On Shopify Masters, the story of Clubhouse Skin offers a perfect playbook for how to define brand values that genuinely resonate with an audience. Instead of deciding their values in a boardroom, they built them directly with their community from the very beginning, using a social-first strategy that turned followers into partners.
Clubhouse Skin didn't just market to a target demographic. They actively involved their early audience in the creation and launch of the business, to the point where their most engaged followers became their first retailers. This approach illustrates a brand living its values out loud. Their core principles weren't just words like “community” or “collaboration” written on a website. The values were demonstrated through their core business model. By empowering their fans to become sellers, they created a powerful moat. How can a competitor copy that level of loyalty? It’s baked in.
The lesson here is that one of the most effective ways to define your values is to look at the community you want to serve and build your brand with them, not just for them. It’s a powerful form of Brand Narrative Development that ensures you’re creating something people actually care about because they had a hand in it. This strategy redefines the customer relationship, turning it into a partnership and building a resilient business founded on true connection.
For contrast, Eric Bandholz takes a different but equally powerful approach he discussed on his show, Ecommerce Conversations. He uses his own business as an example of how a founder's personal mission and principles can be the source of a brand’s core values. In his view, the company’s identity is a direct extension of his own purpose and beliefs, which are then translated into the DNA of the business. This creates a strong sense of Authenticity In Branding because it comes from a real, personal place. The brand becomes an expression of the founder's identity, which can attract a loyal following that shares those same beliefs.
Both of these examples lead to the same critical point that author David Brier makes on the Up Arrow Podcast: you have to communicate your values with conviction and be bold. Whether your values come from your community or from your own personal mission, they can’t be tentative. They must be the foundation of your Brand Identity and consistently represented in every customer touchpoint. Soon Yu also spoke about this on The eCom Ops Podcast, emphasizing the foundational elements that create lasting customer loyalty. Ultimately, your values are defined not by what you say, but by what you do. They are the answer to why you exist beyond just selling products.