A mission statement encapsulates your business within a few sharp words or paragraphs. A mission statement makes up part of your business plan, and beyond that can help provide direction and purpose for your employees, investors and of course yourself.
Examples Of Popular Mission Statements
To provide a little guidance, take a look at the mission statements of some famous businesses:
Nike – “To Bring Inspiration And Innovation To Every Athlete In The World.“
Walt Disney – “The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.”
Twitter – “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”
Starbucks – “Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles as we grow. The following six guiding principles will help us measure the appropriateness of our decisions – Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity. Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business. Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee. Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time. Contribute positively to our communities and our environment. Recognize that profitability is essential to our future success.”
As you can see, a mission statement can be as succinct as one single, no nonsense line as in the case of Nike – or rather longer as seen by Starbucks effort.
How To Write Your Company Mission Statement
When writing your mission statement, always remember to keep it aligned with your main reason for doing business. A lot of key stakeholders will most likely be thumbing through your mission statement, so it should be short, read fluidly and above all be memorable. When constructing your business mission statement, consider the following questions and pointers:
- Who does your company aim to serve? How can you work this target client group into the statement?
- What makes your business stand firmly apart from the competition? This could be a key USP which would play well as a focal point for your mission statement.
- How can you collate the main positives that your business brings into a few short and snappy sentences? A good mission statement is never full of waffle – instead it’s punchy, cramming in many of your businesses positives into a few short points or less.
- Leave some wiggle room for growth when you cite your mission statement. For example, Nike may well have started off as a small business selling only trainers – however by using the keyword “athlete” in their mission statement, they left the door open to produce a whole myriad of sporting goods to a wide variety of sporting industries.
- Change your mission statement when you need to. Just like the business plan itself, a mission plan is susceptible to change. Businesses evolve, and with it their core mission plans are liable to evolve with them.