How to Develop a Business Mission Statement
Identify your core business services., Know your audience., Jot down purposeful bullet points., Make points into good sentences., Edit and fact check.
Step-by-Step Guide
-
Step 1: Identify your core business services.
In order to build a mission statement, you have to fundamentally understand at a very profound level what your business is actually about.
Although this sounds simple, some business leaders can fail to take this first key step in building a mission statement that makes sense. , When you are writing a mission statement, although it might apply to people inside your business, most of these documents are designed to educate people outside the business, i.e. potential customers or clients.
Understanding who is the intended target audience can really help an individual or group write a competent business mission statement.
Make use of existing market research tools.
If you're stuck in either of the above tasks, look at any existing surveys, focus groups or other market research results that can point you toward a better outcome for defining what your business does and what you want it to do. , When you have the basics in hand, you can start to brainstorm an outline of your business mission statement using common sense and relevance to your core principles and audience.
Find your voice.
The point where you put points into full sentences is where you can experiment with a tone or voice for the mission statement.
Experts recommend avoiding statements that sound too stuffy, get overwhelmed by legalese, or otherwise suffer from jargon.
Keep your mission statement in plain English and make it count. , After you have listed your "ingredients," it's time to pull everything together to make it sound like a formal mission statement.
This generally means assembling full sentences or paragraphs that say what you mean in clear, yet formal, language. , After you have put together the precise sentences that will form your business mission statement, it's time to do a final edit before this material goes "to print" whether it's going into printed material or onto the web.
Keep it honest.
In addition to looking for spelling and grammar errors, you also want to identify any points where you may have brought up something that could actually be untrue.
Business mission statement write-ups may naturally tend toward exaggeration or corporate boasting, and although you do want to accentuate the positives of your business, you also want your business mission statement to be factually accurate. -
Step 2: Know your audience.
-
Step 3: Jot down purposeful bullet points.
-
Step 4: Make points into good sentences.
-
Step 5: Edit and fact check.
Detailed Guide
In order to build a mission statement, you have to fundamentally understand at a very profound level what your business is actually about.
Although this sounds simple, some business leaders can fail to take this first key step in building a mission statement that makes sense. , When you are writing a mission statement, although it might apply to people inside your business, most of these documents are designed to educate people outside the business, i.e. potential customers or clients.
Understanding who is the intended target audience can really help an individual or group write a competent business mission statement.
Make use of existing market research tools.
If you're stuck in either of the above tasks, look at any existing surveys, focus groups or other market research results that can point you toward a better outcome for defining what your business does and what you want it to do. , When you have the basics in hand, you can start to brainstorm an outline of your business mission statement using common sense and relevance to your core principles and audience.
Find your voice.
The point where you put points into full sentences is where you can experiment with a tone or voice for the mission statement.
Experts recommend avoiding statements that sound too stuffy, get overwhelmed by legalese, or otherwise suffer from jargon.
Keep your mission statement in plain English and make it count. , After you have listed your "ingredients," it's time to pull everything together to make it sound like a formal mission statement.
This generally means assembling full sentences or paragraphs that say what you mean in clear, yet formal, language. , After you have put together the precise sentences that will form your business mission statement, it's time to do a final edit before this material goes "to print" whether it's going into printed material or onto the web.
Keep it honest.
In addition to looking for spelling and grammar errors, you also want to identify any points where you may have brought up something that could actually be untrue.
Business mission statement write-ups may naturally tend toward exaggeration or corporate boasting, and although you do want to accentuate the positives of your business, you also want your business mission statement to be factually accurate.
About the Author
Robert Sanders
Robert Sanders is an experienced writer with over 2 years of expertise in non profit. Passionate about sharing practical knowledge, Robert creates easy-to-follow guides that help readers achieve their goals.
Rate This Guide
How helpful was this guide? Click to rate: