A mission statement is an important part of developing your brand. Yet, writing the right mission statement can be challenging as it, after all, describes the grand vision of your brand. A mission statement must consider your brand’s culture, vision, and target audience, among others. Not sure where to start? That’s okay. In this post, I’ll take you through how to develop your brand’s mission statement.
1. Write your story
Your mission statement should describe the “why” of your business. It should capture why your business stands out from the rest of the competition. Important factors you should consider are:
- Your target audience
- What your customers want
- Why you’re the best person to meet their needs.
You can make a quick list of these three things. Having them at the back of your mind will help guide your writing.
2. Define what your business does
At this point, you should carefully consider what your business does and doesn’t do. Ask yourself how you plan to serve your customers, employees, and even employers. The purpose of taking the time to outline these points is to find the crucial and unique parts of your business.
Furthermore, ensure you add words that resonate with your identity. Words like “green” and “education” help define what you do, while words like “innovative” and “integrity” express how you do it.
3. Think long-term
It’s only natural that you have plans to scale up and grow your brand as time progresses. It would help if you kept that in mind when creating a mission statement. Your words shouldn’t restrict your growth and should be open enough to reflect any future scale-ups.
Most importantly, avoid limiting yourself to specific products and towns, unless you’re sure you don’t plan on expanding in the future. However, if you do have plans, or perhaps even dreams of expansion, go with a statement that would be relevant in your brand’s future.
4. Don’t make your mission statement too long
In previous points, I outlined what you should try to include, such as your customer persona and what your business does. While you might have a lot to say about your business, hardly anyone wants to read all of it.
Try to keep it as short and to the point as possible. Less is more, and being able to summarize what your brand is about in a few sentences works to your advantage. Short mission statements create a more lasting impression than their longer counterparts.
5. Ask for other’s opinions
It takes more than one person to create a business’s brand. So, why should only one person make the mission statement? If your business is a partnership, find out what your partners think. Your employees are a big part of your brand, so seek their opinions as well. See if they feel it resonates with your business, and if there are ways you can improve it.
With these five simple steps, you should find it easy to develop your brand’s mission statement. Remember that it should outline why your business is unique, and guide current and future employees on what you plan to accomplish.