Scale your business while maintaining core values

Staying true to yourself is foundational to leading a good life. As the English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray wrote, “Follow your honest convictions and stay strong.” 

It’s not only applicable to individuals though – the importance of maintaining core values and a clear sense of purpose is just as important for brands as it is for people, especially after an initial period of success. Brand evolution presents new challenges for brands, with new stakeholders, increased pressure to generate profits, and a larger, more diverse workforce. 

It’s those all-important core values that will take you beyond the initial boom period into long-term, sustainable success.

Why are core values important?

Core values are the fundamental beliefs behind your brand. They are your guiding principles, dictating the way you communicate with your audience and the essence of your brand’s culture. 

Your brand’s core values can help to:

Attract new customers

Clearly defined and well-communicated core values can help captivate and engage consumers who share the same values, building brand buy-in and cultivating brand loyalty.

Create positive brand experiences

Creating positive and consistent experiences for customers at every touchpoint, from employee interactions to social media engagement and product purchasing fosters a sense of trust.

Build loyalty

When people identify with your core values, they are far more likely to become champions for your brand, coming back time and again and telling friends and family about your products and services.

Give you a competitive advantage

Creating a strong sense of identity positions you ahead of competitors and drives brand evolution, putting you on the path to long-term, sustainable success. 

Attract and retain top talent

As you scale your business, clear values can attract employees who share your core principles and believe in your brand, creating a consistent culture that acts as a foundation for your business.

What can go wrong

It's easy to think of branding and messaging as the soft and fuzzy side of business. The side that’s unimportant and often neglected in favor of hardcore growth and boosting that bottom line.

But if you take a wrong step when trying to evolve your brand, you can lose touch with what's important, confusing your customers in the process.

Take Pepsi’s tone-deaf commercial from 2017 featuring Kendall Jenner. The soft drink brand’s attempt to showcase its stance on global solidarity instead trivialized the Black Lives Matter movement and provoked a backlash resulting in reported losses of over $5 million.

Similarly, stationary brand Bic’s 2012 attempt to appeal to a female demographic with its “For Her” pen was widely mocked as a massive misfire, drawing accusations of sexism and widespread ridicule that dented the brand’s reputation.  

How to maintain core values while you scale your business 

To maintain core values during brand evolution, you need to be focused and proactive. This involves the following:

Definition 

Clearly define your core values to eliminate confusion and create a unified vision of where your company has come from and where it’s going. Defining your core values should have been part of your full branding service and be foundational to everything you do – it's a crucial aspect of scaling your business – but it’s surprising how often it gets missed.

Company culture

Is your team clear on your brand's core values? Do they really buy into your brand’s mission? Ensure that everyone, from new recruits and junior members to project leaders and senior management are on board with your company's core values. You’ll create a team that’s passionate about your brand’s success.

Build growth around values

Ensure all strategies for expanding and evolving your brand are rooted in core values. Every business decision, from collaborations and product launches, should align with your foundational principles and reflect your brand’s purpose and overall mission.  

Hire for a shared vision

Integrate core values into your hiring process and look for people who not only possess the right skills and experience but also have a passion for your brand’s purpose and principles. By making cultural fit a key priority, you can cultivate a team that embodies your brand's identity and drives its long-term success.

Keep a consistent focus 

Maintaining brand values while you scale your business is not a simple one-and-done box-ticking exercise. It's an ongoing, ever-evolving mission, one that requires careful consideration and regular reflection to ensure you’re hitting your mark and embodying the essence of your brand in everything you do. 

Branding guidelines

A  brand book is a key factor when it comes to maintaining effective branding and messaging. This is like your company’s style bible and it explains how to maintain and demonstrate core values at different periods of your company's growth. An agency like Semiya can help you strategize how to do this.

Time to pivot?

Companies need to analyze what's working and what’s not and stay agile. You may well need to pivot to stay innovative and competitive. Here’s how to stay true to your core values during a change of direction. 

Transparency

Be open with your team and your audience, clearly communicating the reasons behind the changes, explaining the motivations and goals driving the brand evolution, and inviting questions and employee engagement. Remember, change is a two-way dialog and honesty and authenticity are two pillars of success.

Explication

Have a clear vision of why this pivot adds value for consumers, employees and the company as a whole. Communicate why the change aligns with the core values of the brand and explain the vision with effective branding and messaging to ensure optimal brand buy-in from your audience and team members.

Consider sub-brands

Perhaps a new product is representative of a slightly different approach. This can be an exciting change of direction that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to change or compromise your core values. Many leading brands launch successful new products by creating a new sub-brand that retains the parent brand’s main values, yet infuses branding and messaging with a slightly different style to appeal to a specific element of the audience.

How the experts can help with your brand evolution 

Defining and maintaining core values helps build consistency and trust with your audience, boost employee engagement and retention, and ensure the long-term, sustainable success of your brand. 

A dedicated marketing agency like Semiya can help you stay true to your brand while you scale your business. From developing compelling sub-brands to crafting rebrand strategies to help you get ahead of your competitors, we work with you to build strong foundations for growth, innovation, and customer loyalty. 

Evolve your brand with Semiya