Values-Based Marketing (part 1): Choosing Your Business Values

Facebook memories just reminded me that five years ago today, I made my very first marketing effort, a post and a flyer. Behold, the flyer:

Marketing has to be one of the biggest learning curves in running a business. Not knowing how to market keeps people from starting, or evolving, a business.

For the next few months, I'm going to be doing a newsletter series on how to use values-based marketing to grow your practice.

When we're figuring out how to find the people who need our services, it's common to jump straight into action: setting up your Therapy Den profile, making your website, creating an informal referral network, setting up business social media accounts, or like me, putting out a desperate plea to family and friends. But these actions have a deeper, more deliberate meaning when taken from a set of values that inspire us.

Also, and I'm no expert here, but it seems like if we're not intentionally choosing our values, we'll default to our societal values, for better or worse (looking at you, white supremacy).

I want to know what your business values, or what you'd like them to be. Here's a list of possibilities (and some of these are borrowed from adrienne maree brown's beautiful work):

Abundance
Accessibility
Building Trust
Community
Creativity
Energy
Equity
Financial Sustainability
Focusing on relationships
Freshness (inspired by Kay)
Generosity
Humility (inspired by Melvin)
Leadership
Liberation
Mindfulness of power
Regenerative work
Transparency

Feel free to pick two or three, put them on a post-it note and stick them near your computer.

Then consider: how do I express these values through my business? How can my business truly embody my values? Ideas will follow.

Next we'll talk about what follows: choosing a marketing strategy.