Values don’t exist separately from what you do. They’re at the very core of it. And when you’re sharing your business values with the world, your audience is more likely to get behind what you do.
As brands and products compete for market share, a business’ values have never been more important. Increasingly, customer decision-making is informed by a business’ ethics and branding. If they don’t like what they see, they’ll seek out alternatives. For instance, New York Times journalist Farhad Manjoo switched from Uber to another rideshare company because it no longer aligned with his values.
Working with clients that share your values can benefit you, in addition to your audience’s engagement with your brand.
You get to live your business’ values
One of the best ways to promote your values is to lead by example and show your audience, clients and employees how you live them: whether it’s in the way you talk, write an email or in the work you do.
Airbnb’s Brian Chesky says brand and value perception “is a thousand things, a thousand times. It is living core values… We have the power, by living the values, to build the culture.” It is particularly telling that his key message for employees and customers is that you can belong anywhere.
When you choose to work with clients that share your values, you’re able to live them in a meaningful way. Your genuine interest in the project will reflect in its outcome, which can help set you apart from your competitors and build audience engagement. Founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson, got it right when he said “I think if the people who work for a business are proud of the business they work for, they’ll work that much harder, and therefore, I think turning your business into a real force for good is good business sense as well.”
It’s an opportunity to collaborate
Collaboration is an incredibly powerful tool. And when you get to do it with a client who shares your values, the outcome can be truly special. Take the Apple Watch Nike+ as an example. But that’s not the only reason collaboration is a great way to work.
Collaboration can lead to improved market share
As Apple’s collaboration with Nike for the Apple Watch Nike+ demonstrates, you can improve your market share when you work with clients who share your values. In coming together on a project, you have the potential to gain a competitive edge by offering something new and innovative to your audience. In turn, improved market share can even lead to an increase in profits.
You’ll learn something new
Each client you collaborate with will bring their own wealth of experience and knowledge to a project. Whether you’re working on developing a product, a new website or a marketing campaign, being able to learn from those around you will help to develop your outcome. It’ll also leave you with knowledge you can draw from in the future.
BY CHRISTINE MCFETRIDGE
At Avion, our values – creativity, fairness, hard work, kindness and transparency – inform everything we do. But it doesn’t just end there. We’re also into sustainability in a big way and we love working with Plastic Free July.
The team at Plastic Free July care about the planet in the same way we do, and we’re in awe of the efforts they make to reduce plastic waste. So, this year we participated in the Plastic Free July challenge for the second time. We’re normally very conscious of waste at Avion HQ, however, in July, we eliminated all single-use plastic. Need a hand to work your business’ brand values into your content strategy? Our copywriters are experts at this, plus so much more! Get in touch with us today.
