Finding your brand’s core values is something that I preach to anyone who will listen. I DO get a little crazy about it, but it’s all because they are so darn important to growing a long and lasting business that resonates.

When you’re first starting your business, you’re going at a super-sonic pace. You’re trying to follow your passions, build something up that you love, get the word out there, define your services, create packages, create packaging, etc, etc. There is so much to do! How do you keep it all straight? Through finding your brand’s core values.

When you can define your brand’s core values, you can use them as a compass to guide you to next steps for your life or business.

Wondering how to find your own core values? Sign up below to take the free Cultivate Your Brand’s Core course today:

Do not fret — I know it’s a lot! Here is how you can use your brand’s core values to grow your business:

ONE:
Finding your brand’s core values helps you make the important decisions for your business

Instead of making decisions on feelings, these act as guidelines to make SURE you’re on track.

Have you ever been trying to think about next steps for your life or your business, but the possibilities seem endless, and doing ALL that you hope to accomplish seems overwhelming? Well finding your core values helps you cut out that overwhelm. When you know your values, you’ll be able to do a gut check and immediately know if something fits with your future vision, or not. You can ask yourself — how does this fit with my value of X? If it doesn’t fit, even if it feels like something that you should be doing, say sayonara!

This is an issue that can pop up when you are trying to decide on how to market your business.

When it comes down to it, there are so many ways that COULD work, but what really resonates with my core values? Freedom is one core values that hits me on a personal and business level. When I built this business, I created it from a place of eventually being able to have time-freedom so that I could live my best life. When I think about all the marketing I COULD be doing, I think to this value. Does posting on instagram and facebook and pinterest every day give me freedom? No! it makes me feel obligated.

With my value of freedom, I had to pick a priority. For me, that is posting on Instagram when I can (probably around 3-5 times a week), and hoping on stories there so that I can share behind the scenes. This helps me feel connected to my audience, and it helps them connect to me — something that truly lives out my value of love and friendship. Being able to reply there on a regular basis also helps me live out this value, and it also gives me the FREEDOM to market and connect on my own schedule.

My last value — actionable growth — is also able to fit into this same marketing technique because I’m able to share what I’m learning, and help others grow their brands through sharing tips and tricks. I don’t have to be on EVERY platform, I have to make the platforms that I choose work for my business and my core values.

When you know your values, you can get specific about making choices that work for them.

By finding them, you’re also finding out what truly brings you joy and happiness and makes your business grow and flow in a way that aligns with the life you want to live.

TWO:
Using your brand’s core values makes sure that you’re speaking and creating for your business cohesively

When you’re creating from your values, everything will start to work together.

You’ll have a cohesive language, and everything that you’re creating will start to create a cohesive story that MAKES SENSE.

When I decided on the value of love and friendship for Pinegate Road, it felt so good to know that this could be a basis for how I communicated with people. I have always personally been a (almost overly) friendly person, so to make this a core part of my brand felt great. I no longer wince when I send an email that says “sending lots of love” at the bottom — that’s now on brand. Before, I would struggle with knowing how far was too far. What sounds like my brand, and what didn’t? Was I just trying to write or speak like something else who was doing what I thought was successful? Now, knowing my core values, I know what to write about, why I’m writing about it, and how it’s going to attract my target audience members.

Knowing your core values makes sure that everything you are writing or creating flows around the same hub.

I’m not trying to be anyone else, or trying to act like any other brand. I’m acting from my core and my business’ core when i go to create anything.

THREE:
Your brand’s core values are what will have your dream audience connect with your brand and your offerings

When you speak in a cohesive way, and create from a core that is always the same, this builds a solid foundation for your brand and business.

It’s this solid foundation that your dream audience will begin to trust. It’s this foundation that will attract your dream customers, and they will keep coming back for more. Because you’re putting out what is in your CORE and not just what’s trending or what you hope your dream audience hopes to hear.

Here are Pinegate Road, one of the core values is “actionable growth.” This is what we want, and this is what we want for our audience, our clients, and customers. We give this to you all through the Behind the Brand Podcast, through blog posts like this, and through always giving helpful advice and being there on an individual level for anyone who wants help (on instagram, through email, and through personal calls). We KNOW actionable growth is at our core, and we live it out in every way possible. It’s not something we SAY we do, it’s at our core and it lives out in the specific ways we have grown the business.

When it comes to core values, they aren’t something you would usually know if you were interacting with a brand, it’s something you FEEL.

That’s the beauty of core values — when built right, your audience will FEEL them when they interact with your brand, whether that’s online, in person, or on social media. They inform everything! When you start building them into everything that you do as a business, this is what your audience will begin to know you as. Not because they are told directly, but because it is truly built into everything that you do. It’s that ‘actions speak louder than words’ thing ;)

FOUR:
When your brand’s core values are in place, they create confidence as a creative business owner, and trust in your business

Have you heard of the know/like/trust factor? This is kind of the sales funnel of your branding.

First, people get to know you brand, then they get to like your brand, and finally, they get to trust your brand. When people make it all the way to trust — that’s when you’ve found your people. Having your core values in place helps you create a consistent message in your brand — from your copy to you visuals, so that people are making it all the way to the trust factor.

When you have your core values in place, they also act as guide posts for your business.

They build your foundation. When you have your foundation set, you build a steady confidence in your business and wholeheartedly know that what you’re putting out into the world is something you believe in that is going to do good. That kind of confidence isn’t something that you can get from standard branding or a singular product. When you know your WHY and have the values that hold that why up, the confidence you’ll feel in your business is undeniable. It’s through this confidence that people will connect and start to resonate with your brand — leading to more likes and more sales for your business.

Ready to grow your business in the right way?

Are you wondering how to find your own core values? Sign up below to take the free Cultivate Your Brand’s Core course to learn our signature process for finding your brand’s core values: