Honest brands – how brand values build trust with consumers.

Consumers lead very busy lives these days. They don’t have time for brands who are dishonest and not giving consumers the value they promised them. There’s nothing more annoying when a company promises one thing on their website and then backtracks when you’re speaking to someone from their customer service team. 

Here are four ways devised by top creative agencies to help you identify your brand values and build a brand that earns the trust of consumers. 

What are brand values? 

First of all, let’s talk about brand values – what are they? Brand values are keywords that describe the feel of a brand, what they stand for and who they are as an organisation. They help a brand stand out from the competition – identifying what is unique about your customer experience. 

1. Immerse yourself in the company

You may be thinking, what if I don’t know what those brand values are yet? Don’t worry, Lovework Studio has a great approach – immersing yourself in the company to identify its brand values. 

Lovework expresses brand values in the form of a brand story. A unique story that can be referred back to in every brand touchpoint. 

• Immerse yourself in the world of the company. Imagine you work there, what does it feel like? Inclusive? Friendly?
• Then imagine you are the consumer of the companies’ product/service. Are these feelings being communicated back to the consumer? 

These simple questions are a great way of finding unique insights. that you can use to write your brand values, synthesising them into a simple, powerful and meaningful brand story.

2. Use values that are visually rich

If you are lost with your brand’s values, you may be tempted to ignore them and create a brand identity from visual and creative trends. Avoid this at all costs. Sean Thomas, Executive Creative Director of global creative agency JKR says that trends are the “antithesis of creativity”. 

With creativity, you are trying to make your brand stand out. As soon as something becomes a trend, everyone else is doing it. Leading to a copycat culture where no one is creating anything original. This is why Sean suggests that brand values are integral to any brand strategy. A key part of their creative process is to use words that designers can visualise. “One of my biggest pet hates is when brands promise ‘game-changing’ or ‘crafted’ which are just hollow, empty words.” 

Before committing to your brand values, ask yourself, are they visually rich enough? Can your team use them effectively as a brand strategy to design from?

3. Audit your brand identity

Another great tip from Lovework Studio, to check your company is expressing its brand values is by auditing your brand identity.

• Look at every touchpoint for the brand – from colour, imagery, typography, layout, sound to animation and much more. Literally, review the whole thing.
• Then ask yourself, does it all work together as a brand system? Do they all align with your brand values? If not, how could you make them more cohesive?
  

4. Express your brand values with Language

Okay, say you have your brand values now. They’re in your brand strategy, they’re being implemented into your brand identity. But you still need to express them verbally across different brand touchpoints. Luckily, brand writers Mike Reed and Sam Russell from Reed Words can help. 

They use Brand Language which is similar to copywriting but goes a bit further. Traditionally, we know copywriting as writing a catchy phrase or tagline that’ll persuade the audience to buy. Mike Reed says, “if it involves words, it’s your brand language.” Including the messaging and tone of voice: 

1. Messaging: What you are saying.  
2. Tone of Voice: How you are saying your message. What is the character of your voice, how does it sound and the personality that is coming across? 

One key way is to audit your brand language:

• List all the touchpoints you communicate in – from social media, emails to terms and conditions on your website. 
• Compare the messaging and tone of voice. Does the message reflect what you stand for as a brand? Does the tone of voice express your brand personality? 

Now it’s time to create an honest brand out of visually rich values that your audience can get behind.

Want more tips to create an honest brand? Then you'll love the ultimate Branding NOW course led by Robyn & Campbell Butler. From creating a strong brand strategy, story and brand identity, to leading the team and launching the brand into the world – this online course covers them all.