What Are Brand Values And Why Are They Important?

Brand values are the guiding principles which underpin every element of an organisation. They are a business’ purpose, its driving force. They dictate an organisation’s behaviour both internally and externally, helping inform every decision it makes and every communication it has. Here, we explore some of the key benefits of developing clear brand values for your business.

1. Build customer loyalty
2. Shape your marketing strategy
3. Inform decision making
4. Maintain accountability
5. Boost staff retention
6. Attract new talent

Research from our Brand Love report found that a brand’s values are core to building a strong relationship with its customers. In fact, consumers said values are what makes them love, rather than simply like, an organisation.

That love drives customer loyalty and referrals. According to our research, consumers are three times more likely to recommend a brand they love. They are also willing to tolerate twice as many mistakes from it. Therefore, brand values can have a direct impact on a business’s bottom line.

Having a strong set of brand values also gives your marketing a clear direction. Every element, from your website, through to PR and social media, can be informed by those values. Messaging becomes strong and consistent. This makes for an impactful marketing machine. Your brand is clearly and consistently communicated to customers at every touch point. This reinforces your purpose and makes customer communication all the more powerful.

This joined-up thinking benefits more than just your marketing strategy. Having a set of brand values firmly in place informs every decision made across every business function. Indeed, decision-making often becomes easier. That’s because it’s clearer for managers to know what your business would and wouldn’t do. You could say they have a ‘moral compass’ to guide them.

For example, say one of your values is ‘honesty’. This will help to form the day-to-day decisions and interactions of every employee and department. Your customer service team will always opt to be transparent with customers it is dealing with. Your pricing policy will be clear, and your terms and conditions in plain English. Similarly your internal comms team will share as much information about the business with staff as possible.

Brand values also boost accountability. Staff, old and new, know what their employer stands for and what’s expected of them. Culture can all too easily shift as a business grows, with valuable elements lost. But with clear values setting the ‘tone’, this is far less likely to happen. It becomes immediately clear when staff don’t fit or are not upholding values, so the situation can be remedied.

A common set of beliefs help with retention and productivity too. This is because values promote a sense of belonging and employees who feel they belong are happier, more motivated and more productive at work. In fact, studies show that happy workers are 13 percent more productive than those who are unhappy at work. Happy staff working in an environment aligned to their values are also far less likely to leave. So, staff churn is reduced.

The best employees increasingly demand more from their workplace than simply salary. They want to work for an organisation that aligns to them, their morals and beliefs. Businesses with a strong company culture built on solid, clearly communicated values will find it far easier to attract talent and keep it.

If yours doesn’t have a clear set of brand values in place, then now’s the time to establish them. Effective brand values are easy to understand, timeless, unique, and memorable.

However, most important of all is that your values are meaningful. Hollow, generic words and phrases that are picked simply because they ‘sound good’ will never ring true with your customers or team. You must choose real values. You must be truly passionate about them and committed to them. They must be reflected across every aspect of your business. If your values don’t feel real you will struggle to live up to or benefit from them.