Brand values are principles that guide how a business works and makes decisions. Useful examples pair a value with a behavior: Patagonia defines quality through product durability and repairability; Buffer explains transparency through sharing information early; Netflix describes candor through giving and receiving feedback. The words matter most when you can say what they ask you to do.
This guide compares four company examples with their own published sources, then helps a founder or independent professional write a value that can guide a real project decision. These are examples of stated commitments and described practices, rather than a ranking of company performance.
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What Makes a Good Brand Value?
A word such as “integrity” or “quality” can be a useful label. It needs a definition before it can guide a decision. Ask three questions:
- What behavior does it require? “We explain the reason for each recommendation” is something you can check in a brief.
- What choice does it help resolve? It might change how you scope a project, handle a mistake, or set an expectation.
- What supports it? Look for an actual deliverable, decision record, or policy. If the behavior is an intention, describe it that way.
Values can create tradeoffs, but they do not have to repel customers or produce conflict to matter. A useful value tells you what to prioritize when two reasonable choices compete.
Brand Values Examples from Real Companies
1. Patagonia: quality defined through product characteristics
Patagonia's core values describe quality in terms of usefulness, durability, repairability, and recyclability. Its integrity section asks the company to examine practices and align actions with commitments. These definitions give more guidance than the two labels alone.
What to learn: specify what quality means for your offer. For a consultant, that might mean a recommendation with its reasoning and limitations attached. For a maker, it could mean a stated repair process. This is an editorial application of the example; the source does not establish a commercial effect from adopting it.
2. Buffer: transparency expressed as communication choices
Buffer's published values include “Default to transparency.” It explains the commitment through sharing early in a decision process, making communication clear, and avoiding assumptions. The company also describes this value as aspirational, which is a useful distinction: publishing a commitment does not establish perfect adherence.
What to learn: define which information you share, with whom, and when. A solo business could commit to putting scope, exclusions, and the price basis in a proposal. Client confidentiality still matters; transparency does not mean publishing another person's private information.
3. Netflix: candor translated into feedback behaviors
The Netflix culture memo describes candor through giving and receiving feedback, discussing what needs improvement, and acknowledging mistakes. The example shows how a short value label can be followed by behaviors a colleague could recognize.
What to learn: describe a feedback practice. For example, agree how to flag a problem and who receives the feedback. Netflix's broader employment approach is company-specific; a small business can examine the wording without adopting its personnel policies.
4. REI: an outdoor commitment expressed in a dated decision
In its October 2023 announcement, REI described closing on Black Friday and paying employees to spend the day outside. It said the initiative started in 2015 and became a permanent employee benefit in 2022. This is a documented company-reported action associated with its outdoor purpose, rather than a quotation from a list of core values.
What to learn: connect a principle to a policy someone can inspect. A working-hours boundary or a project acceptance rule can make a commitment concrete. That single policy does not establish a company's entire culture or its effect on sales.
Brand Values Examples for a Small Business
These three examples are authored illustrations. They are not customer records, quotations from real founders, or BrandKernel-generated output.
Clarity — “We show the reason for each recommendation.” A solo onboarding consultant puts the task, recommendation, rationale, and unresolved question in each review note. The decision it guides: qualify a recommendation when the available evidence is incomplete. Evidence to collect in your own business: a permitted sample brief showing those fields.
Care — “We agree what a usable handoff needs before starting.” A freelance designer documents the file formats and instructions a client needs to use the work. The decision it guides: include the agreed handoff in scope rather than assuming the client will know what to do. Evidence to collect: an agreed brief and the actual handoff.
Honesty — “We separate what we observed from what we expect.” A founder labels an untested audience assumption as a hypothesis in a strategy brief. The decision it guides: withhold an outcome claim until there is a supporting record. Evidence to collect: a draft with sources and open questions visible.
The first example adapts the fictional onboarding consultant from our evidence-backed template exercise. Its value is the reasoning pattern, not evidence that a real market wants that service.
How to Write Brand Values You Can Use
Start with decisions and records instead of choosing appealing adjectives. Review a recent project, proposal, customer question, or product choice. Then ask:
- What did I prioritize, and why?
- What did I refuse or change even when another choice was easier?
- Which behavior appears in more than one piece of work?
- What do I want to improve but cannot yet describe as an established practice?
- Where would the same principle guide a future decision?
Write a short label followed by a sentence with a verb. “Transparency” becomes “We put scope and exclusions in writing before a project starts.” The sentence explains what the label means in this business.
Copy this small reference for each candidate value:
Value label:
Behavior it requires:
Actual supporting record and date:
Decision it helps me make:
Boundary or exception to explain:
Intention still to test:
Apply the value to a project request, a mistake, and a pricing or scope question. If it gives no guidance, make the behavior more specific. If it conflicts with another value, write down how you would resolve the conflict. A value may be provisional while you learn how it works in practice.
Common Mistakes in Brand Values
Writing aspirations as established facts
An aspiration can be useful if it is labeled honestly. “We aim to explain every recommendation” means something different from “Every recommendation includes a rationale.” Check a sample of your actual work before choosing the second sentence.
Listing more than you can apply
Start with a small working set. Three to five is an editorial starting point, not a proven universal range or a requirement. One clearly defined value can be more useful than a longer list that nobody can connect to a decision.
Treating a workshop as the final test
A workshop can help you articulate a value. Test the wording afterward against real work. A group agreeing with a sentence does not tell you whether the sentence helps with a difficult client request.
Confusing values with benefits or mission
“We save you time” describes a customer benefit that needs evidence. “We explain our assumptions” describes a behavior. A mission states the change you want to contribute to; values guide how you pursue it. Keeping these roles clear helps you avoid turning an operating principle into an unsupported promise.
Publishing values without a review practice
Keep the supporting records and review the wording when your work contradicts it. You may need to change a practice, qualify a commitment, or revise the value. Public values are easier to understand when readers can see what they mean in a proposal, policy, or example.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some good brand values examples for small businesses?
Useful authored examples include “We show the reason for each recommendation,” “We agree what a usable handoff needs before starting,” and “We separate observations from expectations.” Choose wording that describes your own practice and attach a supporting record. These examples are suggestions, not reported company results.
How many brand values should a company have?
Use a set you can remember and apply. Three to five is a practical starting suggestion, but there is no required count. Remove or combine entries that repeat the same behavior, and define a decision each remaining value can guide.
What is the difference between brand values and brand mission?
A mission describes your purpose or the change you want to contribute to. Values describe principles for how you work toward that purpose. A public action can express both, so distinguish the source's actual wording from your interpretation.
How do I know if my brand values are useful?
Choose a real decision and ask whether the value helped you explain your choice. Check whether your actual deliverable or process shows the stated behavior. Record contradictions and uncertainties rather than treating a memorable sentence as proof.
Can a new business define values without client history?
Yes. Label them as commitments or intentions and test them through practice work and early projects. A sample can show how you intend to work; it does not establish client outcomes or demand.
Put One Value Into Words
Choose one value, attach a real example of the behavior, and write the sentence you would use to explain it to a client. Then use the brand voice exercise to turn that principle into writing choices you can check.