After forming your mission statement, the next foundational step in bringing your brand identity to life is working on your vision statement.
What Is A Company’s Vision Statement?
The key component to a vision statement is a future-looking desire or aim which seeks a direct and impactful narrative for which your company, and its employees, can realistically create over a period of time.
In other words, a vision statement is a clear and concise goal the company has to make a real world impact in the medium to long term future.
The statement should be short enough that it cannot be obscured, but detailed enough to give clarity on when and how it can be achieved. Ideally, it directly contains your company mission and values.
Why Does A Vision Statement Matter?
A captivating vision statement can help align corporate objectives to something more meaningful for all owners, employees, and even stakeholders.
For some, doing business with or working for a company who wants to make a positive difference, no matter how big or small, takes a typical transaction or work performance from a short term perspective to a more committed one.
For employees, this means a more meaningful workplace, and not just about earning an income.
For owners and partners, a way to really give back to communities, social groups, or even the environment which may have first given them the initial opportunity to become an entrepreneur in the first place.
And, for adjacent companies, affiliates, or investors, it’s a way to convert internal wins into external wins, too.
How The Vision Statement Communicates Value
While many businesses are overly focused on providing immediate results (which is not a bad thing, of course), a vision statement showcases the bigger picture for why a business exists in the first place.
Some people start a business because they’re just looking to make an income doing what they love, and that’s fine—however it can make the business feel limited, restricted, or even short-sighted and selfish if it’s doing nothing but creating value for itself and its owners.
By offering a future vision and clear vision for where the business is heading, in an overtly and transparent way, it allows everyone connected with the business to feel as if there is a common goal and common path, even after today’s transactions or services have transpired.
For certain service types, it can also provide assurance the company will still be around and ready to provide the same or better experience a long time from now.
Most people have had the unfortunate circumstance where they went back to re-purchase a product or service from a company only to find out they hadn’t planned for the future, and are no longer in business.
In the opposite way, it’s always nice to return to a small business who is doing better than ever, and making real contributions to its community, patrons, and other organizations.
How To Create An Encouraging Vision Statement
It might be best to break the process down into a couple parts:
- Ideate
- Refine
- Clarify
Ideate
When looking back at your brand identity, as a whole, you can look at answering these questions broadly, to start:
- Without regard to any timeframe, what is the greatest impact you can imagine your company making?
- Now, being a little more rigorous, what is a realistic timeframe you can envision making a big piece of your greatest vision—5 years? 10 years? Longer?
- If you already have co-owners or employees, how do their efforts fit into that vision?
- How great of an area might you impact—local community? Statewide? Nationwide? Worldwide?
- If you are able to accomplish your vision, how might it impact others positively in their lives?
You can see how broadly the ideation phase might begin. Just let your mind do its best to try to comprehend all the possibilities you might be able to achieve if you’re successful in meeting your goals, and the goals of the company.
It doesn’t have to be so large as “end world hunger” but it’s okay to have a vision which seems almost exceptional or impossible, at least for now.
Refine
With your most ambitious goals and thoughts on paper, it’s time to add at least a touch of reality.
Not because nobody will believe you, but because a realistic and sensible vision is much more likely to make sense to someone else who doesn’t necessarily see your vision the same way you do. If it makes sense to them, it will feel more likely and attainable, even if the vision is extreme.
Here are some questions to consider:
- Is anyone else trying to achieve a similar outcome or goal? If so, how much progress have they made?
- Are there obstacles out of your control which might hinder progress in the near future?
- What about your vision might not make sense to someone not very closely involved in your line of work?
- Who else can you talk to about your dreams and goals who might be able to offer constructive feedback?
At the core, it’s time to bring your vision down to earth and make sure anyone else who reads it can understand it, believe it, and buy into it.
There will be a fine line in trying to use the right words to make it largely ambitious and goal-seeking, but also getting specific enough about what you mean without using a bunch of lingo or jargon others may not know.
A good vision statement helps someone to know you have foresight into what’s possible, and a great vision will make them feel like doing business with you and your company can make their action be a small step in the right direction.
Everyone wants to feel as if they can contribute, and that doesn’t stop at clients and customers, but anyone and everyone who works on and within the business, too. Employees want to know their daily actions are moving the needle as much as anyone else.
Clarify
After you’ve created your most ambitious forecasts and observations and brought them down to earth, as it were, it’s time to really clarify what you mean.
The way you’ll know if it’s clear is when many different people read the same statement and come to the same conclusion on what it means.
You don’t want to lose sight of the big idea you had initially, but you need enough clarity and enough precision in putting it into words that everyone else can grasp it, too.
Ask friends, ask family, ask employees and maybe even survey past customers or clients to see if they understand what you mean, without having to explain yourself.
Then, reflect back on your overall brand identity, your mission, and your values and see if everything is in alignment with how you meant to communicate it all.
And, lastly, be open to shifting your vision as market dynamics change, businesses operations change, technology changes, or anything else you may not have been able to foresee. You’re an entrepreneur, not a psychic.
When it feels right, make sure you broadcast it and really make it a part of the business activities—find the right measuring stick and always be evaluating your progress.
Your vision today very well may become your greatest accomplishment down the road.