by Lucy Adamson
To build a loyal customer base, gaining the trust of your audience is key. In order to gain their trust you need to communicate your values and show your customers what you care about. So how can you use digital to effectively communicate your brand values?
1. Say What Your Values Are
It might seem obvious, but stating your values on your website is the first step to making your customers aware of what you care about.
The way you do this will differ depending on your business and what you feel is appropriate, but whether you choose to have a dedicated ‘values’ page, similar to Lush, or you weave your values into the copy of your site in a more subtle way, it’s important to ensure that you clearly state what you believe in and stand for.
2. Testimonials
Asking customers and clients to say a few words about your brand for you to share through your digital channels can be a great way to portray your values and gain trust from new customers or business partners.
Including testimonials that reinforce your values - whether they talk about your friendly and supportive customer service, the quality of your product, or the efficiency of your team - will be a valuable reassurance tool for new customers. Reading about your company through the words of others will reinforce the idea that you really do value the things you claim to and that you are an honest and trustworthy brand.
3. Be Consistent
If you want your customers to believe that you value something, you need to ensure that the messages you send out are consistent. It can be easy to slip up if you’re publishing a lot of content, but it’s important to keep your brand values in mind whenever you will be saying something on behalf of your company.
Ensuring that you don’t post a message that implies you believe something that contradicts your brand values will prevent your audience from receiving mixed messages and causing confusion about what your brand really stands for. If your company values support and positivity, you don’t want to post something that implies you promote one-upmanship!
The more consistent you are, the more your audience will believe the messages you are communicating to them.
4. Personality and Tone
The tone you adopt when creating content for digital can indirectly affect the way you communicate your values. When speaking to a customer face to face, it’s likely that you will speak in a way that represents your brand, but doing the same on digital is often forgotten.
There isn’t a magic solution to the best tone of voice to use on digital - this will depend entirely on the industry you operate in and the way you choose to represent your company, but adopting the appropriate tone of voice is influential in how your audience will perceive your brand.
For example, if you’re a fashion retailer who values friendly customer service and being accessible, you wouldn’t want to sound too cold or corporate on digital as this will cause a disconnect between what you say you value and how you present the brand. Alternatively, if your company is a law firm which values professionalism, a tone of voice which sounds too informal wouldn’t be consistent with your brand and values.
At Statement, we like to adopt an informative, yet accessible tone of voice when using digital - an example of which can be seen below.
5. Put Your Values Into Action
Again, it might seem obvious, but if you say you believe in something, prove it! If you’re always putting your values into action, whether this is by going above and beyond to deliver great customer service or supporting a cause, it can be easy to forget that people don’t necessarily know that you’re doing this.
If you go to a fundraising event for a charity you support, or you’re working with another local business on a project, talking about this on social is an easy and effective way to get the word out and prove that you’re not just all talk.
If there aren’t any particular charities or organisations you feel you can promote, even just actively responding to customers on social, and sharing the results you’ve achieved for your clients can show that you put your words into action.
Be Open and Transparent
When it comes to communicating your brand values, honesty really is the best policy. You will have a set of core values which you centre your business around and put into action everyday without even noticing it - these are the values you want to communicate to your customers.
If the values you promote are honest and true to your brand’s beliefs then your customers will believe them. The more real you are with your audience, the more trust and loyalty you will receive in return.
If you would like any tips on communicating your brand values to your customers, don’t hesitate to tweet us @Statement or get in touch.
