In 2024, your company values matter more than ever. Across industries, hustle culture has many sacrificing personal needs in favor of maximizing value for shareholders — and many companies without strong company values are ready to let their employees burn out doing it. We get it; in the digital space, the success of your business is measured by how many clients you have and how much revenue you generate, but that's only part of how we define success.
Sure, revenue is great, and our ultimate goal is always growth, but unmitigated growth doesn’t always sustain what matters most: your people, your clients, your reasons for being. Our culture and core values do that for us.
In 2016, Baal & Spots founders Ryan Mathis and Maher El Aridi started this company with the goal to change the way employees and clients alike would view digital marketing agencies.
“We wanted to create a digital marketing agency in Houston that would deliver real results to clients, do great work, and foster an environment to let employees learn and grow. We wanted to inspire people to do better. To do more.”
Ryan Mathis | Co-Founder at Baal & Spots
In the process of defining what they wanted their culture and core values to look like, Ryan and Maher came up with the phrase “Corporate Counter-Culture.” It’s a fun phrase to say and an even more fun phrase to explain. But before we do, let’s first discuss the importance of company values.
Why are company values important?
Basically, company values represent your business’s identity, both internally and externally. These values should guide your organization's culture, decision-making processes, and overall behavior. It’s what you stand for as a company, so making them official is an essential part of starting a business.
Furthermore, it matters because people care about your values. They really do. Potential clients, customers, and employees are looking to work with or alongside organizations that align with their personal values and goals. If a potential employee heavily values their mental and physical wellbeing, they likely won’t want to work in a coal mine — or an office that’s run like one.
Our company values are our compass that lead us in our decision-making. It’s what makes Baal & Spots different from other digital marketing agencies. It’s how we attract and retain the people that we want to work with, and it’s how we keep them — clients and employees alike.
The meaning behind Corporate Counter-Culture
In our origin story blog, our co-founder, Maher El Aridi, spoke about how his past experiences working with agencies shaped Baal & Spots’s values.
“In my experience, agencies want their employees to crank out as much work as possible in as little time as possible to make a profit. It creates a very stressful environment for everyone involved, and at the end of the day, the work felt mediocre. The creatives weren’t happy, the clients weren’t happy, and that just didn’t sit right with me.”
Maher El Aridi | Co-Founder at Baal & Spots
Ryan and Maher knew things could be better. The work could be great. The environment could be positive. Something had to change, so they decided to do something about it.
What we have built as Baal & Spots over the years is this “Corporate Counter-Culture,” the idea that professionalism and great work do not have to come at the expense of fun, creativity, and flexibility. We trust our employees; they’re all incredibly hard-working, creative people, who are experts in their disciplines. No micromanaging, no rigidness, and no hustle culture mentalities allowed.
This type of environment fosters great minds who are determined to create amazing work for our clients because they care — and because they care, our clients feel cared for.
What are company values that we align with? Baal & Spots is Curious, Connected, and Committed.
What feeds that Corporate Counter-Culture? Here are a few of the guiding culture and core values that keep us, our employees, and our clients on the same page.
Curious
If you’re not curious you’re complacent, and complacency breeds stagnation. We’re not big fans of stagnation. Whether it’s through our website management services or optimized content marketing, we seek out what’s new and what’s next to ensure our partners benefit from emerging marketing technologies, strategies, and opportunities. This helps our clients stay on top of the competition, and keeps our team’s expertise expanding.
Connected
As a company that is 100% relationship-driven, we connect with our partners regularly to share results, discuss strategy, and explore new opportunities. The majority of our clients have been our partners for at least 5 years and we are proud of the relationships that we maintain as we grow.
Baal & Sports is also a 100% remote-working team, which means connection, communication, and collaboration are top priorities. Aside from the daily grind, virtual team lunches and in-person happy hours and other outings keep us connected outside of the virtual office.
Committed
With writing, design, and development, we believe in a people-first approach. While we love cutting-edge tech and recognize the place that AI and automation have in digital marketing, we don’t run on autopilot. We take the time to craft what we provide to our clients, and you can tell. Our products emphasize optimization and aesthetics, allowing your brand and your business to perform well, and look good doing it.
Learn more about our opinions on AI and digital marketing
Ensure your company’s core values are lived inside and out
Baal & Spots goes above and beyond what is expected of a digital partner as well as an employer, because your commitment to corporate culture starts with every single employee. If you’re going to learn anything about us, it’s that we care about our partnerships and team members dearly. We educate clients about the importance of owning your digital presence and offer transparent insights that aren’t sugar coated with BS. While other companies might hold their cards close to their chest, we’re showing you our hand from day one.
On a personal level, we’ve celebrated weddings, births, birthdays, personal and career developments, and so much more with every person in our circle. We know the “we’re like family” line is overdone and a little cheesy, but we like cheese, and it does have some truth to it. Anyone who has been a part of Baal & Spots, past and present, has a place at our table.
Without these guiding principles, Baal & Spots wouldn’t be the success that it is today. Our company values ensure that everyone we work with, and everyone who works for us, gets the most out of their experience.
Need help developing your own company values? Baal & Spots can help.
For small businesses, company values aren’t just important; they’re vital. If you aren’t clear on what your values are as a business, identifying those values, and how they influence your organizational identity, can put your company’s future in reach.
Baal & Spots can help you determine your company’s core values and develop unique branding and messaging strategies to help you stand out among your competitors. If you don’t know what matters to you as a business, how will your potential customers? Once you have a better idea of what values are close to your business’s heart, you’ll be able to find, and convert, an audience who shares them.
If you’re looking for a website design firm, Houston small businesses trust Baal & Spots with all of their digital marketing and rebranding needs. We are a full-service digital marketing agency that can do more for your business, and help you take a step into the future. Let’s get started.
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