Three Tips to Incorporate Core Values into Your Marketing

If you’re a business owner, my guess is that your marketing could probably be described as one of the following three “machines”:

1. Your marketing is a well-oiled machine that effectively communicates your brand, resonates with customers, and generates sales. If this describes your marketing, congratulations
2. Your marketing is a sputtering, overworked machine that is all over the place or you’re trying to be everywhere at once, but nothing is working effectively. If this describes your marketing, stop diluting your messages, and refocus on making your messaging about your Core Values.
3. Your marketing is a machine that’s stuck in neutral and you don’t know where to begin. Instead of moving forward, you do nothing. If this describes your situation, I urge you to start marketing, but to initially limit your campaigns to being almost entirely about your Core Values.

To put it all out there, I am convinced business owners should dedicate a substantial amount of their marketing effort to communicating their Core Values. So why am I obsessed with Core Values and what do they have to do with the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS®)?

Well, I’ve got two answers to that question. Here’s the first, as written by EOS Worldwide:

“Your Core Values should be observable in actions, words, and behaviors throughout the entire organization. They need to form the heart of your culture and become the natural lens through which your entire team views engaging with one another, your clients, your partners and collaborators, and all other stakeholders.”

The second answer relates to my own personal transformative journey in which I started incorporating Core Values into my business.

When I started my podcast agency, “Story On Media”, I was completely unaware that I could use Core Values as a way to augment my decision-making process. Consequently, in the first few years, my business sometimes soared, yet often struggled to maintain consistent growth.

To contrast, in recent years our values have become a filter for how pretty much everything inside our company operates—hiring, internal communication, how we choose projects, and so on. Our values also work as a filter for how we communicate externally, which brings me back to marketing.

If you’re considering integrating your Core Values into your marketing, here are three ways you can get started.

Create Conversational Content That Helps Your Audience

When you have clarity on who your audience is and how you can help them, then create content that helps solve their problems. This will build trust with your audience.

My team and I have seen this work extremely well with our client Patrick Lencioni and his two podcasts, “At The Table” and “The Working Genius.” In both of these shows, the host and his guests discuss topics that are relevant to Patrick’s audience. In doing so, they help them solve their problems, all the while communicating Patrick’s Core Values.

Ditch Gimmicks, Go With Value and Impacts

If your current marketing includes plenty of details about pricing and features, they probably aren’t as unique as you think. When you ask yourself, “What makes our products/services unique from our competitors?”, the most common answer is “why” and “how” you deliver the product, which in my experience, is driven by your Core Values.

Once you realize this, focus your marketing on highlighting those unique aspects. This could include your company’s origin story, the values that drive your business, or the impact you have on your customers or community. By weaving these elements into your marketing, you’ll create a stronger emotional connection with your audience and differentiate yourself from competitors.

Remember, people don’t just buy products or services—they buy into the story and values behind the brand.

Showcase Client Testimonials and Success Stories That Reflect Your Values

Rather than just sharing how your product or service helped a client, highlight stories where your company’s values played a key role in the outcome.

For example, if one of your Core Values is exceptional customer service, share how going above and beyond solved a customer’s challenge. When clients see themselves in these stories, they’ll connect emotionally with your brand and understand what your company stands for.

If you’re going to commit to incorporating your Core Values into your marketing strategy, please don’t treat it like a feel-good exercise. Instead, approach it as a way to powerfully attract and retain customers who align with your mission and vision.

Have a great example of Core Values marketing? Send me a message on LinkedIn with your best examples.