3 ways to maximise the impact of your brand values.

Everyone can agree brand values are important - but things get more complicated when we start to define how they should be used and expressed.?

We all know today’s audiences are drawn to purpose-driven organisations. So it stands to reason that to reach them, it’s vital to have actionable, clear and audience-centric brand values.

The importance of values might explain why they are often the hardest part of any brand strategy to nail down. The problem is, there’s a lot of confusion when it comes to the role of values and how they should be brought to life.

Left unchecked, this can lead to values statements that are unclear, uncompelling and ineffectual.

The good news is that done right, values can set your organisation apart from your comparators, and help attract the types of team members, partners and end-users you want most.

To help you get there, here’s three ways to get the most out of your brand values.

1/ Unblur the lines between organisational values, behaviours and personality traits.

For each element of a brand strategy to really sing, all the parts need to serve distinct roles.?

Values exist to communicate what an organisation stands for, and how this impacts what its audiences can expect.

They are not the place for organisations to define expectations for employee behaviour, or the place to shape the brand personality.?

For example, one of our brand values is:

We build long-lasting relationships with brave, collaborative, purpose-driven organisations. Together, we improve the communities, societies and world in which we all live.

This value is our promise to our internal and external audiences about the types of organisations we will (and won’t) work with as we deliver our mission of making life better for people.

The power of this value statement lies in its actionability, and the audience expectations it creates.?

We use it to assess every new project we take on, to ensure our day-to-day impact aligns with our mission. It’s a commitment to our team that they’ll only work on clients that do good in the world. It tells our purpose-driven clients that we’re aligned on ethical issues, and that we’ll be responsible custodians of their brand and reputation.??

2/ Go beyond single-word hygiene factors

It’s common for words like ‘innovation’ and ‘integrity’ to be thrown into the ring when discussing brand values. And while these are positive traits, they are also generic hygiene factors.?

Single-word values statements are hard to make distinctive, compelling and actionable, because they don’t define what that word means in context. They don’t tell us how an organisation will deliver to their mission, in a way that’s relevant to us as an audience.

However, it is possible to use these words as a springboard for more effective value statements. A great example of this can be found in Patagonia’s values. They include ‘integrity’ as a value, but in a way that is specific to their mission and audiences:?

Examine our practices openly and honestly, learn from our mistakes and meet our commitments. We value integrity in both senses: that our actions match our words (we walk the talk), and that all of our work contributes to a functional whole (our sum is greater than our parts).

3/ Avoid demanding outcomes from your external and internal audiences in your values

We’re strong believers that organisational values shouldn’t be used to define the relationship outcomes they want from their external and internal audiences. ‘Trust’, ‘responsibility’ and ‘respect’ are a few of the most common outcomes we see used as values.

The truth is, that these outcomes are not things we can simply demand. We need to earn them, by building the environment and relationships that nurture these outcomes.

‘Trust’, for example, is key for any positive relationship, whether it be between internal team members, or between an organisation and its end-users.?

But trust should never be a brand value, because only our audiences can decide if we are worthy of trust. We use our values to prove that we are, by consistently delivering positive impact for our consumers in a way that aligns with our brand purpose.

The same concept applies for outcomes like ‘respect’ and ‘responsibility’, which an organisation might want from its employees.?

You can see this thinking brought to life in the brand values we created for Onemda as part of our brand strategy and visual identity project.

Onemda is a centre for learning and therapeutic development for people with a disability.?

Their values clearly outline what they will prioritise as they work towards their purpose to enrich lives through education, therapy and social connectedness:

INCREASING IMPACT

When participants succeed, we succeed.

PROVIDING POSSIBILITIES

Everyone has the right to reach their potential.

CULTIVATING CONNECTION

Great things happen when we do them together.

PRIORITISING PEOPLE

People are at the heart of everything we do.

Instead of defining outcomes and jumping to the end result, these values function as a guide for the organisation across all areas of business, from developing HR policies, to launching new therapeutic services.

If Onemda reliably demonstrates commitment to these values, then important outcomes such as trust, respect and responsibility will be fostered within its team and community.

Do you want help crafting clear, actionable and audience-centric values for your organisation? We’d love to chat. Or if you’re looking for inspiration, why not browse our strategy work?