Brand Values - Digging Deep in the Backbone of your TPT Business

Kirsten 0:00

On the surface, it might seem as though logos and colors and pictures are what make up a brand. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Today we're going to dig deep into the backbone of your business, your brand values. We all have the him whether you realize it or not. We're going to chat about what brand values are, why they are important to a business and how you will make sure you're attracting the right people with what you believe in.

You're listening to the creative teacher podcast, a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact in their teacher businesses. I'm Kiersten, a teacher business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.

All right, I'm going to start off this episode with an interesting statistic, that might surprise you a little bit. And that statistic is that 80% of consumers forget branded content after three days. So if people are stumbling on your TPT store or Instagram profile, and it's not memorable, they could potentially forget about it within three days. That's amazing considering all of the brands I do love so much. And then that makes me think of all the brands that I just completely, you know, forgot about that I have been exposed to it's an It's crazy to think about. And this is because your target audience is not able to keep your brand top of mind. That's just what it comes down to why you don't remember those brands. This is why core values are extremely important in a business.

Let's take a just brief backtrack about who what is the brand value you might be asking. These are beliefs that you stand for as a business. It can drive your story, your voice, your visuals, messaging, and even the resources you sell. It's important to have core values because it helps connect you to your customers, or your ideal teacher, customers, people, teachers that you would want purchasing your resources, you should be doing this on a deeper level to stand out and be memorable to others. The benefits of having brand values and knowing your brand values are definitely you know, plenty. A few of them would be that it attracts new customers that align with your core beliefs. It can help bring consistency to your messaging. So you're not coming off with the fly. Oh, well. I don't know I think I'm kind of sharing about this and how this is important. And not you know backtracking and talking about something else. It's it helps you stay consistent with what you're showing and sharing with others. And it also brings brand loyalty, your target audience is more likely to trust you and buy new products from you or recommend your business to other teachers or other target audience members.

One way to figure out what your core values are, would be with something called a value proposition. And a value proposition gives detailed information on what your business stands for. Why a customer would choose your products and the problem you want to help solve. So I want you to go Get a piece of paper right now, if you're listening to this at a desk or computer, or if you're in the car, just make a note that you are going to answer these questions on paper with a pencil or a pen. I'm going to give you four questions.

Question number one, which customers are you going to serve? Are you specifically serving primary teachers, upper elementary, middle school, think about who you're going to serve?

Question number two, what are your customers pain points, worries or problems, maybe they don't have enough time to teach the standards. Maybe they're having a hard time finding things that are fun, easy to implement. Maybe they're, you know, kind of tired of honestly, being in the classroom, and they just want something to get by. That could be some worries they have maybe they're worried about the state of education. And the last thing they want to do is think of something that's super rigorous, and try to think of lesson plans all on their own. They want something super easy to implement. And, you know, there's so many different situations, but just think about what your ideal customers pain points are.

Number three, how do you help your customers get results or problem solve? What is it about your products or services or resources that help them with their problems? Is it your resources are easy to implement? They're fun, they are purposeful, they you know, help busy teachers that don't have a lot of prep time? What is it about your resources that gets them those results?

And then the fourth question, what unique way? Do you solve the customers pain points, worries or problems? I'm sure a lot of us are all you know, of course, we want resources that are easy to implement. But what makes you unique among other people? Is it the niche that you're in the specific type of resources, the specific product lines you have? What unique way? Do you solve these problems? Maybe we all who are listening are making really easy prep activities. But how are they easy prep? What unique way? Are we making it easy prep.

So those four questions are super important to really get into the nitty gritty for your core values. Now thinking about your value proposition, think about your core brand values that you have. For your business in general, as a whole doesn't matter what resource you have, it doesn't matter what products you come out with or services, your core brand values must have the following things. They must be actionable, they must be something that you actually live by and you actually would be doing you live by these values. They must be memorable, something that is top of mind and easy to remember. Are they unique? How is it unique in your brand? How is it you know aligned with your business and your TPT store so that you're differentiating from other TPT stores, thinking about your core values as being specific. So they should be short, sweet, straight to the point, but still effectively conveying what people want, then meaningful, they're authentic, and you know, actually mean something to yourself and to your business. And the last one assessable so your values can be easily seen if you have a website. Now that's a really great way to put it in your about me page.

Think about where other people can find them. So my example would be for my own TPT business, I share my values i It's actually on my About Me page on my website. And I really you know, I have words that are highlighted that stand out. I I guess I can share it with you. Here's what I believe in. I believe that teachers should have access to resources that are easy to prep and aren't time consuming full of fluff or over whelming I believe that every teacher has the potential to share their strengths, creative ideas and knowledge with others through free and paid services or products for other educators. I believe that teachers don't have to compromise their work life balance and can enjoy what they do without feeling burnt out. Whether it's teaching full time running a teacher business full time or a little bit of both. My goal is to help and inspire other teachers to unlock their full potential inside and outside of the class. Mushroom, know that I am here for you. So you can kind of pull out some core values just from my own brand is that I'm supportive. I am encouraging. I am informative. And I definitely am a big proponent of, you know, balancing your work and life. And the messaging. Hopefully, if you've been following me for a while you've heard it in my podcast, you kind of know this tone in my social media posts, my emails, I am not trying to be some machine crank out tons of resources. I'm just really here to help and inspire. And as we're all on this journey, to grow our businesses and to earn the compensation that I think we all deserve.

So your creative action tip is to sit down answer those four questions for the value proposition and then think about those core brand values, what comes to mind what makes them actionable, memorable, unique, specific, meaningful, and assessable. And I'm going to link that article that I referenced a lot of the information in this episode from, I think it's super helpful. It goes a little bit in more depth. But I think it's a really great resource. And I really think that, you know, all businesses, whether it's in the TPT world or outside of the TPT world should not just focus on visuals, it's really about your values and what you believe in. And that is the most important thing to get you to connect with your target audience. And that's what gets them feeling comfortable to buy from you ultimately.

All right, well, that is the end of the episode. It's a little short and sweet, but still important, nonetheless. So thank you for taking the time to listen. I hope you have an amazing rest of your week. I'll talk to you guys again soon.

Thanks for tuning in to the creative teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I cannot wait for you to join me in the next episode for more tips and inspiration. Have an amazing day.