Why your core values help your biz and content creation
Core values have the beautiful ability to give so much clarity to not just your business but to your aligned audience.
Understanding and identifying your core values will give you a lot of different benefits in your business including content ideas, guidance on what you are offering and it will differentiate you from the rest.
So how do you determine your core values for you and your business and how to you actually implement them? Well, the amazing Krystle Alfarero and I came together to co-host a podcast episode all about values, personal branding and content creation!
If you find value in this blog, make sure you share it with me on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram! Even better, share it with your audience! You can also listen to the episode below!
Let’s dive in.
Listen below!
What are core values?
Core values are the 3-5 key words used to describe what is most important to you. For the everyday person, we all have different things we prioritise and value in our life and this helps us to resonate with certain people and of course live a life by design.
As a business owner and entrepreneur, having core values for your business is also an important factor. It helps you to determine what is important to your business, who you want to serve and how you want to deliver your message.
For example, if you value loyalty in your life, you might translate this value into your business and do a number of things to express loyalty. You might have a loyalty program to reward those who are loyal to you and you might also look to work with people you know will be loyal back.
But of course, your personal values and business values can slightly alter depending on the brand you are creating. Of course, it is always important to ensure your work doesn’t determine your worth, which is beautifully articulated in this blog “The 6 tips to Stop Equating Your Self-Worth with Your Work”.
How to discover your core values?
To discover core values in your business, you first need to identify what your core values are as a person. Once you have determined what they are, it is easy to choose the ones you want to express in your business and what ones you want to add to suit what you are trying to create.
Whether you are a personal brand entrepreneur or a business owner, aligning your core values to your business is still so important, otherwise you will find it very hard to resonate with what you are trying to create in your business.
So to discover your values and then translate them into your business, here is what we recommend.
Download Krystle’s freebie on core values, this will help you determine what they are and translate them into your life
Download my “Brand Voice Guide”, which once you have your values, will help you implement them into your business and your content - so you can market yourself to your ideal audience
Discovering your core values comes down to determining the words that resonate with you. The words that aligned to your life.
Why do you need core values in your business?
Of course, we know we definitely need personal values. These values help us make choices in our life to best serve us, they help us prioritise what we do and when we do it. So why are they needed in businesses?
Well, for much of the same reasons, but with a few extras.
Our core values in business help give us clarity on why we are doing business, who we want to serve and what we prioritise to earn income, resonate with our audience and to of course create a sustainable business that we love.
We create a business to earn an income but also to serve based on something we are passionate about. Aligning your core values to your passion will help you stay in your business for the long term and helps you build a business you and your aligned audience loves.
Plus knowing your core values will also help you create content that is fun for you, aligned to you and will speak to the right people.
What are the creative ways you express your values through your content?
Once you have your core values, it makes it a lot easier to determine what content you want to create! This also helps you set up content buckets. What are content buckets? They are the main issues or topics you address e.g. if you are a side hustle digital marketer you might have a bucket for "social media" and one for "life balance and side hustle lessons".
Here is how I express my core values in my content:
Fun: I use this element in my own personality. So when I am in my stories, going live, on IG reels and the like.
Openness: Again in more video and voice content. I am very open, but also in my social media captions, I will not just share the wins, I share the lessons too.
Knowledge: WELL this is my biggest one, we all know how much knowledge I like to express in my content. This is the educational content I create, which is a lot
Growth: I share my wins and lessons just like I mentioned in openness, but I also help others grow with my content too.
Loyalty: being grateful and mindful in my content creation is where this value is seen. I will always talk about the people in my network who have inspired me and share them with others.
Have a think about how you can do this with your values and content.
Why is it important to align your business to your personal core values?
It goes without saying, but if you align your personal values with your business, it will allow you to resonate more with your brand. It will allow you to show up authentically and will help for the sustainability of your business.
Of course, they don’t all have to be exactly the same, but even align them closely so you can easily relate to them, and you can attract the people you want to work with.
My core values include:
Openness (same as Content Queen)
Communication (Similar to growth and openness)
Freedom (similar to fun)
Equality (equality brings knowledge and aligns to openness)
Fun (again same)
So as you can see, they are slightly different but all align!
Why is it important to share your core values with your audience?
This is what makes your business different from the rest. BUT it also helps you create MORE compelling content.
How? Well, when you are creating content for social media, whatever it is, you can always ask yourself “does this align with my values?” Or am I just writing this for the sake of writing?
It really does allow you to connect with the right people. If I didn’t stick to my core values, I wouldn’t be working with the most amazing entrepreneurs that I am right now! Always check back in with your core values when doing business.
People will resonate with you if you share your core values. You can do it in a number of ways:
Create content around these values and directly tell people “these are my values because XXX”
Create content with your values in mind, as I said how I do it above
Sharing what you can with your audience will also help with the “know, like and trust” factor.
How core values can benefit your business
If you aren’t convinced having core values will help with your business, here are a few more reasons. Of course, it helps you drown out the noise of “you should do this” or “you should do that”.
There are a number of ways to do business, create engagement on social media and the like, but if they don’t resonate with your values, they aren’t worth doing! That is why it is so important to check back in with your values!
Here are some more reasons:
Helps you resonate with others
Allows you to create compelling content
Helps you align to your business
Allows you to question yourself and check in
Makes the reflection and review process easy
Honestly, align your values and try your best to live to them in your business, it will make you a lot happier!!
Final thoughts
When it comes to creating values within your life and business, make sure you revisit and check back in with your values. It is one thing to write them down, but they also might slightly alter or you might find you really don’t live to them.
Always check in!!
So, to clarify, core values are important for business. They allow you to attract the audience you want, help you create content that is engaging and help you build a business you love!
If you found value in this blog, make sure you share it with me on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram! Even better, share it with your audience! You can also listen to the episode below!
Make sure you download our values guides to really help you identify and implement your values.
