How can you showcase your brand culture and values with content?

Every brand should have a voice that permeates across products. What does that mean? When someone sees your website, they know it's you. When someone sees your marketing collateral, they know it's you. Like a singer on the radio who everyone instantly recognizes, your brand should feel welcome and familiar.

Your brand’s voice signals what kind of relationship you would like to have with your clients. In the real-world, we quickly pick up on hints about what sort of interaction people would like to have. The same is true for brands. What sort of personality does your brand have? Are you a brave adventurer testing the limits of your courage? Or a sage guide helping to navigate uncharted territory? Or an inventive thinker with captivating ideas? Or maybe you are the everyman, who just wants to have an honest, down-to-earth conversation? Your voice helps to express the emotional content of your brand and how the client sees themselves as they progress through the customer journey.

Brand voice is the simplest way to showcase a company’s personality through content. The most effective way to do this is first understanding what your tone is, how you want people to feel when they interact with your brand, and how you can capture that emotion in words and creative. Then, you determine your content distribution approach and maintain consistency across all your messaging and the channels you have a presence in. Always think about what makes your brand voice unique — what are the differentiating factors that make a fan or consumer want to read, experience, follow, or watch your content? Start there and you’ll be able to distill it down to the core attributes that help bring a voice and tone to life.

Crafting a compelling brand culture and values narrative starts with a distinctive voice. For instance, if authenticity, innovation, and inclusivity define your brand, infuse a conversational tone in social media posts, share behind-the-scenes innovation glimpses, and highlight diversity stories. On the website, use language reflecting your brand's personality and values. In emails, spotlight philanthropy and sustainability efforts. Videos should feature unscripted moments, like employee interviews discussing the impact of values. Consistency across all content builds authenticity, fostering a deep connection with your audience, turning them into advocates who appreciate not just what you sell but who you are as a brand.

To showcase your brand culture and values through content, focus on creating authentic and engaging narratives that align with your core principles. Utilize various content formats such as blog posts, videos, and social media to communicate your brand's mission, vision, and values. Incorporate storytelling that highlights real-life examples, employee experiences, and community engagement. Consistency in messaging and visual elements across platforms helps reinforce your brand identity. Encourage user-generated content and foster a sense of community to amplify the impact of your brand culture.

The value of social proof within our modern marketing world is immense. Working in higher education advertising, this landscape is filled with lofty messaging and aspirational imagery. One of the best ways to stand out is to invest in gathering real student testimonials and success stories. Showcasing your brand values through story telling is a great way to stand out and connect with audiences. People are over-marketed—they’ve heard it and seen it. Real people connect with real stories; brands today need to find the right platform to convey the right message, and speak to their audiences in ways that showcase authenticity.

Stories make people feel and connect with brands in ways that are human. It breaks away from the monolith of big logos and taglines, and brings a bit more relatability to how a brand can be experienced. It also provides a perspective of how someone else may have experienced or interacted with a brand as a reference point. Often times, stories told on behalf of a brand are the most powerful ways to build trust, loyalty, and community.

Showcasing your brand culture and values through content is about telling authentic stories. Share behind-the-scenes glimpses that highlight your company's personality and the people behind it. For instance, a family-owned coffee shop can share stories about the origins of their coffee beans or feature employees to humanize the brand. Use customer testimonials to illustrate how your brand positively impacts their lives. Create content that reflects your values, whether it's sustainability, community engagement, or quality.

Sharing personal interviews and client testimonials with real people on screen for example creates trust and loyalty ive seen. This is a great way to see measure your brand awareness and success.

Yes, storytelling in my experience is a powerful way of demonstrating the problems that you are solving for your audience with your brand. You can speak about where you fit in as a brand in the lives of your audience through storytelling and also how you fill the gap where your competitors could not. With storytelling, you can change your audience's mindset towards your brand. You can show them a perspective, influence them, and convince them of your brand. You can also stand out as a brand with good storytelling if you know what your audience's pain points are.

Authenticity is key - your brand culture must mirror your organisational values. After all, if you're trying to be something you're not, you'll get found out ?? On the bright side, living your brand values opens up a trove of inspiring stories for content. Embrace transparency and share your processes, decision making, and even the challenges you've faced. This builds trust and underscores your commitment to openness - essential values that will resonate with consumers ??

Values are the foundation that remains constant. The content you create plays a crucial role in shaping effective communication. In my opinion, the ultimate objective should be to find a compelling narrative that aligns with the business or organization's values, where employees are genuine ambassadors of the culture, and communication is expressed honestly and transparently.

Trends can be valuable tools for capturing audience attention, but they shouldn't lead you to stray too far from how you want to present your brand. For instance, while adopting visually striking and trendy graphics can enhance engagement, ensure these visuals still resonate with your brand's core values and messaging. This approach helps in staying relevant and appealing to your audience, without compromising the authenticity and integrity of your brand identity. Staying true to your values in your content strategy isn't just about consistency; it's about building trust and a genuine connection with your audience.

Aligning your content with your values goes to not just what you say, but how you say it. One of our core values - Be A Lighthouse - is about helping people, guiding them to the solutions they need. A Q&A style podcast where we bring on team members and community friends, and give them a platform to "Be A Lighthouse" for others, made a ton of sense for who we are. And as I think ahead to how that show will evolve over time, our core values are an easy thing to keep in mind to judge if any changes to the podcast make sense for us.

There are brands which lead and brands which follow. Leaders have the courage of their convictions to stand up for what they believe in. Followers constantly stop to check which way the wind is blowing and adjust their communication strategy accordingly. While it may be tempting to “design” your values to match the perceived tastes of consumers, unless you are truly committed to them in word and deed, they will likely be perceived as inauthentic by consumers. So talk to people — from leadership to every signle team member — and find out the common factors that genuinely motivate and inspire them and build your values (and your recruitment strategy) on that basis.

Employee advocacy can really amplify your brand's presence on LinkedIn. Just like how you’d trust a waiter's recommendation over the manager's when dining out, your target audience places greater trust in your employees' views about your company. They're seen as the insiders, the real faces behind the brand, offering authentic insights that resonate more deeply than any polished corporate message. So encourage your employees to participate in your company's brand message and celebrate their contributions.

I believe involving your team in content creation isn't just a choice; it's a necessity. Showcase your team in your content and let their insights and experiences shape your story and your brand is made of. The people behind the brand define its success.

I can’t express how important this is. Involving staff in all areas of your brand building is important to create a culture around brand values. Allow openness for feedback and conversations around values. Bring them into your onboarding process and conversations. When employees feel valued they are more motivated, more engaged, more likely to endorse the brand to others and become key ambassadors for the brand.

I would put this top of this list when it comes to your brands values and communications. High staff turnovers and toxic workplaces are becoming all too common and one of the key reasons we are seeing this trend in business is a lack of value alignment across an organisation. Bring values to the heart of your internal conversations, use them in your recruitment and onboarding process. Ask each employee what they value too and work on ways as a brand you can meet these. Get all this right and you’ll be on your way to a happy, engaged, motivated and more productive team by and much more likely to retain top talent.

Empathy is at the heart of impactful content. Not in scarcity or fear-based tactics. When your content genuinely taps into your audience's emotions, addresses their needs and soothes their pain points, you earn their trust. With a content strategy rooted in understanding and empathy, engagement will follow naturally. Your aim is to build a strong community, not just a following.

Infuse your brand with a human touch, one that reflects emotions, thoughts, and a sense of humor. When brands embody the people behind them, fostering a connection becomes easier. Engage with your audience in a compassionate manner, allowing space for genuine interactions without a hint of cynicism from your end. Exceptional customer care, stemming from a human perspective, contributes to an outstanding customer experience.

Before engaging your audience, it's crucial to have a clear and accurate understanding of who they are. Creating a detailed persona portrait that is easily comprehensible to both you and your team is essential. As Bill Aulet suggests, in some instances, it's beneficial to bring this persona into some of your business meetings to keep the voice of your customers "real."

Quando uma marca que é construída a partir da necessidade de seu público e tem um diálogo próximo com ele, cria-se uma conex?o poderosa. Aliada a uma boa entrega comercial, conseguimos ter verdadeiros embaixadores da marca, que além de engrossarem seu colch?o de reputa??o s?o ferramentas poderosas para a manuten??o da imagem junto a novos clientes.

Effective communication is not a one-way street. Successful companies and organizations nowadays are actively engaging with their audience and clients, through which feedback is obtained to improve the quality of business. Whether it is a B2B or B2C scenario, organizations should strive to express the needs that are not only important to them but also to their customers and clients.

Showcasing your brand culture and values through content involves merging design, ethos, and messaging. Chumbak exemplifies this synergy by infusing vibrant, culturally rich designs into their products, aligning seamlessly with their values of creativity and uniqueness. Their content reflects this blend, telling stories not just of products but of the cultural inspirations behind them. Through visually appealing and culturally resonant content, Chumbak establishes an emotional connection with customers, embodying a brand culture that celebrates diversity, creativity, and a love for distinctive design, creating an online presence that is both ethnic and aesthetically captivating.

Brand culture emerges when every aspect of your brand strategy aligns seamlessly. Instead of spotlighting it directly, focus on cultivating a robust identity. By excelling in products, customer service, and maintaining a consistent brand presence, you create a force that shapes your culture organically. Let your brand's essence permeate every facet of your business, allowing your culture to naturally shine through as a testament to your brand's strength and authenticity.

Use visual elements to reinforce your brand identity. Visual elements such as colours, fonts, logos, images, and videos can help you convey your brand identity and culture more effectively than words alone. You can use visual elements to create a distinctive look and feel for your content, and to evoke certain emotions or associations in your audience. For example, Coca-Cola is a brand that uses red and white as their signature colours, and they use them consistently in their content to create a sense of familiarity, excitement, and happiness.

If you are in the information business and your job involves making money online, then every piece of your content should sell you. Posting content is also a job, but to determine what content goes where, brand strategists come in.

It’s crucial to keep in mind that your content must reflect the reality. Never attempt to showcase your brand culture and values through 'fake content'—meaning, telling stories that are not backed by the company’s history, operation, or real facts. Always emphasize the strengths of your company, but never claim it to be something it is far from being. Managing a brand is managing a reputation. Therefore, building credibility is very serious and must be a priority, always.