Everything you need to know about brand value pyramids

Brand value pyramids offer a unique way for companies to share their goals and ideals with team members in a visual fashion. Think of it as a supplement to a mission statement. Use this guide to help you create and maintain your own brand value pyramid.

What is a brand value pyramid?

Brand value is a measurement of the financial value of a company. As a business creates more wealth, its brand value increases. Its value further increases the more it separates itself from its competition. As more customers choose a specific company’s service over competitors, their brand value increases.

A brand value pyramid is a representation of the importance of each type of a company’s specific brand ideals. It’s a diagrammed outline that gives a visual reference of a company’s values that can be quickly shared to all members of an organization.

Why should you build one?

It should first be pointed out that it’s easy to find brand pyramid models through online searches. In fact, a company could adapt one of these models and succeed with it. However, the most likely positive result would be these models act as a guide to help you build your own pyramid. That doesn’t mean it’s unwise to look at other company’s models – it might be helpful to see others before beginning your own.

Building your own brand value pyramid allows the opportunity to create a structure of importance for certain tasks and ideas. This informs the entire organization what types of things should be valued, essentially. As more team members adhere to the pyramid you created, your goals and ideals will be presented more consistently. Now that you understand why it’s important to have one, here’s how to construct a brand value pyramid.

How to construct a brand pyramid

The most important thing to remember during this entire process is that your pyramid mirrors your company’s values. The only way to truly get team members to buy into the values of your company is by creating a pyramid that correctly weights the important items. With that out of the way, let’s make sure you comprehend the pyramid model. The bottom of the pyramid has things that you value but they’re of least concern compared to everything else. At the top are your most valued goals and ideals.

Another thing to note is the top of the pyramid, though it contains the most ideal values, is the most challenging to achieve. This should be noted during both the construction of the pyramid and when referencing it. Certainly, it would be great if an ideal goal like customer connection, for example, were always achieved; but it’s clearly easier to make a cheap, accessible service for customers. Accept this and adapt your model accordingly or face difficult, unreasonable challenges throughout your journey.

When building your pyramid, list out things your company does that are important. Determine the true mission, values and goals. Once completed, use this list to start piecing together parts of your pyramid, starting with the top and moving down. It helps if you use a drawing to visualize where you’re placing things. After you construct your entire brand value pyramid, there are a few more steps to be taken.

What’s next in the process?

There are typically two logical steps that follow creating a brand value pyramid, both are aimed to get the best out of the creation. The first is implementation and the second is re-evaluation.

Implementation

The obvious next step after creating a pyramid is implementing it, though your efforts should go beyond simple implementation. You want to morph the diagram into a remembered, observed thing for team members. Maybe the initial revealing could be backed up by a few meetings to get the ball rolling but ultimately you want the pyramid to be a thing everyone knows without constant reminder.

Evaluation

Once everyone has a firm understanding of your brand value pyramid, the next phase is constantly re-evaluating the model. Are the right things being valued in your model? Have things changed since the creation? Does it need to be updated? Make sure you continuously check on it to make sure it doesn’t lose its importance.

A brand value pyramid is an amazing opportunity to easily spread company ideals to each team member. Create it with this in mind and you’re sure to succeed.