In just about any niche, competition is fierce. Yet many SME, SMB, mid-size to large companies neglect to develop and articulate their brand mission because they’re either not sure how to do it or don’t realise it’s importance.

This in effect means they have nothing of substance [beyond price fights] to attract their ideal customers, whether their audience is B2B or B2C. Your brand mission is one of the critical deciders in captivating your ideal customers so they don’t go to, or buy from your competitors.

When you’re clear on your company’s brand mission, it acts as the overall steering mechanism of the business.

The best companies in the world understand the value of brand mission. It is your brand mission that impacts key decision making, strategic planning, productivity, service and brand strategy and marketing direction.

The real secret of incorporating your brand mission though, is that it drives profit growth because your brand mission and everything that follows it is what attracts the right people – employees and customers; those who believe what you believe. And when you tap into what’s important to the right people, you make considerably more money.

Related: 6 Tips For Building Your Profit Growth Plan

What Does Brand Mission Mean?

Branding is all about human psychology and perception. It consists of different levels, like the brand vision which drives the other elements, including the mission. Brand mission answers the question of, “how do we achieve our brand vision?” It is the “who we are and what we do” of a company.

Let’s get one thing clear from the start though, your brand mission is not a dusty mission statement hanging on the corporate wall. Rather, it’s how the company carries out its mission.

The biggest benefits of developing a clear, strong brand mission are:

1. Recognition. Even if your business slots into the small to medium sized, having consistent messaging, tone-of-voice, language, personality, look and feel makes it much easier to attract and remain front-of-mind in your ideal target customer.
2. Professionalism. Branding your business makes you appear better, larger and more successful. It makes you more trustworthy, and trust is what makes people ultimately decide to buy.
3. Purpose. The brand mission unites employees in one single purpose and makes the business stronger and more effective. When the employees of a company or organisation have a compelling purpose, a reason for being part of something bigger than themselves, then the drivers behind what they do are far more compelling and effective than mere economics alone. These emotional factors are far more potent because they’re the driver behind why people commit to buying something more expensive, working after hours when needed, going the extra mile and so forth. People need to feel that the work they do matters and is part of something bigger — a brand mission is the rallying call for this.

Related: The Age of Internal Branding and Selling From The Inside Out

In the video below, Simon Sinek talks about the psychology of employee fulfillment. A brand mission unites the humans in your company and gives them a sense of common purpose, which ultimately leads to higher productivity and superior quality work.

This is a vital point because much of the monetary benefits derived from a strong brand mission are the consequence of how employees respond when they share a greater sense of purpose.

What Makes A Strong Brand Mission?

A strong brand mission must;

1. Be really clear
2. Easy to understand
3. Represent a higher truth
4. Create a lasting impact in the world
5. Have meaning beyond the money

Developing a brand mission is about pulling together your company’s vision, strategy, future product and service development, together with its operational and marketing priorities.

By using strategic thought, creativity, expression, and innovation, it combines:

• The company mission
• The customer mission
• The business mission

Essentially, your brand mission is your framework for action, your raison d’être behind the what, why and how for everything you do — the drivers for not only you and your internal team but for the reasons why your customers choose you over your competitors.

Related: Family Business Branding And The Secret Drivers to Brand Success

How Your Brand Mission Drives Profits

1. Brand Mission Underpins Your Company Performance

Raj Sisojdia, a Babson professor, studied 28 companies between 1996 and 2011. His conclusion was that purpose-driven enterprises grew by a whopping 1647% compared to the S&P 500 average of 157%.^[1]

Many of the best companies in the world are a result of high employee engagement, which is based on purpose. And purpose, more than money, motivates people to arrive at work every day so that they can make a difference.

The very sad fact is that the majority of employees don’t even know the brand purpose of the companies they work for.^[2]

Traveling Vineyard on the other hand, a direct wine sales small business, increased customer acquisition by clarifying their purpose and brand mission.^[3]

They changed their focus from “wine sales” to “sharing the love of good wine with the world”.

Related: Personality Matters: Bringing Your Brand to Life to Grow Profits

Image via Traveling Vineyard

The Traveling Vineyard lives out their brand mission in everything they do and is expressed through the language and messaging on their website. This critical change in focus in their brand mission is what delivered a dramatic increase in people becoming Wine Guides; resulting in an increase in wine sales.

Their revamped strategy became about getting people to become Wine Guides (ultimately sales reps) who share wine experiences in a relaxed home environment. Instead of focusing on getting people to sell their wines, they changed their internal culture to be one that would transform lives by providing fulfilling, fun and flexible work.

In this way, they were able to bring their customers and employees together with a more meaningful purpose. Changing their internal brand mission resulted in a 49% increase in conversion rates for Wine Guides in the first year, and 83% lead forms submission on web pages that expressed the company’s purpose.

Related: Brand Profiling: How Brand Performance and Purpose Are Inextricably Linked

2. Brand Mission Attracts The Right People

One of the greatest reasons for incorporating a brand mission, is that it helps attract the right people, for the right reasons. Who are the right people? Those that will ultimately buy from you. And of course, it’s essential to draw the right employees to your company; those that are the right “fit” for your company’s culture, and those who will add the most value to your vision.

Your brand mission aligns the internal (staff) and the external (customers).

The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions … and Created Plenty of Controversy, by Leigh Gallagher, tells of how a young brand developed into a household name because of its brand mission.

Essentially, Airbnb is a tourist booking facility, but what separates it from it’s competitors is that the focus is on making memories and creating experiences. It is this mission and message which has been and continues to be one of the key drivers behind their success.

In mid-2014, Airbnb developed a new mission — to make people around the world feel like they could “belong anywhere.”

The founders wanted Airbnb to stand for something much bigger than travel; it would stand for community and relationships and using technology for the purpose of bringing people together.

Related: The Impact of Company Brand Culture On Driving Performance and Increasing Sales

Check out the story^[4] about Airbnb’s massive growth, and how their brand mission catapulted it:

Although now a household name in many parts of the world, Airbnb started as most businesses start – small. Now that they’re a well known brand name, you may be thinking their branding story may not be applicable to you.

Related: Brand Stories: 5 Compelling Examples That Sell Themselves

Even if you’re flying solo – you may be a freelance writer, business consultant, coach, author, IT consultant, or building a multi-level marketing business – you should still have a brand mission to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Do a Google search with your niche keyword and you’ll see just how many online competitors you have, so you need to develop and use your brand mission as part of your strategy for standing out and getting attention from the people who need your service or product. As a solopreneur, it’s especially important to discover your uniqueness and leverage your personal brand identity. Otherwise, you’re just another anchovy fish lost in the ocean.

If you want direction and support empowering you to transform your brand so you stand out and increase your sales then the Persona Brand Building Blueprint™ Mastermind is the perfect fit for you.

This is a two-day brand building intensive shared with a small group of like-minded peers where you work on your brand with our leadership. In fact, over the two days, you re-evaluate your brand, codify it and create your brand strategy to stand out and attract your ideal customers from the ground up whether you’re revitalizing an existing brand or creating a new one.

This is not a theory based programme but a highly interactive fast-track course where you work intensively on your brand throughout the programme duration, under our tutelage, using our ten step system to:

1. Completely re-evaluate your brand to make it much stronger so it’s highly visible enabling you to increase your profits
2. Map out your brand in full so it’s codified and comprehensively documented to grow your business faster
3. You leave with your total brand road map or GPS of your brand empowering you to manage your brand, stand out and attract your ideal customers so you multiply your sales

Outcome: Your brand transformed so you increase your sales.

At the end of the two-day Persona Brand Building Blueprint™ Mastermind, you leave with your fully documented brand strategy ready for implementation in your business or organisation.

Regardless of the size of your business, you need to know who you are, what you stand for and what you can offer your audience because the service or products you promote are not what you are really selling.

Remember, 60% of branding is about perception and only 40% is about your product or service so you must touch the heart first if you want to move the mind.

Once you understand that and begin marketing with that concept front of mind, that’s when you’ll really start generating serious revenue.

Just like a brand mission for conglomerates, a personal brand is a combination of your strengths, passions, gifts, and the purpose that you bring. In the next video by TEDx Talks, Anand Pillai provides a formula for building a personal brand, remembering that your mission is what drives your business, solo or major conglomerate:

Related: Personal Branding: We Are All CEOs (Part 1)

Smaller B2B companies can stand out from the crowd simply by providing brilliant content on their website, as the Buffer App does on their blog. A simple branding strategy for smaller businesses, Buffer is creating a cult following by publishing content that is irresistible and central to their brand mission.

Buffer’s brand mission^[5] is to “create helpful, actionable content that helps people with their social media presence. To connect a community of like-minded people with passions for social media, self-improvement, and Buffer’s values. To share Buffer’s internal approach, philosophies, and culture to help create a new way to work”.

Their mission drives their brand strategy and consequently all marketing activities.

Image via Buffer Slideshare

Buffer was only founded in 2010. In 2016, their staff complement doubled from the previous year. They now boast 75 employees who work remotely around the world.

Their success is further evidenced by the results achieved with their content: one of their posts^[6] has been shared 23 000^[7] times and earned 210 000 likes on Facebook. Not bad for a humble team of 75…

By addressing target audience problems via blogging, and becoming known for publishing genuine value-add content, they get the attention of the people they’re targeting.

Related: Personal Branding: We Are All CEOs (Part 2)

3. Brand Mission Creates Consistency

Have you ever experienced exceptional service from a company, and the next time, expecting the same level of service, were deeply disappointed?

That’s because the brand lacks consistency. In fact, consistency engenders trust so if your brand falls short in any areas of the business or at any brand touch point, be it your brand collateral, customer facing staff, service or product delivery you undermine the power of your brand. Consequently, your sales and profitability are also immediately compromised because inconsistencies plant seeds of doubt and create bad customer experiences. Companies who boast consistent good customer experience are those who put standards in place to carry out their brand mission consistently in everything they do.

Brand awareness also depends on consistency. In fact, every aspect of managing, protecting, directing and preventing unintentional brand sabotage requires branding style guides.

Related: Brand CSR: The Business Case for Successful Branding and Social Good

If you want direction developing your brand so you can increase your profits then take a look at our online brand building eprogramme called the Personality Profile Performer™. This online course takes you through all the key steps you need to implement as you build your brand, including your brand mission. You can watch a free course preview here.

Build Your Brand Mission Using The Personality Profile Performer™ Programme with Lorraine Carter Here

If you’d like professional direction to develop your brand mission and would like to explore working with us then send us an email to [email protected] or give us a ring T: +353 1 8322724 (GMT hour 9:00 – 17:00). We’d be delighted to talk with you.

4. Brand Mission Ensures Clarity

Companies who provide the best customer service experience are driven by employees who are armed with clarity because their brand mission enables effective and fast decision making with clear judgment. Consider the front facing staff member who is shouted at by a disgruntled customer. After calming the customer down and finding out the exact issue, the employee is able to rectify the issue by taking some kind of on the spot action.

In the same way, leaders who have a clear sense of what matters most, are enabled to set priorities and determine the best path for the organization. Clarity drives commitment and dedication.

Related: CEO Brand Leadership: How Vision Drives Brand Growth

Summary

The best companies in the world to work for, and the most profitable, understand the power of the brand mission.

Developing your brand mission drives the company vision. The key benefits are brand awareness, effective lead generation, professionalism, and most importantly, providing a united purpose between employees which in turn generates multiple other benefits that collectively impact the bottom line positively to increase sales.

Related: What’s a Cult Lifestyle Brand And How Do You Create One?

Essentially, your brand mission is the driving mechanism that activates success.

In summary, your brand mission drives profits by:

1. Boosting employee performance and company growth
2. Attracting the attention of your ideal target audience
3. Creating consistency in brand messages and service which builds trust
4. Providing clarity for leaders and employees

Questions to consider…

1. How does your business achieve its overall vision?
2. What need does your business hope to fulfill?
3. Does each member of your team understand his or her role in your overall brand vision?
4. What separates you from your competitors?
5. How do you touch the hearts of your customers so buying decisions are no longer about selling at the lowest price?

Build your brand strategy at the Persona Brand Building Blueprint™ Mastermind with Lorraine Carter

^[1] https://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2016/12/how-brand-purpose-propels-brand-profits.html#.WTab1dwlHIU

^[2] https://innovatenewalbany.org/branding/why-purpose-driven-companies-are-beating-the-competition/

^[3] http://genuinely.co/what-we-do/case-study/

^[4] http://fortune.com/airbnb-travel-mission-brand/

^[5] https://www.slideshare.net/Bufferapp/buffer-marketing-culture/2-Purpose_Mission

^[6] https://blog.bufferapp.com/10-scientifically-proven-ways-to-make-yourself-happier

^[7] https://insights.newscred.com/branded-content-marketing-hubs/