How to define your brand’s vision, mission, and values

We all know good design is good business. When your business’s brand is thoughtful, purposeful, and clear it supercharges your potential. It gives you the power to shape people’s perceptions, influence how people engage with your business, and acts as a mighty strong footing for your business to grow.

Not only does your business need to look its best on the outside, but it also needs to feel its best on the inside too. That’s where forming your brand’s vision, mission and values come into play. These foundations will help you get crystal clear on who you are, what you do, and why you do it to help drive your business and ultimately attract, engage, and sell in all the right ways!

Defining Your Vision

Your brand’s vision is ultimately your business’s purpose and reason for existing – it’s what you want your business to accomplish in its lifetime. A vision should excite the bloody pants off you, buzz you to get out of bed in the morning, and give you a challenge – so don’t be afraid to set the bar higher than you think you can reach!

The most powerful vision statements are short and succinct. You should be able to jam-pack your vision into a single sentence, or just a few words. Do some research and take a look at some of the world’s most successful businesses and their visions.

Nike – To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.
Ox Fam – A world without poverty.
Virgin – Changing business for good.
McDonald’s – To be the world’s best quick-service restaurant experience.
Ikea – To create a better everyday life for many people.
Uber – Bring transportation — for everyone, everywhere.

To define your vision ask yourself these two simple questions:

1. Why did you start your business?
2. If you knew you wouldn’t fail, what would you have your business achieve?

Now use those answers to pull together your golden vision statement.

Defining Your Mission

Your mission should state how you are going to achieve your big vision. What are you going to do, how are you going to do it, and who are you going to do it for?

Your mission should be clear and describe what you will do to achieve your vision every day within your business.

Here are some examples from the world’s largest corporations to give you some creative juice. Drumroll, please…

Uber – Transportation that’s safer, cheaper, and more reliable; transportation that creates more job opportunities and higher incomes for drivers.
Google – To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Kickstarter – To help bring creative projects to life.
Disney – To entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling, reflecting the iconic brands, creative minds and innovate technologies that make ours the world’s premier entertainment company.

To define your mission, ask yourself these three questions:

1. What do we do?
2. How do we do it?
3. Who do we do it for?

Now combine your answers into a beautiful sentence and voilà! You have your mission.

Defining Your Values

Your brand values are the backbone of your business; the guiding compass for all that you do. They establish why you’re in the game, what you stand for, and what you believe in. Every business decision, service, product, and interaction with customers and stakeholders should be aligned with your values because truth be told, a big contender for getting your customer or client on board often comes down to how aligned they feel to your brand. Having your core values outlined will keep you accountable and consistent throughout all aspects of your business and help to attract those who hold similar values – win-win.

What matters most about the way your business operates? What does your brand live by every.single.day?

Quality
Unique
Innovation
Knowledge
Inspire
Ethical
Integrity
Relationships
Community
Collaboration
Purpose
Take your pick and add your own! Write out what each value means to your brand to give it purpose and context.

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