The Significance Of The Business Mission Statement

The word "nice" reflects two things for every one of us: a name and a logo. But, frankly, this isn't what you need to know about your company when you start developing your brand. So what's important, then?

That would be the Answer to the Strategy. It's the core component of your identity and once you've worked that out it'll all follow.

Creating Your Mission Statement

A mission statement is simply a short or two-paragraph outlining explicitly what you are doing and why you are doing it. Perhaps the best way to understand this is to examine any of the common situations ...

Coca Cola:

Our mission is: To refresh the world in mind, body, and spirit. To inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and actions.

Starbucks:

To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.

Amazon:

It’s our goal to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything online.

Google:

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

What do all of those claims have in common? They are all really interesting, they are all fairly enigmatic and inspiring. We prefer to concentrate on the ' why ' instead of the ' what ' and instead of the ' how. '

So let's say you've got a company which makes socks. Sure, you could call yourself 'Socks Ltd' and be done with it, but if you wanted to create something a little more inspiring then you'd start with your statement of mission.

Your mission statement is not to make socks.

Your mission statement is to warm people’s feet.

And in so doing? Perhaps it's to make them feel relaxed and secure inside their own bodies.

So you could change your company name to 'WarmSocks' and your statement of the mission will be as follows:

To warm the feet of men, and make them feel relaxed during the day with their bodies.

Now you've got a strong pledge people will get behind, you've got something a lot more thrilling and you've got something even more marketable. This can inspire your workforce and can make you visualize plans for future goods and marketing strategies. Want to see the difference?

So spend some time talking about your own brand and your own business. What was it that originally attracted you into this industry? Why is it that you find it so exciting? Why do you encourage someone to feel just the same way you did?

Using this to build a one or two-sentence mission statement and you will start coming up with the other facets of your company from there.

And if you struggle to identify what the drive behind your business is, then you can always try using some exercises like OKR. This stands for ‘Objectives and Key Results’ and is a technique used by companies like Google, LinkedIn, and Intel. Here you simply identify what your broader objectives are and then break these down into smaller ‘key results’. There’s a tool to help you do this over at Weekdone.com.

Choose Your Company Name

Now you have your mission statement, you can start thinking about your company name. This should be something that describes what your business does but also evokes something more interesting and more exciting.

If you’re struggling to come up with anything, then you could try creating a mind map and adding related words and things you like the sounds of. From there you can try combining them in interesting ways, or using synonyms/portmanteaus, etc. For instance, ‘Intel’ is related to the fact that the chips the company creates give computers ‘intelligence’.

But then you have ‘Apple’ which is completely unrelated – in this case, the assumption is that this would evoke the image of something fresh and clean. Steve Jobs said it was inspired by the fact that he was on a fruitarian diet and thought the word sounded ‘fun, spirited and not intimidating’.

So don’t just think about the mechanical parts of your business, but also the mission statement and the emotions you want to evoke.

It’s a good idea to then come up with a few names and to try surveying your friends and relatives to see which they think is best. Remember, you name your business for your customers – not for yourself!

Also important is to make sure your business name isn’t trademarked which you can do at the US Patent and Trademark Office. You might also want to apply for a trademark yourself in the future, which ensures that no one can use your company name (you can also trademark your logo).

Another helpful idea is to check if there is a domain name available for your chosen brand name and talk about issues like SEO – how convenient it will be for someone to find and locate your company online? Even calling yourself Pear ' wouldn't fit these days – it would take Pear.com and you'd have an extremely difficult time featuring in searches.

Sadly, the business name has to be a bit serious as well as worrying about what's evoking the happiest emotions. Call Paul Conant at 1-855-544-9666 for more information, or contact [email protected]!