Why brand values are important for connecting with clients

Your brand values are a big factor in your ability to attract and maintain ideal clients to your business. They are the core principles that your business stand by and define the beliefs and philosophies that support the way your business works. From the point of view of your clients, they represent a promise for how your business will conduct itself. This is probably why many consumers today look to brand values to help them make the choice of which brands to buy from.

Here are some reasons why brand values are important, especially when it comes to helping your business connect with your ideal clients.

You can also check out: My list of 200 examples of brand values to get you started

Communicating your values helps you attract like-minded people

Like attracts like, so by defining and demonstrating your values through branding and marketing, your business will encourage people with similar values to reach out and purchase your offers. Having shared values is a key appeal for many consumers, particularly when we look at the younger generations. Simply doing right by your business and maintaining the beliefs that are important to you will attract the type of clients who appreciate and value the same things.

This can also lead to taking a stand on the issues that affect you or your target market. It can mean a lot to consumers when a brand speaks up for the issues they find significant. Don’t be afraid of alienating potential clients by taking a stance — remember you can never appeal to everyone and, frankly, you don’t want to! Your perfect, ideal clients are most likely to be the ones who also cherish your strongest values.

Shared values allow you to build trust

Following on from the last point, having shared values with your clients makes it easy to build trust — assuming, of course, that you reliably uphold your values. Trust is created out of mutual understanding and respect which is such a crucial part of developing long-lasting relationships.

By delivering on promises based on the values of your brand, your business can earn the confidence of your clients. They feel assured that the behaviour of your business will continually align with the principles they share with you and that you’ll have their best interests at heart.

Also read: How to build a community around your brand

Your brand values help you to differentiate from your competition

It’s what branding always comes down to — how is your business unique and notable? Strong core brand values that set your business apart is a perfect way to establish a powerful brand. If everyone else in your industry focuses on the speed of their services but you’re all about nurturing a relaxed and comfortable experience for your clients, then communicate it clearly to your audience. If you’re going above and beyond in some way, highlight that point of difference and use it as a reason why clients should choose your business over others.

Brand values give you something to market beyond the features of your offerings

In the end, the choices we make as consumers is often far less about the specific benefits and features of a product or service, and much more about our emotional state of mind. Two identical services at the same price point can do very differently based on how people feel about the businesses that offer those services (in other words — surprise! — it depends on the brands).

The most powerful messaging you can use in your branding and marketing is going to be based on selling feelings, rather than features. Linking your brand values to how you want your clients to feel and the impact your services can have on the state of their lives is a very compelling way to market your business. Saying your business can save users 3 hours of work by automating this or that is cool. But saying you believe spending time with family is invaluable, which is why you’ve developed a process will allow users to use their time to play with their kids instead of working… is infinitely more alluring to the right audience.

Last thoughts

So, hopefully you can see exactly why brand values are important and how they help you cultivate strong relationships with your audience. But remember that choosing the right brand values for your business comes first. Your core brand values need to be built on authentic and genuine beliefs. You don’t want values that were chosen because they “sounded good” or followed the latest trends in what people appeared to care about. After all, superficial brand values help no one.

Here a free PDF guide to choosing core brand values that will positively impact your business.