When establishing a brand for your business, it's important to consider your values and what you stand for first.
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Building a Legacy for Your Brand
When a business is just starting out, many business owners focus solely on the aspect of solving a unique problem. This can cause them to miss out on the bigger picture and the importance of not just providing offerings but also communicating their values. Beyond setting the business apart from others on the market, values play a key role in the creation of a lasting brand that is immediately recognizable to customers and noncustomers alike. Below, 20 Forbes Business Council members share steps a business owner can take to begin building a legacy for their brand that conveys the values they hold dear.
1. Know What You Stand For
Stand for something. You don't need to be political or controversial but stand for something and don't be afraid to show it. For example, my brand stands for inclusivity and positivity. Build a legacy by creating a community within your brand and giving it a positive culture. Harness the power of exceptional customer service by providing an experience with less automation and more personal touches. - Sarah Williams, Launch Your Box
2. Clearly Document Your Core Values
Define and document your core values clearly. Involve key stakeholders in identifying what your brand stands for and integrate these values into every aspect of your operations. Create a values-driven mission statement and communicate it consistently across all channels. Lead by example to embed these values into your company culture, laying the foundation for a lasting legacy. - Braden Yuill, Virtual Coworker
3. Instill Core Values In Employees
To build a lasting brand legacy, focus on instilling core values in your employees. Implement initiatives like value-aligned training and fostering a positive workplace culture. This approach enhances the brand's reputation and creates a motivated, loyal workforce connected to the company’s mission. - Ryan Hutchins, Peak Business Valuation LLC
4. Integrate Core Values Into Company Culture And Operations
Integrate your values into your company culture and daily operations to build a legacy that conveys your values. As a co-founder in healthcare education, we sought to emphasize quality, accessibility, and student success in our training courses. We created scholarships for underserved communities, ensuring our commitment to education equity. This became the foundation of our brand's legacy. - Shabnam Safarzadeh, Advanced eClinical, Externi
5. Align Culture With Business Strategy
Knitting culture into the business strategy can be a game-changer for business owners and the first step to creating a legacy. Values and culture embedded in the "way of doing business" will ensure the foundations for legacy as one navigates around the business trajectory. Alignment to this during the growth phase with increased investments for this purpose will only further strengthen the cause. - Venkat Rao, Pitney Bowes
6. Establish Baseline Metrics
It’s hard to maintain or change what you can’t measure, so it’s important to get a good baseline metric and link that metric to a value within the brand. That way, you’re able to stay true to a brand legacy and can rely on evidence to back that legacy up. - John F. McQuillan, Triumvirate Environmental, Inc.
7. Set Up A Shadow Board
One example of how we live our values is our shadow board. This group is made up of 10 employees, 32 or under, who participate in a "board-like" experience. They gain access to privileged materials, undertake projects and engage in mentoring relationships with senior leadership. In return, senior leaders receive fresh perspectives on board-level matters and the chance to learn from a different generation. - Ben Betts, Learning Pool
8. Leverage Social Media Channels As Journals
Use LinkedIn or other online channels as a public journal. Every day, we solve problems, come up with new ideas, face new challenges or have key wins or losses. Share them in a live, ongoing journal. Most importantly, have this mental model where you learn how to be shameless when it comes to business content, meaning you learn to put your ego aside and show your own personality. - Besnik Vrellaku, Salesflow.io
9. Be People-Centric
Attracting a team with similar values and diverse perspectives will ensure your brand builds a good reputation. By being people-centric, we ensure our products and services genuinely improve lives in the insurance industry and beyond. Emphasizing diversity and shared values not only enriches insights but also strengthens your brand's innovation, which helps establish your brand's legacy. - Garret Gray, CoreLogic
10. Create A 'Beacon Brand'
Entrepreneurs aiming for legacy should look to build what I call a “beacon brand.” Such brands pioneer new markets, improve lives and inspire other companies to conduct business in new and better ways. This requires a long-term perspective, so avoid the pitfalls of short-term thinking that can undermine your legacy. Aim for high performance and giving back, as they’re not mutually exclusive. - Mike Keech, Liquid I.V. (a division of Unilever)
11. Focus On Bettering Your Community
You build a legacy by leaving the communities you work within better than they were before. This is a high-minded idea but putting it into practice is simple. Prioritize projects and initiatives based on whether it’s the right thing to do with no moral complications, it allows your brand to break new ground and it brings lasting value to your community and/or customers. - Patty Templeton-Jones, Wright Flood
12. Provide Valuable Offerings To Customers
The secret sauce of building products and businesses that bring long-term legacy is to build offerings that customers absolutely love and cannot do without. Once people fall in love with a business's products or services, they will be with the company for life as the business owners build a legacy. We see this time and again with the large businesses we cannot live without. - Kris Pahuja, Piramidal
13. Build Long-Term Relationships
When you sell, you survive. When your employees sell, you grow. When your customers sell, you explode. If the customers of your business can connect, vouch and own your products, you are building a brand. Therefore, my approach to building a legacy is to build a legacy of customers. Once you have someone onboard, do all it takes to never let them go. - Akshal Agarwal, NatureNurture
14. Be Consistent
Consistency is key. There is a lot of pressure to collapse brand pillars because of outside interpretations. For a brand to even have a legacy, leaders need to stand for something and need to consistently show their audience that they practice what they preach. The best part is that consistency is free. - Kate Assaraf, Dip
15. Understand Your Values And Ethics
You've got to know yourself. Understanding your own values and ethics is a crucial aspect of creating an authentic brand, leading a team and building trust. When you are clear about your core values, you can infuse them into your business practices, decision-making processes and interactions with your team, partners and customers. - Natasha Cox, Avani Services
16. Develop A Culture Around Company Values
Create a company culture that values communication, respect and faith. Surround yourself with a hardworking, goal-oriented and competitive team who supports these values and reflects on them in the work they do. It’s something you must work on every day, every week and all year long. Staying true to your core values will help build the legacy you want to leave behind for those who come after you. - Ray Titus, United Franchise Group
17. Ensure The Entire Team Lives The Mission
Successful business owners live their mission every day. To convert it into a legacy, these also have to be adopted by team members who will evolve it further and bring new life into its practical visualization. To make that happen, choose and elevate members who believe in your mission but also have the courage to give it a fresh voice and share ideas with candor. - Teja Chekuri, Ironhill Brewery
18. Foster An Empowering Work Environment
Fostering an environment of empowerment enables your team to make timely, appropriate decisions. Equipping them with technology that provides real-time insights into business operations and customer opinions allows employees to make well-informed choices using their expertise. - Cory McNeley, UHY Consulting
Building a Legacy for Your Brand
18. Foster An Empowering Work Environment
Fostering an environment of empowerment enables your team to make timely, appropriate decisions. Equipping them with technology that provides real-time insights into business operations and customer opinions allows employees to make well-informed choices using their expertise. - Cory McNeley, UHY Consulting
19. Build A Foundation Of Strong Messaging
When working with business owners, we start by building out their messaging, which is the foundation for building out their public image. The messaging should be based on who they are and what they represent while also being aligned with their morals and values. By starting with this, leaders ensure their overall brand persona and future legacy is based on the values they hold dear. - Jenna Guarneri, JMG Public Relations
20. Embrace Your Vulnerabilities And True Self
In building your brand’s legacy, I encourage business owners to embrace their vulnerabilities and share their true selves. Their story, with all its ups and downs, can inspire others and create a strong emotional bond with audiences. This authenticity will not only differentiate a brand in a crowded marketplace but also ensure the values they hold dear are deeply embedded in their legacy. - Ellie Perlman, Blue Lake Capital LLC
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author Expert Panel,Forbes Councils Member