When building a small business, it is easy to overlook the importance of having a solid strategy and business plan. Who has time to take away from keeping the phones ringing to write down a plan?
It's not uncommon to get caught up in the moment of your digital marketing, sales, or other company needs and forget about thinking long-term. However, business planning plays a crucial role in deep-rooted success, and a mission statement can help guide all the decisions you make as a company.
Your mission statement and core values will also be something you can look back on during the hard times to remind yourself of why you started this business in the first place.
What is a mission statement?
A mission or purpose statement is used both by big corporations and small businesses to explain their goals in simple and concise terms. This description is generally short, ranging from a brief sentence to a paragraph. A mission statement should define your company's core values, ethics, culture, and fundamental goals. It serves a dual purpose. While it is meant to motivate your employees and help them remain focused and productive, it also reassures your investors of the company's future. It can also be a way to include the diverse backgrounds that your employees might have into one single purpose.
How does a mission statement work?
A good mission statement allows employers, employees, distributors, suppliers, investors, and other community members to stay on the same page. It's an excellent way to ensure they all keep their values and goals aligned with those of your company. This declaration also explains what, how, and why your organization does what it does for those who don't know you. It can provide a welcoming handshake for others to do business with you.
A company's mission statement is part of a company's public face and a baseline in effective business planning. That's why many companies spend lots of time, effort, and money in getting theirs right. Developing and refining your mission statement in-house and gathering employee input can be a valuable team-building exercise. It can create a sense of shared ownership that inspires everyone to work together toward a common goal.
Mission statement vs. vision statement: What's the difference?
People often confuse mission and vision statements, but they're not at all the same thing. The mission statement represents a company's identity—who the company is and aspires to be in the long run. On the other hand, the vision statement outlines what the company must do to accomplish the mission. A vision statement is more of a concept looking toward the future vs. driving the business with guiding principles every day.
Why do I need a mission statement?
Every business that wants to be successful needs to have a mission statement. This will help unify the efforts of all employees toward the same long-term goals. Your mission statement must be broad enough so that it's relatable to all members across your organization while still drawing interest in the solutions your company offers. A properly crafted mission statement will help:
Create identity and direction
A mission statement plays a crucial role in shaping a company's brand and defining its core identity. The sense of unity it encourages often seeps through to clients and other external parties. Your company's mission statement will help differentiate you from your competitors and provide a clear idea of who you are as a brand. That identity can help lead any business planning process as well.
Your company's mission statement ultimately serves as a north star that helps guide everyone in the same direction. It reminds your teams why the company exists and what their purpose is as part of the team.
Attract talent and promote company culture
Your mission statement can be the determining factor in your business becoming someone's dream company and inspiring more employee engagement. It is a great tool to attract individuals who share goals with you and may want to apply for a job there. It can also help inspire employees to do their job better once they're fully on board.
If you want the workplace environment at your organization to develop positively, having a solid mission statement is key. It provides a way to express your company culture and guide it in the right direction. When built correctly, your mission statement should communicate the values that will direct your employees' actions.
Provide a decision-making template
If your mission statement is clear, it will set boundaries that will help you delegate authority and responsibility effectively. If everyone's on the same page, you can trust every member of your organization to make the appropriate decisions to stir the ship on the right path.
You may consider having your mission statement posted at your business or go over it frequently with employees. The more you include it in your daily work, the more it will become a part of who you are and help make future decisions.
Foster community and employee engagement
Your mission statement is a bridge to connect with customers, investors, and business partners on a deeper level. It helps them better understand your perspective and align their values with yours. An impactful declaration of purpose is essential to resonate with your community, establishing a strong reputation and positive brand associations.
Improve performance and evaluation
With a clear purpose in mind, it's much easier for employees at all levels to improve their job performance. A mission statement is a great way to motivate everyone in your company to look forward to achieving significant business milestones and pitch in with high-quality work. Having your employees hold high standards, both individually and collectively, is great for your organization's long-term plans for growth.
A clearly written mission statement will give you a better idea of how to measure success. It will set up standards for your employees to follow and will set the bar for business expectations in the long run. Your mission statement encourages critical thinking and lets people reflect on the influence their individual actions have on short and long-term business goals. If you're all on the same wavelength, you'll be able to build better criteria to assess those actions and give proper feedback.
Align behaviors and shape strategy
Mission statements help connect your employees and align them toward the same goals. They allow your employees to keep their behaviors consistent with what's expected in every situation. Aligned actions ensure every department within your company knows what to do and works together with less chance of miscommunication.
It's a fact that your business requires a strategy to flourish. But on top of just looking at textbook success methods or analyzing what your competitors are doing, how about you check out their mission statement? If you know what they want to achieve, you may be able to come up with a clear plan to get there faster and better.
How to write a mission statement
No two mission statements are the same. They can range in length and structure to suit a brand's identity. However, all mission statements should be concise and efficient. After all, you don't want to lose your audience's attention when explaining where your company is going.
Mission statements can change over time. Yet, it's good practice to establish your mission statement's essence from the start and review it periodically to ensure it still articulates your organizational purpose. A robust mission statement uses clear, simple, and compelling language. It should be:
- Unique
- Strategic
- Persuasive
- Achievable
A poorly crafted mission statement probably has too many buzzwords and business jargon. This makes it hard to understand and, most importantly, hard to relate to. Moreover, a good mission statement should reflect realistic goals in order to improve and maintain employee morale. You should focus your statement on:
- The value your business brings to your customers and employees
- The reasons why people love working in your company
- The plausibility of your goals
Once you have clarity on these factors, you can get down to business. Remember to seek employee input to make your declarations more relatable for the members of your organization. Then follow these simple steps to craft a winning mission statement.
1. Outline what your company does
Focus on your products and services. Describe what you provide to your customers that other businesses don't. Here you can define what makes your company run.
2. Describe how you do business
Forget about the parts of the business, though. Keep it authentic and simple, and explain the values behind what you do. Whether it is your product or service's quality, your unmatchable customer service, your hunger for innovation, or your company's sustainability, you need to make it clear what makes you stand out from other alternatives in the market.
3. Reasons behind your actions
Here's where you appeal to the heart. Instead of looking like a soulless corporation, you can incorporate a few declarations into your mission statement that explain why you do what you do. This will further set you apart from others in the industry.
Dos and don'ts for creating great mission statements
How you decide to build your mission statement depends on your business nature and future growth plans. There's no one-size-fits-all formula to getting it right. However, there are some clear dos and don'ts you should consider.
Do
- Keep it short and concise
- Make it memorable
- Include attainable goals
- Think deep into the future
- Keep your employees in mind
- Ask for input from others
Don't
- Write an essay
- Constraint its potential
- Be afraid to tweak it as your business evolves
Once you've drafted your mission statement, have someone else give it a once-over. Edit it and revise it as much as needed. When it's ready, you can incorporate it into your website, ad campaigns, internal communications, and anywhere it can be visible to all relevant parties.
8 examples of good mission statements
Now that you know the importance of a well-written mission statement and how to craft your own, you can get down to work. Here are some examples of successful mission statements for inspiration.
1. Apple: "To bring the best personal computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, businesspersons, and consumers in over 140 countries around the world."
2. Patagonia: "We're in business to save our home planet."
3. Honest Tea: "To create and promote great-tasting, healthy, organic beverages."
4. JetBlue: "To inspire humanity - both in the air and on the ground."
5. Tesla: "To accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy."
6. REI: "We believe a life outdoors is a life well-lived. We believe that it's in the wild, untamed, and natural places that we find our best selves, so our purpose is to awaken a lifelong love of the outdoors, for all."
7. Starbucks: "To inspire and nurture the human spirit - one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”
8. PayPal: "To build the web's most convenient, secure, cost-effective payment solution."
Your mission statement is the foundation of your business strategy. Having a clear purpose will help you determine how to achieve your company's long-term goals while keeping all your employees on board. Once you have your mission statement ready, it will be easier to define other aspects of your business plan, including your marketing strategy. Crafting a great mission statement takes a lot of edits, employee engagement, and customer involvement, so be ready for some time investment.
Personal mission statement
After you put together your business mission statement, you might consider doing a personal mission statement. It will have a similar exploration path to the company one but will be just for yourself. An effective mission statement for yourself will help guide who you are as a leader, help you with strategic planning and goals for yourself. You might consider including creative ideas you have for your life outside of work, what you want to accomplish in everyday life, and an objective or two you have that will help you get there.
A personal mission statement can be one of those creative projects that really gives you deeper meaning in what you are trying to accomplish each day and what competitive advantages you might have to help you accomplish your own goals.
You can also use your personal mission statement to launch into becoming a thought leader on Twitter or LinkedIn. Those social outlets can be a great place to build an audience for your own personal life as well as your business.
At Scorpion, we know crafting a powerful mission statement is just the beginning. Let us guide you in shaping a compelling mission and executing a winning digital strategy. From website design to advertising campaigns, we're here to help your business thrive. Contact us today for lasting success.
