Every company is founded on certain principles, and it’s these principles that should be driving your business decisions. If your restaurant was founded on the idea that fresh ingredients are essential for good food, then you should always buy the freshest ingredients, rather than the cheapest.

Most companies understand what their principles are, but how many actually use them to their advantage? A blog post by Nadia Goodman on entrepreneur.com explained just how to do this, and we wanted to elaborate on some of the points.

There are many ways that you can use your business’s principles to gain a sustainable and competitive advantage. The first thing that you need to do is to differentiate your business from others. If, like the restaurant example from above, your company offers something that others don’t, let people know. Your customers may not inherently know what makes your business special, so tell them.

You can also use your founding principles to build brand loyalty. A customer who trusts what your business stands for (and trusts that you’ll be consistent with your principles) is more likely to become a regular customer.

Your company’s founding principles are also a great asset to help you partner with other businesses. A business could be swayed to partner with yours based solely on your values. Make sure to express those values in everything that you do. This will help businesses trust that you won’t act differently when they decide to work with you.

To make sure that your company’s principles are properly communicated, work with your PR or advertising agency to ensure that they understand what kind of message you want to get across. Your principles are only valuable if your customers and partners know what they are.

FletcherPR is a national communications firm that specializes in reaching women through the power of media. Headquartered in Knoxville, TN with staff in Nashville & Los Angeles, we are a full-service agency providing strategic public relations, social media and marketing communications services to our clients throughout the U.S.