Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Being remark-able is a result, not a mission.

When you are committed to your customers' success and play an instrumental role in their achievement of that success, they will tell others and the result will be that you're remark-able.

If you set out with a mission statement that says you want to be remark-able, you're focusing on how you'll be seen, not on what you need to do in order to get there.

It's like sharing your mission statement with your clients. Your clients don't care what your mission is. They just want you to solve a problem of theirs ... to deliver value to THEM.

Telling them you're really good, or that they should be so impressed with you that they'll tell others, doesn't address their problem. It a way of setting outrageously high unrealistic (and ill-defined) expectations that you're likely to fall short of on delivery.

That's why mission statements are not usually for external consumption. They're for you and your employees ... to make sure you are all working toward the same long-range end.

It sounds like you have a client education challenge, not a strategy or copywriting job. Good luck on that one.

An advertising agency I once used had each person at the agency create their own mission statement and post it on the door to their office.

The best one was on the door of the creative director, whose mission statement read:

"I make things that sell stuff."

Sarah,

What my fellow contributors are saying somewhat obliquely is that you have to go back to basics. That means in effect that to develop a mission statement you must start with a clean sheet, regardless of what any senior company officer says. So let’s look at at the basics.

First, don’t confuse a vision statement with a mission statement. A vision statement is a declaration of what a company wants to be. It is different to a mission statement, which talks about what a company does. A company’s vision statement therefore is a shorthand description of how a company sees itself in its role as a business entity. Vision statements therefore are candid, honest, concise and sincere. They convey a sense of a company’s core values, spirit, drive and enthusiasm.


A mission statement, on the other hand, is an important component of a company’s operating business plan. It is important because it answers the questions: ‘what business are we in?’ and ‘how do we want the business to develop?’ In essence, the mission statement defines the raison d’etre for the business.

A mission statement however is more than just a bold statement of objectives or theme for a businesses’ existence. It gives a sense of purpose and motivation to work towards the achievement of identifiable goals with a determined commitment for success. In that regard, a mission statement

• provides the business with a sense of identity which differentiates the business from its competitors, and
• provides both legitimacy and a focus for present and future commercial activities.

Importantly, a mission statement should receive total and unconditional support from all stakeholders involved in the success of the business. This includes employees at all levels. The mission statement cannot just reflect a senior officer’s view of what he or she thinks should be contained in the mission statement.

It seems to me that what your CEO wants could be more effectively addressed through a specific element within your company’s overall branding/marketing strategy

sincerely,

chiron34

Mission statements tend to be an exercise in futility. You get something that everyone agrees on, says nothing, and does nothing for the people in the organization.

As for a tagline, consider: "Our Business Is To Make Your's Remarkable"