Your business’s values are the umbrella under which you base all of your communications. As such, you have to define your business values before you start using them. A good example of how umbrella concept works in action is Nike. Their “Just Do It” slogan informs all of their communications. If “Just Do It” isn’t actually in one of their ads, it’s influencing the content.
So, the first thing you need to do when you’re trying to use values in your business communications is identify your values. I’ve prepared some questions below to help you start with that process.
Questions For Defining Your Business Values
- What values currently drive your business?
- Why did you start your business?
- What values do you want to be driving your business?
- What values are your customers currently expressing by buying your product?
- Who is the intended recipient of your business’s services?
- Identify a successful rival or competitor providing the same or similar good/service that you do. What value is a person expressing by purchasing that rival’s good/service? How has that rival successfully communicated that value to their customers?
- How are you connecting those values and the purchase of your product in the mind of the customer with your marketing? Are you doing this at all?
- When your customer purchases your product/service, what do you want them to be thinking?
Next Steps
Once you’ve taken the time to define your business values, you need to synthesize a mission statement and a slogan from them. These will be what you use in your communications. But the first step in this process is defining your values so that you can use them.
I can help you develop and then implement that process effectively if you hire me to do so here.