Writing a compelling mission statement is one way of enhancing your brand entity. Before publicizing your mission statement, you need to ensure that it will be effective in promoting your business. To craft the perfect mission statement, you need to put several factors into consideration such as the vision, mission, core values, staff, and your target audience.
Definition of a mission statement
A mission statement is the lifeblood of your brand. It is an abbreviated expression of the purpose of your brand that is essential in helping anyone who interacts with your brand to understand what your brand is all about. A mission statement also helps you and your employees to focus in achieving the goals and visions of your organization by constantly reminding you about your commitment.
Elements of a strong mission statement
1. Value
2. Inspiration
3. Plausibility
4. Specificity
The writers of the mission statement need to know if their target objective is achievable, and they should also have a very clear understanding of the nature of your business. Your audience will interact with your mission statement better when they understand the value that it will add to their lives. Your mission statement should also instill a feeling of inspiration to your leaders.
When you define these elements clearly in regard to your brand, then you are assured of an appropriate and a perfect mission statement that converts.
Importance of a mission statement
Your business needs a mission statement to clearly present to your customers what you are offering them. A mission statement is also beneficial in defining the identity of your brand and company, thus creating a definite path in achieving the set goals.
Internally
A mission statement helps to outline all the key activities of an organization. By designing an effective mission statement, you have a clear compass to refer to whenever you want to lay a strategic frame for your business and to assess if the company is on the right track in achieving the set goals. A mission statement is also essential in continually reminding the employees about their responsibilities to encourage team motivation in achieving the projected targets.
Therefore, a mission statement enhances team morale by inspiring the members to cooperate for the sake of promoting the right brand identity. As a team leader, you can design a brief email and forward it to your members once in a while to act as a polite reminder about the mission and vision of the company.
Externally
A mission statement is very essential in promoting the identity of your brand to existing customers and other potential customers. The tone, value, keywords, inspiration, plausibility, and values of your mission statement will play a significant role in helping your readers to connect more with it. Therefore, make sure to communicate clearly who you are and what exactly it is that you do. New visitors are very curious about your brand, and in this age of decreasing attention span, your mission statement will help website visitors to understand your brand almost intuitively.
Here are the steps to consider to create the right mission statement.
Ask yourself three fundamental questions
Hold a brainstorming session
Evaluate and narrow down your choices
Put your words into a sentence(s)
Review what you have written
Before writing your mission statement, ask yourself these three significant questions:
1. What does your business do? To answer this question, analyze the nature and behavior of your customers, employees, the community, the world, and your own objectives.
2. How is your business doing what it does? To answer this question, analyze the means through which your business achieves its set goals. It may be through an online store, social media, or by having a physical location. If it is an online store, you may consider other factors, such as the impact of packaging and transporting the products to customers.
3. Why is your business started and what drives your business to exist? You need to state clearly why your business is there in the first place. For instance, to provide more affordable products that are in line with sustainable development goals.
By answering these questions, you will understand the purpose and value of your business to connect with your customers better.
Hold a brainstorming session.
You can hold a group discussion with your team to identify the elements of the mission statement. The session should try to answer and define the three questions that you set in step one. Encourage the contribution of all members in creating a precise mission statement that works. In the brainstorming phase, encourage all the ideas that come in your mind and from other members without any discrimination.
Evaluate and narrow down your choices
After the brainstorming process, you now need to narrow down your choices by selecting the plausible ideas. You may want to write the selected thoughts down and maybe vote decide on the most accurate words to describe your brand.
Putting your words into a sentence(s) might give them an accurate meaning.
After selecting the terms that correctly define your brand, this is the time to put them in a precise statement. One to two statements are preferred mostly in crafting your mission statement. Remember to write your mission statement in the present tense because it is an active proclamation of what you are doing, not what you intend to do in the future.
Review what you have written
The editing and proofreading part is essential in ensuring that your mission statement reflects all the activities that you determined to do in the previous steps. You may consider editing the phrases to improve them or even change the wording to tighten your mission statement.
Also, review your mission in the light of a futuristic eye. Will it stand the test of time? Will it continue to promote your brand identity in years to come? Include such flexibility in your mission statement without compromise the present value.
Ensure that the mission statement is very clear by removing the big and fancy words that add least value to your statement. As a result, you will be able to create a strong, durable, quality, and precise statement that will lead your business to success.
Where to display your mission statement
You have your perfect mission statement, and this is the time to present it to your organization and the customers. For your company, print and display the mission statement on a strategic location in your workplace.
The mission statement should also appear in your marketing advertisements on the website and other platforms such as social media, brochures, newsletters, and emails. The mission statement will help potential clients to understand what the ad is all about.
Remember to note all the locations where you put your mission statement because, in the event that you update it, you will want to make a quick adjustment to all copies.
We hope that these tips will help you to write the perfect mission statement for your brand. Do not hesitate to contact our team if you have any questions.