Personal Brand Values
Core Values for Personal Brand Builders
Are you aligned with your core values?
If the answer is no, then this newsletter matters to you.
Most people fail when they put their core values aside to please others to the detriment of their happiness and success.
Core values aren't just buzzwords—they're the foundation that upholds everything we stand for, personally and professionally. They're like the roots of a tree, keeping us grounded and nourished, ensuring we grow in the right direction. When our actions and decisions are aligned with our core values, our personal and professional lives flourish, resonating with authenticity and purpose.
In this newsletter, we'll dive into:
The Importance of Core Values: Understanding why they're not just nice but necessary for your brand's long-term success and integrity.
Living Your Values: Practical tips on integrating your core values into every aspect of your business, ensuring they're more than just words on a website.
Values in Action: Real-life examples of brands that have thrived by staying true to their core values.
Evaluating Your Alignment: How to check in with yourself and your brand to ensure you're living by your values.
Authenticity: Your audience must know how much of your words is true. They need to see if you can walk the talk.
Identifying Your Core Values: A step-by-step guide to discovering what values are truly at the heart of your brand.
The Importance of Core Values
Core values are the essence of your identity and brand. They act as your compass, guiding your decisions, actions, and how you present yourself to the world. When your brand lives and breathes its core values, it attracts clients, partners, and opportunities that align with those values. This alignment isn't just about making your business more appealing but more sustainable and fulfilling in the long term.
Living Your Values
Integrating your core values into your brand means more than just stating them on your website or business card. It's about making decisions aligning with these values, whether choosing clients, designing your services, or selecting partnerships. Consistency is key. Ensure that every aspect of your business, from marketing materials to customer service, reflects your core values. This consistency builds trust and authenticity in your brand.
Values in Action
Consider brands known for their strong core values, such as Patagonia, with its commitment to environmental sustainability, or Ben & Jerry's, with its focus on social justice. These companies have woven their values into their products, marketing, and culture, demonstrating that values can drive success and positive change. Draw inspiration from these examples and think about how you can similarly align your brand with your values in a way that resonates with your audience and differentiates you in the market.
Evaluating Your Alignment
Regularly check in with yourself and your brand to ensure you live up to your core values. This can be as simple as reviewing your recent decisions and actions to see if they align with your values or asking for feedback from clients and peers. If you find areas where your brand isn't living up to its values, consider what changes need to be made. Remember, realigning with your core values signifies growth and commitment to authenticity.
By deeply understanding and consistently applying your core values, you build a brand that truly represents who you are and creates a roadmap for making decisions that lead to lasting success and fulfilment.
Authenticity
A vital trait within your brand is authenticity. Your audience must know how much of what you are saying is true. They need to see if you can walk the talk.
If an audience senses a brand is not authentic, they quickly call it out on a social and public platform for all to see and hear. Authenticity is the audience measure of whether a brand lives up to the values it claims to have.
Identifying Your Core Values
Discovering your core values isn't always straightforward, but it's vital in creating a brand that truly represents you. Start by reflecting on moments when you felt most proud and fulfilled in your work. What were you doing? Who were you helping? What principles were you upholding? These reflections can highlight the values driving your satisfaction and success. List these values, then narrow them down to the 3-5 most essential ones. These are the core values that should guide your brand.
Here are five common known values:
Integrity
Accountability
Diligence
Perseverance
Discipline
Here are my core values:
Integrity is one of my values, so when I delved deep into the meaning, I was surprised by the magnitude of this one value. However, it encapsulated everything I needed to express.
Integrity: Honesty, courage, reliability & trustworthiness, respect, resilient & fairness, patience & flexibility, gratitude
Growth: Ambition, drive, progress, momentum, learning, knowledge and service improvements.
Positivity: Finding a better way, optimism, futuristic, cup of ambition overflows.
Curiosity: Visionary, insightful, learner, innovative, inquisitive, challenge, activator, development, clarity, analytical.