Your Brand Values are Boring

Brand values are an essential part of your businesses' mission and strategy. These values can communicate your beliefs, what your customers can expect from you, and what makes your business unique. They can also help inform how you interact with your customers and create content that resonates with them while still being authentic to your business. Unfortunately, most brand values are super boring and aren't doing any of that.

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I see the same values over and over again and they generally don't tell me anything about what to expect from a business that isn't already super obvious. For example, I see the value of "Quality" all the time. And while it's great that you have a quality product, wouldn't all of your competitors say the same thing? And haven't your customers heard that word thousands of times already from other businesses? While it's coming from a place of sincerity (I'm sure you do have a really high quality product!), the messaging comes across flat because you're using generic, overused, boring terminology.

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As part of my brand strategy services, I work with clients on defining their brand values to make sure that they can actually create all that magic I mentioned above. In this post, I'm sharing my advice on how to create brand values that won't have your customers yawning.

STAY AWAY FROM THESE

If you take nothing else from this post, I encourage you to stay away from any of the values listed below. I hope that all of these describe your business, but they also describe pretty much every other business. These particular ones also supremely overdone so they're going to strike your customers as an empty promise. There are probably many other overdone values in your specific niche - take a look at your competitor's websites and Instagram accounts and see if there are specific words you might want to avoid based on what you're seeing on there.

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Quality

Excellence

Innovation

Authenticity

Creativity

Integrity

Honesty

Trust

PROMPTS TO UNLOCK YOUR BRAND VALUES

If you're not sure where to start with your brand values, I have six prompts for you to start with. Get your journal out and do a little reflection on these. A loved one or someone else close to your business can help you answer these questions, too.

Why did you start your business?
What problem do your products solve?

How do you want your customers to feel when they use your products?
How do you want your customers to feel when they speak to you or your team?

What makes your [product/service/mission/approach] different?
How would your biggest fan describe your [product/service/mission/approach]?

SPECIFICITY ALWAYS WINS: CASE STUDY ON MY OWN BRAND VALUES

If your first ideas for brand values are on that list above or are otherwise pretty generic and boring, you don't need to start from scratch with new values. Instead, take your ideas and transform them into something specific that actually means something to your ideal customers. I did this and here are my brand values versus what they were when I first started freelancing as a brand designer almost 2 years ago.

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My brand values when I first started:

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• CREATIVE THINKING: My creative thinking process combines my experience with graphic design and my background in mathematics and analytical thinking to produce designs that are effective and beautiful.  
• SIMPLICITY: My process is simplified so my clients don't have to worry or overthink things. My expectations for them are clear and they appreciate the simplicity.
• SUPPORTING SMALL BUSINESSES: I do what I do because I love supporting small businesses and giving them design solutions that allows them to be successful.
• STRATEGY: My design work always starts with strategy so that I make sure the design work I do communicates what my clients expect it to.

My brand values now:

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• NERDINESS IS A SUPERPOWER: My nerdy superpowers are solving puzzles and design details. I use these superpowers in tandem to create designs that look amazing and solve problems. I also work hard to harness my client's superpowers in their brand messaging.
• FOSTERING JOY: Working with a designer can be scary, but it doesn't have to be. My carefully curated process is filled with joy and designed to put my clients at ease.
• SUCCESS STARTS AT DAY ONE: My mission is to help small businesses succeed and that success starts with their visual identity at day one. I have resources and services for businesses at all stages of business so I can meet them where they're at.
• STORYTELLING THROUGH DESIGN: Strategic design tells a story about how a business can improve the life of its customers. I infuse strategy into my design work so that the businesses can stand out and communicate effectively with their customers through story.

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My brand values when I first started are still true to my business but they're pretty boring and I'm honestly cringing reading them now. The wording is generic and you'd see similar brand values in many other brand businesses. My new brand values are an evolution of the old. In creating them I started with the same concepts that are important to me but I've gotten more specific and infused more of my own personality into them.

WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR VALUES

Once you've crafted your brand values, don't just let them sit hidden on a page of your website. They should be coming across front and center in all of your messaging and actions. Using your values consistently reinforces your brand identity and builds trust.

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Once you have brand values that are unique and aligned to your business, you can even use those values as content pillars for your social media and marketing content. Having content pillars makes creating content so much easier.

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If you're not sure about your current values, shoot me a message and I'll give you my honest thoughts about them and how they can be improved! You can also work with me on a brand strategy and brand design project where we can flesh out your values as part of creating a cohesive and compelling brand identity that resonates with your audience.

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