We’re all familiar with the terms mission and vision statements, but how often do we hear of value statements?
When we do think of value statements, we typically group them together with vision and mission statements.
However, value statements are arguably the most important when setting your company’s priorities. Keeping your values at the forefront of your company is crucial for creating client relationships and loyalty.
Curious about the benefits of having a solid value statement? Read more to learn how to craft your perfect value statement.
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What Is A Value Statement?
Company Value Statement Definition:
A value statement shows your customers what is important to you and what you prioritize as a brand, company, and business.
But why does this matter?
Having strong values regarding production, decision-making, and customer service sets the right trajectory for what matters most to you as a business. When using marketing techniques to try for new outreach opportunities, your business will want consumers to look into why they should choose your company over your competitors.
Some great examples of core values can be:
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- Integrity
- Honesty
- Inclusivity
- Aspiration
- Innovation
- Respect
- Teamwork
- Transparency
Value statements get caught up in the mix with mission and vision statements. Here’s how to tell them apart to formulate all three correctly.
What Sets A Value Statement Apart From Mission & Vision?
A mission statement is a 1-2 sentence statement highlighting a business’s core objectives and how the business plans on achieving them. It is a concise summary that emphasizes goals and keeps your company’s mission prevalent.
A vision statement is an inspirational statement that expresses where the company hopes to be in the future.
A value statement outlines specific principles and morals that your company uses to make important decisions. It should contain strong, positive words that your team can refer back to when moving forward with a project, shifting gears, or boosting morale.
Not only are values statements important to clients looking to learn more about the company, but they are also crucial for new hires and current employees. Being able to refer back to your company’s values and keeping them in mind when shipping projects is a great way to set yourself up for success.
Think about your company, what it is, and what it stands for.
Now think about what is important to you and what you hope your company portrays to your clients, consumers, and employees. Values are important because they showcase how your company solves problems and approaches situations within its business.
Collaboration is a necessity when it comes to building your value statement. Getting ideas from members of your organization who share similar values and beliefs will make your value statements even more powerful and beneficial.
Do in-depth research on your company’s overall goals. Is it to maintain current customers or reach out to new ones? Gain valuable employees that benefit your company? Branch out into a new market? These questions will lead to values that are specific to you.
When brainstorming ideas, it is important to ask yourself:
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- How do these values benefit our company?
- What do we want our customers to know about us?
- What makes these values important?
- Will this send the right message to our consumers?
- How can we be inclusive and relatable to our consumers through our values?
From there, you can start crafting anything— from words, to sentences, to statements. Check out some of these examples below.
1. CoSchedule
Core values:
- Passion for Product
- We believe by striving for excellence in our character and our code, we can build a deep level of trust with our customers, and help them achieve their marketing goals.
- Bias for Action
- We know that ideas don’t matter unless they become action. We always err on the side of shipping, failing fast, and getting better as we go along.
- Never Settle
- We are focused on improving and getting better, as a team, as a product, and individually – always learning and challenging ourselves.
- Trust in Your Team
- If you’re on our team, we already trust you. We trust you to work hard, do your best, and always be improving. We also trust you to speak up. We work and think as a team.
- Think Big
- We are willing to take bold risks when necessary. It can be easy to stick with what you know, but we strive to pursue new ideas and challenge ourselves and our team.
- Vote for Value
- Every day we choose to go above and beyond what’s expected for our team and customers. We look for ways to celebrate our clients and teammates and provide more value than they ever expect.
CoSchedule lists several values, including passion, drive, and teamwork, at the company’s core. Calling out core values shows clients and visitors what CoSchedule prioritizes and how they do business.
2. Subaru
Value statement: “Enjoyment and Peace of Mind.”
Subaru keeps it simple and makes it known that they prioritize a stress-free experience when doing business with their clients.
3. Spotify
Value statement: “Innovative, sincere, passionate, collaborative, and playful.”
Spotify values creativity and hopes to let its consumers know they encourage playfulness and passion. Spotify is not only used as a music streaming platform, but it also is for artists to upload their music in hopes of gaining more streams and followers so collaboration can come into play.
4. Hilton
Value Statement: “Hospitality, Integrity, Leadership, Teamwork, Ownership, Now”
Hilton uses acronyms to describe what their company values, and listing hospitality first fits their brand, making this a great value statement.
5. Zoom
Value Statement: “Care, Community, Customers, Company, Teammates, Selves”
Zoom keeps their values simple and easy to understand, ensuring that any users or website visitors get a good understanding of what they stand for and prioritize. Being a video conferencing platform, they stand for effortless communication, which is highlighted in their values.
6. Patagonia
Value Statement: “Build the best product, Cause no unnecessary harm, Use business to protect nature, Not bound by convention.”
Patagonia does a great job of providing their values and a detailed description of why they are essential to the company. They highlight their connection to the environment and don’t leave any grey areas or miscommunication.
7. Hulu
Value Statement: “We start with the viewer. We think big. We embrace fun. We are one team. We are all hulugans.”
Hulu does a great job of highlighting that the consumer is their priority. They use light-hearted language with the joke “hulugans,” which appeals to all types of consumers.
8. McDonald’s
Value statement: “Serve, Inclusion, Integrity, Community, Family”
Mcdonalds highlights their main priorities and values in an easy-to-understand way, involving graphics, descriptions, and text, providing readability. The bright colors that go along with the statements tie further back into the brand.
9. Ernst & Young LLP
Value statement: “People who demonstrate integrity, respect, teaming, and inclusiveness. People with energy, enthusiasm, and the courage to lead. People who build relationships based on doing the right thing.”
Ernst & Young makes their values people-driven, which shows that they prioritize their customers, employees, and anyone that they work alongside.
10. Starbucks
Value statement: “Creating a culture of warmth and belonging, acting with courage, being present, delivering our very best, performance driven.”
Starbucks provides detailed descriptions of its values, touching on different topics that are important to them.
11. RedBull
Value statement: “Ideas, people, and culture.”
Redbull sponsors many sporting events, so its values must coincide with how the brand advertises itself. In their values, they talk about collaboration, which is common in team sports.
12. Pandora
Value statement: “We Dream, We Dare, We Care, We Deliver.”
Pandora highlights four key values and goes into detail below about what those values mean to them as a business.
13. NFL
Value statement: “Respect, Integrity, Responsibility to Team, Resiliency.”
The NFL values responsibility to the team, which goes along with the brand itself as it relates to being a part of a football team.
14. Chipotle
Value statement: “We believe that food has the power to change the world. We do it by being real.”
Chipotle makes their values specific to their products. They walk the talk by serving food that is made with real, whole ingredients, which is important to them and their consumers.
15. Walmart
Value statement: “Service to the customer, respect for the individual, strive for excellence, act with integrity.”
Walmart does a great job explaining their values in a way that is simple and easy to understand. They use everyday language, and their explanations are short and sweet.
16. Salesforce
Value statement: “Trust, Customer success, Innovation, Equality, Sustainability.”
Salesforce provides a quick view of its values for anyone interested in learning more about the company. They also link to more in-depth explanations so you can go deeper into why their values are what they are.
17. CVS Health
Value statement: “Bringing our hearts to every moment of your health.”
CVS not only wants to find the solution to your problem, but they also want to do it with care. This appeals to anyone reading their values because they feel cared for.
18. Verizon
Value statement: “Our customers, our employees, our shareholders, diversity & inclusion.”
Anyone reading into Verizon’s values will feel good knowing that they value their customers and employees over anything else. It is also important to note that they specifically list their employees as a core value, which is a standout statement to any potential new applicants.
19. Intuit
Value statement: “We believe that we are stronger together by championing diversity and inclusion across the company. We care and give back to help our communities prosper. We show integrity without compromise and have courage to be bold and fearless in our thinking and actions.”
Intuit lists very detailed and well-thought-out values, including “customer obsession.” Anyone visiting their website knows they prioritize their customers and value them above all else.
20. Ben and Jerry’s
Value statement: “Human Rights & Dignity, Social & Economic Justice, Environmental Protection, Restoration, & Regeneration”
Ben and Jerry’s values are notable because of their deep commitment to their community, environment, and their customers. When you think of Ben and Jerry’s, you think about their activism and how it ties into the ice cream-making process.
What Do You Write In A Value Statement?
Spend some time thinking about what matters most to you and your company and what is important for you to portray to your customers.
These values could be specific to your product or service, or they could be broad values that can be applied to anything.
What Makes A Good Value Statement?
Simple (yet effective) words that are easy to understand and provide clarity to whoever is reading them.
Picking values that are specific and unique to your company, while also providing apparent terms
What Are The 5 Core Values To Implement In Your Value Statements?
There really are no right or wrong answers when it comes to deciding on what values your company prioritizes. Some things to keep in mind could be:
Content Repurposing
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- Inclusivity: Do our values include every type of consumer?
- Staying moral and ethical: Do our values remain moral and ethical to every consumer?
- Using simple yet effective language: Are our values easy to understand?
- Including warm and inviting words or phrases: How do our values come off to outside viewers?
- Providing a short description of how these values are specific to your company: Do you have explanations along with your values?