kindness Knowledge Lawful Leadership Learning Liberty Logic Love Loyalty Mastery Maturity Meaning Moderation Motivation Openness Optimism Order Organization Originality Passion Patience Peace Performance Persistence Playfulness Poise Potential Power

Present Productivity Professionalism Prosperity Purpose Quality Realistic Reason Recognition Recreation Reflective Respect Responsibility Restraint Results-oriented Reverence Rigor Risk Satisfaction Security Self-reliance Selfless Sensitivity Serenity Service Sharing Significance Silence Simplicity Sincerity Skill Skillfulness Smart Solitude Spirit Spirituality Spontaneous Stability Status Stewardship Strength Structure Success Support Surprise Sustainability Talent Teamwork Temperance Thankful Thorough Thoughtful Timeliness Tolerance Toughness Traditional Tranquility Transparency Trust Trustworthy Truth Understanding Uniqueness Unity Valor Victory Vigor Vision Vitality Wealth Welcoming Winning Wisdom Wonder

An Example: Our Core Brand Values at Come Alive Co

Here are our Top 3 Values at Come Alive Co, written in an active sense — that is, to guide action.

1. Love
   1. We put people first: each other, and our clients. We see the best in others and regularly call out the gold in one another. We’re not afraid of healthy conflict, but always do it in love. 
2. Purpose
   1. We live in service of others, and commit to our shared mission. We believe all the work we do — large and small — will cause a ripple effect of positive impact.
3. Integrity 
   1. We are impeccable with our word. We do what we say and say what we mean, and we hold fast to a fierce commitment to what’s right, not just what’s right now.

Now that you’ve seen ours, tell us: What are your Brand Values?

Leave a comment below; we’d love to hear what they are!

Your Brand Values: A Final Word

I often hear customers say, “I don’t know what to post.” By understanding your Brand Story and posting consistently in accordance with your Brand Values, you not only align who you are with what you do; you’ll also gain the trust of loyal clients who will contribute to your growing business.

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