How To Be A Brand That Cares (With Belief)
Bezos went to space and all we could talk about was his lack of business ethics. How do you become a brand with a believable ethical backbone?
In the thick of Bezos in space and thanking his overworked employees for making it possible, I’ve been thinking a lot about the ethical backbone of these businesses we build.
We can all see through it when a business is performative about their ethics — they proudly promote their giveback program, but treat their employees like garbage on the down low.
Values and ethics are stitched into the central heart of a brand’s reputation now and it matters, a lot. As it has crystallized how ugly a business without a value system can be, it has made it essential to check a business’ morals before buying something now. For many of us, a lack of ethics is a deal breaker.
Embodying a brand that cares is easier said than done though — communicating your business’ ethics is a difficult branding exercise. It’s not easy to talk about “doing good” without sounding like a Silicon Valley caricature. The line between genuine care and manipulative sweet talk is easy to cross if you put the wrong words to it.
So how do you, as a business owner, share your values without sounding dishonest or cheesy about it? Here are some quick tips to get you started.
Share your founding team’s values
It’s difficult to trust a new business without a track record.
You can however, trust the track record of the humans behind it. To speed up the process of establishing trust with your customers, talk about the reputation and trust record of your founding team and let that carry your business’ reputation while it’s still building it.
What has your team individually done in terms of volunteering and giving back? Share that so that we understand how you’ve demonstrated your values.
Don’t be performative about your values
Don’t rip off another brand’s value system because it’s easier than articulating your own views, and definitely don’t create a giveback program just because it sounds good.
Communicate where your ethical North Star comes from — share your personal origin story or an event in your life that informed this for you. Give us the backstory so that we understand why you care.
The more your brand values are rooted in your personal being, the more sincere and believable it’ll feel.
Don’t fit a circle into a square hole
Your ethical North Star should merge with your brand’s story and what your customer cares about.
At the end of the day, this all should fit neatly under a branding umbrella. If you’re a dog toy business and your ethical North Star + personal story leads you to volunteering at soup kitchens on the weekends, you are missing the mark on what your customer cares about when purchasing from a dog toy business.
Make sure that the ways your business demonstrates its values hits all 3 houses: brand story, ethical North Star, and customer values.
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