Often underestimated, a brand mission can have a profound impact on a brand’s success, from customer engagement and loyalty to customer decision-making and shaping brand strategy. Before investing in any brand design, it is wise to make sure that your brand mission is clearly defined.
What is a brand mission?
A brand mission defines the purpose, values, and goals of a brand. By outlining why a brand exists, what it stands for, and what it aims to achieve, a brand mission provides direction and purpose for a brand.
Your brand mission should reflect the values of your target audience. By doing so, your brand mission shows that you understand what your target audience needs, the challenges they may face, and your brand is committed to helping them. This helps to build a strong and lasting relationship between your brand and your customers.
Your brand mission should be unique, memorable, and inspiring as it needs to capture the essence of your brand and communicate its values, goals, and purpose. Making it memorable helps it stay with your team and your audience. Additionally, tapping into aspirations that people can stand behind helps to motivate your team while engaging your target audience.
Here are some examples of well-known brand missions:
- Nike:
“Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.” - Coca-Cola:
“Refresh the world in mind, body, and spirit, to inspire moments of optimism and happiness, and to create value and make a difference.” - Amazon:
“To be Earth’s best customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
Why do you need a brand mission?
A brand mission serves as a guide for all the decisions and actions that your brand takes. It helps to align all the elements of a brand’s identity, such as strategy, visual and verbal expressions, and even product offerings and customer experience:
Focus
A well-defined brand mission helps to keep your brand focused on its core values and goals. By aligning all activities with the overall strategy, it helps to avoid any distractions or deviations from your brand’s purpose and helps to keep your brand on track.
Differentiation
By clearly communicating your brand’s purpose and values, a brand mission helps your brand separate itself from competitors, establishing its position in the market.
Customer engagement
A brand mission that resonates with customers intellectually and emotionally helps to build customer trust. This trust can lead to higher customer engagement and loyalty in the long run.
Internal motivation
A clear and inspiring brand mission that your teams can stand behind helps to align their efforts towards a common goal. The motivation helps to improve productivity and even create a more enjoyable work environment.
Measurement of success
A brand mission can serve as a benchmark for measuring success. Since a brand mission provides clear goals for your brand, that makes it easier to identify gaps and evaluate how your brand is doing and where it should be headed.
In short, your brand mission sets the foundation for all of your branding, marketing, and sales efforts, making it a critical component of your brand strategy and brand identity.
How to define your brand mission?
The process of defining a brand mission can vary depending on the products or services you offer. However, here are some fundamental steps to take to define your brand mission:
- Research and understand your target audience – their challenges, wants, needs, and values
- Clarify the problem your brand aims to solve and the value it aims to add to your target audience
- Identify the core values and beliefs of your brand that guides how it should behave
- Determine your brand’s unique selling points and how they sets it apart from competitors
- Craft a concise, memorable, and inspiring brand mission statement that reflects your brand’s values, purpose, and goals
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A brand mission is a powerful tool for you to establish your brand’s identity and build a strong connection with your target audience. By investing time and effort into defining your brand mission, you set your brand on the path for growth and build a solid foundation for its long-term success.
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Reference
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/inspiring-company-mission-statements
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/vision-vs-mission
https://www.nike.com/help/a/nikeinc-mission