Thinking about your brand's values as part of creating your brand strategy is often the most fun part of the process and draws a lot from your mission. It also helps you ensure you take steps towards achieving your mission in a manner you'll be proud of. Let's think about the values that will guide you.
From the book "How Google Works," we can see their values are boiled down to three words:
However subjective it may be, Yes, it genuinely expresses a company value and aspiration that is deeply felt by employees. Don't be evil is mainly just another way to empower employees' accountability check. Say what you want about google leading the way in collecting more information about every human being on the planet at the fastest rate possible, Googlers still remain the primary beneficiaries of the works of that knowledge. It is plainly seen that Google invites its users to regularly check the companies moral compass when making decisions using their platforms. That very simple value helps Google stay accountable to their mission. In 1998, their value proposition was:
The mission would be organize the world's information. Their offer would be make it universally accessible and useful. Their values help them ensure they organize the world's information in an ethical way.
When establishing your brand values, realize you're not just projecting a code of conduct to your customers. You're also describing the values that will resonate with people who share those values. Your brand values help attract the right talent to your company, people for whom behaving according to your values will be second nature. Establishing a core set of values and hiring people who share those values is one of the strongest steps you can take to ensure your brand is self-reinforcing. If your strategy isn't self-reinforcing, then you don't really have a strategy.
