One of my clients (and friend @andthebeatgoesonvtg on Instagram!) was getting a little stressed out because she was writing up a post that was all about her values. The meaning behind her logo, her attitude towards fashion, and how her attitudes to the wider world affected her business decisions.
She got concerned that she was “over-egging the pudding” and that she should maybe “stay focused” on what really mattered to the target person and mattered in terms of her USP.
Here’s the take I gave her on that…
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Are you over-egging the pudding when you put your value system into your marketing?
Hi, I’m DJ from Rainbow Dragon Digital and in this video, we’re talking about putting your value system into your marketing and whether it is ‘too much’ or not.
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My Client Wanted to Share Her Values
So I have this client who is also a friend of mine. We’ve been working together for a few months, her name is Lydia. She is restarting her vintage clothing company called And The Beat Goes On Vintage, you can find them on Instagram (@andthebeatgoesonvtg). Basically, she was rebranding the vintage store that she had and she wanted to create this post that was all about sharing about why she was doing this rebrand, her value system, and conveying what motivated her to do the business.
Feedback Said She Was Over Sharing
When she shared this post with some of her friends, and some of the people around her, she got some feedback that said she was ‘over-egging the pudding’.
And this kind of stuck with me.
The logic there was that she is selling vintage clothes so she should, you know, stick to selling vintage clothes. And I get that, that’s very traditional business sense. You know, don’t talk about all the extra stuff. Don’t distract away from the thing you’re trying to get them to do.
I get it, it might make sense for a lot of businesses.
However, I don’t think it makes sense for the vast majority of ethical businesses.
If You’re Running an Ethical Business, They Care About Your Ethics
Now, why I say that, is because we go back to Step 1 of this marketing strategy that I always talk about. Step 1 is Understand Your Target Person. Understand who they are, and why they buy. And not just that, but understand them on a really deep, emotional level. Really understand what makes them tick, what makes them super motivated, what really inspires them.
And if you’re running an ethical business, then it’s quite likely that your target person really, really cares about your ethics.
Ultimately, if your business isn’t really an ethics-focused business, then obviously your target person doesn’t care and that’s fine. But if ethics is a part of what you do, if it’s part of the reason why you started your business, your target person will care about your ethics.
Continue Communicating Your Ethics and Values
I would encourage you, if you are running an ethical business – if ethics is a part of the reason why you started to do your business – to continue to communicate that to your customers.
When you communicate your ethics to your customers, you will ultimately make them more inspired to buy from you.
Conveying Your Ethics is Good Marketing
And I think there’s a really good reason for this. We’ve just gone through this massive pandemic where people have become a lot more conscious about where their money goes, and who they should be supporting with their money.
There is a whole movement at the moment towards business doing better (check these out: BCorp, the Better Business Act, Triple Bottom Line). Businesses are being held accountable to serving society and serving the environment in a better way and making sure that that’s prioritised alongside serving their shareholders.
So, it really is good marketing to start conveying that you have good principles behind your business.
Obviously, you can’t take a blanket approach to this and every business is unique with their target person, with their unique selling point, with who their people are, with what their product is.
So, take that with a pinch of salt, but I think overall I would encourage you to continue talking about your values, continue talking about why you’re a good business and it will be a better environment for everyone to be in.
If you want to discuss this a little more, if you feel like you have some objections or you’re not sure how to convey your values in your business – please feel free to comment below or talk to me, email me at dj@rainbowdragon.digital. I’m happy to help whenever I can.