How to Define Brand Values: A Step-by-Step Method

Many brands have a little list of values on their about page: quality, customer focus, innovation, integrity. Nice words, but they steer nothing. They are interchangeable with those of any competitor and they change not a single decision. Real brand values are something else. They are the decision rules underneath your brand: they determine what you do and do not do, how you sound and who you hire. In this article you will read what brand values are, why most lists fail and how to define them step by step, with examples.

This is foundation work. Your brand values come logically before your positioning, your brand voice and your visual identity, because all of them build on top of them. If you want to see the whole picture, start with what brand strategy is and use this article to make the values foundation concrete.

What exactly are brand values?

Brand values are the core beliefs that steer how your brand thinks, chooses and behaves. They do not answer the question “what do we sell?” but “what do we stand for, even when it costs us something?”. That last part is the whole test. A value that never makes you make a hard choice is not a value but a wish.

The difference from a marketing slogan is large. A slogan is outward-facing and wants to persuade. A value is inward-facing and steers behaviour. Customers rarely see your values literally, they feel the effect of them: in how you communicate, how you solve a problem and which promises you do or do not make. A strong set of brand values therefore works quietly through every touchpoint, without you having to say it out loud.

That is why brand values belong to the strategic layer of your brand, together with your brand identity. They are not decoration you add afterwards, but the compass that gives direction to the rest of your choices.

Why most value lists fail

Before you begin, it helps to know where things usually go wrong. Then you avoid the pitfalls.

The first mistake is choosing self-evident things. Quality, reliability, customer focus: no one will claim the opposite, so these words distinguish you from nothing. If your competitor can claim exactly the same value without lying, that value says nothing about who you are.

The second mistake is too many values. A list of eight or ten points no one remembers, not even you. Values no one can name steer no behaviour. Three to five is the maximum that sticks in the heads of your team.

The third mistake is that the values follow from nothing. They were dreamed up in a meeting because they sound good, not because they are visible somewhere in your company. A value that cannot be traced back to a real decision you once made is invented, and everyone can feel that.

The fourth mistake is that there is no tension in it. Good values exclude something. If “speed” is your value, that means you sometimes sacrifice perfection. If a value has no price, it is a hollow phrase.

Method: this is how you define your brand values

With those pitfalls in mind, you can work in a focused way. This is the approach we use.

Step 1: look at what you already did

Do not start with a blank page full of nice words, but with your own history. Which decisions were you most proud of? Which client did you once consciously turn down, and why? Where did you choose the harder path while the easy one paid more? Those moments betray your real values, because that is where you see what you found more important than short-term profit.

Step 2: involve your people, not just leadership

Values dreamed up only by the top stay on paper. Ask people from different layers what, in their view, characterises the company and what they are proud of. You are looking for recurring themes, not consensus on nice words. Employees often name something more sharply and honestly than a leadership team would dare to.

Step 3: look for the tension

Test each candidate value with the question: what do I give up for this? A value without a downside is empty. “Transparency” only becomes a value once you accept that you sometimes say uncomfortable things out loud to a client, even if that could cost you an assignment. That sharpness makes a value credible and usable.

Step 4: make each value concrete

A word alone is too vague to steer. Attach a behaviour rule to each value: “this means we always do X and never Y.” Only then does a value become a decision rule that your team can genuinely use when a choice is on the table.

Step 5: cut back to the essential

End with three to five values. Scrap everything that overlaps or that is too general to exclude anything. Better three sharp values that truly steer than eight vague ones no one remembers.

Examples of brand values that do work

Examples make the difference between vague and usable visible. Compare these two columns.

Weak values: quality, customer focus, innovation, reliability. No one is against them, so they say nothing.

Strong values, with their behaviour rule:

• Honest advice over revenue. We say so when something is not worth it for the client, even if we would earn from it ourselves.
• Proof over promises. We claim nothing we cannot back up with data or experience.
• Focus over volume. We would rather serve fewer clients well than many clients halfway.

The difference is that the second set excludes something. Every value means you sometimes say no to something attractive. That is exactly what makes a value a value: it costs you something, and that is why people believe it.

Notice too how these values carry through into your brand voice. “Honest advice over revenue” means your communication may be direct and dare to name risks. In this way your values feed directly into the tone of your content, your sales and your service.

How do you keep brand values alive?

Defining values is one thing, keeping them alive is the real work. A list on your website changes nothing if it does not return in decisions. Use your values actively: as a touchstone for who you hire, which assignments you accept or refuse, and how you communicate. A value that makes you make a real choice every quarter is alive. A value you never consult is dead.

Also expect your values to make you uncomfortable now and then. That is a good sign. If your values never force you to turn down an attractive opportunity, they are probably chosen too safely. The value of brand values lies precisely in the moments when they hold you back from doing something that pays in the short term but does not fit you.

Frequently asked questions about defining brand values

How many brand values should I have?

Three to five. Fewer sometimes feels incomplete, but more than five and no one remembers them and then they steer nothing anymore. Better a few sharp values than a long list of vague ones.

What is the difference between brand values and a mission?

Your mission says what you want to achieve, your values say how you behave along the way and which choices you make en route. The mission is the destination, the values are the rules of the game.

Can brand values change?

They rarely evolve fast, otherwise they would not be real convictions. During a major change of course or a merger they can shift, but generally values are the most stable part of your brand.

Should I make my brand values public?

That is not literally required. Customers feel your values through your behaviour more than they read them on your website. Publishing them is fine, but only if your behaviour lives up to the words. Otherwise it works against you.

Building further on your values foundation

Defining brand values is not a word-search exercise but the choosing of decision rules that give your brand direction. Do it well and you have a compass that steers your positioning, your voice and your choices without you having to think about it every time. Want to sharpen this foundation together and extend it into a complete brand approach? As a branding agency, we help you translate your brand values into choices that make your brand recognisable and choosable, rather than a little list of nice words.

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Further reading

• What is brand purpose? And why it works in B2B