Posts Tagged ‘mission statement’

If you want to really energize and focus your overall marketing efforts, take the time to write a mission statement, a vision statement, and an ethics/values statement for your business.  I’ve been working on these for a client, and I realized that I—and any business owner, small or large—ought to have them, too. 

The simple act of writing these statements has three benefits:

1. They will help you focus on where your company is and where it’s going. 
2. They will help you identify and communicate your core competencies and your target market to your employees, stakeholders (if you have any), customers, and potential customers. 
3. They can form the underpinnings for an entire marketing plan.

Because Whole Foods is one of my favorite stores, I used their statements as examples below.

Mission Statement

This is a broad, one sentence overview of your company.  It clearly and succinctly describes your company’s unique attributes, services, and/or products.  You can use it on your website, business card, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles and in your elevator speech and e-signature.  You can and should update it as your company grows and evolves.

To write one, make a few lists:

1. Who are your clients? Consumers or businesses, industries, # of employees, revenue or household income, etc.
2. What problems do you solve for you clients?
3. How do your services/products solve those problems?
4. What adjectives and adverbs do you use to describe your company, products, services, clients?   

Tie the best phrases and words together into one coherent statement.

Whole Foods’ Example:

We seek out the finest natural and organic foods available, maintain the strictest quality standards in the industry, and have an unshakeable commitment to sustainable agriculture.

Vision Statement

The vision statement is a more specific, 2-4 sentence overview of your company.  It describes your company’s purpose, values, and future.  This is generally only used on your website and in your company bio for guest-speaking gigs and the like.

Again, to write one, make three lists:

1. What is your company’s purpose?  What do you do for your clients?
2. What values do you and your employees embody?
3. Where is your company headed?  How will it grow (new markets, new products, new services, etc.)?

Write two to three sentences that focus on the company’s purpose and values, and one that focuses on the company’s future.  Tie them together to ensure they flow nicely.

Whole Foods’ Example*:

We search for the highest quality, least processed, most flavorful and natural foods possible because we believe that food in its purest state is the best food there is. We are committed to helping take care of the world around us, and our active support of organic farming and sustainable agriculture helps protect our planet.  While we assist our global neighbors through our Whole Planet Foundation’s micro-lending operations, we also step out the back door of each of our stores to support local non-profit groups and neighborhood events.  We are working towards a sustainable future that honors and respects the planet and individuals, values education, and holds companies, governments, and institutions accountable for their actions.

*I distilled this from several paragraphs to combine their purpose, values, and future.  If I spent a more time on it, I could easily cut this down to 3 sentences.

Values/Ethics Statement

The Values, sometimes called the Ethics, Statement is just that: an expression of your company’s culture, core beliefs, and priorities.  Terms you often see in this statement include customer service, quality, reliability, flexibility, meeting client needs, on-time delivery, value, etc. 

List time again:

1. Use the values you wrote in the Vision Statement exercise.
2. What values do your customers appreciate/embody?
3. What values do your employees appreciate/embody?
4. What values do your stakeholders appreciate/embody?
5. What values do the community in which you operate appreciate/embody?

This statement is often a bullet-pointed list of several statements, one or two for your company and one for the other affected/interested parties.

Whole Foods’ Example:

• Selling the Highest Quality Natural and Organic Products Available
• Satisfying and Delighting Our Customers
• Supporting Team Member Happiness and Excellence
• Creating Wealth Through Profits & Growth
• Caring about our Communities & Our Environment
• Creating ongoing win-win partnerships with our suppliers
• Promoting the health of our stakeholders through healthy eating education.