Small business owners each take their own path to develop the mission of the company. For some it’s centered around making a positive impact on society, or advancing progress in their industry. For others, the motivation is simpler and closer to home. Whatever your reasons are, there’s value in formalizing a mission statement for your small business.
Business owners often ask where to start in creating a mission statement. Yes, there are step-by-step guides that help you gather information and craft your mission statement. But before digging into the formalities, I recommend you first considers these questions.
- Why are you in business?
- What’s the reason you’ve chosen to do this instead of something else?
- How does what you do affect others?
With those broad questions in mind, here are mission statement examples from well-known brands.
Cuisinart—”To help you savor the good life.”
Gap, Inc.—”To be the world’s favorite for American Style.”
TED—”Spread Ideas.”
Quirky—”We make invention accessible.”
The above mission statements are short and direct. Is a short and sweet mission statement a good fit for your company? It might be, if your company has a simple, singular focus that you wish to convey.
Other organizations have taken a more strategic approach to their mission statements. Take a look at the following mission statements to see if they spark any ideas for your own small business.
Coca-Cola—”To refresh the world; to inspire moments of optimism and happiness; to create value and make a difference.”
Discovery Media—”To satisfy curiosity and make a difference in people’s lives by providing the highest quality content, services and products that entertain, engage and enlighten.”
Zappos—”To provide the best customer service possible.”
The three mission statements above offer some guidance to the organization, and seem less oriented to what the public may think of them.
On the flip-side, here are some mission statements that seem to be much more oriented to the public.
HSBC Bank—”We enable businesses to thrive and economies to prosper, helping people fulfill their hopes and dreams and realize their ambitions.”
Google—”To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
HubSpot—”To make the world inbound. We want to transform how organizations do marketing.”
Adidas—”We strive to be the global leader in the sporting goods industry with brands built on a passion for sports and a sporting lifestyle!”
Ann Taylor—”To inspire and connect with women to put their best selves forward every day.”
Burt’s Bees—”To make people’s lives better every day – naturally.”
Facebook—”To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”
Lowe’s—”To help customers improve and maintain their biggest asset- their home.”
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