One element of beginning a startup that you don’t want to overlook is crafting your mission statement.
The statement explains your company’s goals and summarizes what your business does for its customers, employees, and owners. Quite simply, a mission statement focuses on why and how your business does what it does. It also serves as a framework to define your company’s culture, goals, and ethics.
If you want your startup to stand out from the competition, it’s essential you craft a unique and powerful mission statement.
Research Famous Companies’ Mission Statements
Your mission statement should tell people why your company exists and what makes it different from others. Before you begin the writing stage of your statement, you need to brainstorm ideas. But before you can do that, you should look at the mission statements of well-known companies. That enables you to compare and contrast mission statements and figure out what makes a powerful one.
For example, Coca Cola’s mission statement talks about refreshing the world in mind, body, and spirit, and inspiring moments of optimism and happiness. And the statement of the popular online casino Casumo says it is the “world’s first casino adventure.”
Check more mission statements to get ideas and develop a unique statement for your startup business.
Define Your Startup’s Purpose
To craft a unique mission statement for your startup, you need to define your business’s purpose. For example, suppose your company is a home security business. In that case, you should think about identifying your service in a specific way, define who the service is for, and why the service is valuable and unique. By putting such ideas together, you will be able to communicate your startup’s purpose to both your customers and your team members.
Avoid Complex Jargon
Although using the right words is essential, you need to avoid buzzwords and jargon that is confusing or unmemorable. The mission statement needs to be easy to understand and remember. Choose your words wisely and only use terms that are easily understandable and relevant to your specific business.
Inspire Your Customers and Employees
Your mission statement shouldn’t be too airy-fairy. It needs to be attainable and plausible. However, it also needs to inspire. By including an inspirational element in your statement, your members of staff will be able to work towards your vision, and customers will feel energized. So, get the balance right between using words of practicality and words of inspiration.
Keep Your Mission Statement Concise
Some companies write mission statements that take up whole pages, but as a startup, it is vital you keep your statement as succinct and short as possible. The key purpose of your statement, when beginning a new company, is to attract customers and a great team. By having a short mission statement, you will be much more able to attract the right people. A mission statement could even be as brief as three words! But as a new company that is trying to express your ethos and service to others, it is generally best to create a mission statement of a few short sentences.
Your Actions Should Reflect Your Mission Statement
It is all good and well crafting an excellent mission statement for your startup. But unless you and your team actually follow the statement’s intent and wisdom, your mission statement will soon become pointless. Ensure that you and your team members align your actions with the vision of the statement. In turn, that allows your customers to see you are not just all words and that your company acts on its core values.
