Vision, mission and values - these three pillars give your brand its identity. Important questions await your answers: Why does your company exist? Where do you want to take it? What are your beliefs? In our blog series on the vision, mission and values of a brand, we will pick you up on these topics. Let's start with tips on your vision.
Even if Helmut Schmidt once said: "If you have visions, you should go to the doctor" - for your company, the vision is the decisive foundation for the future. It sets the course, your goal. It gives you and your team as well as your target group orientation. The vision is the direction of your company, and your mission is derived from it - which we will come to later.
So, where do you want to go? Where do you want to be in ten years? What do you want to achieve or change with your offering? How can you make the future of your target group better?
This is what a good vision brings you
A well-defined vision has a lot of advantages. Which ones? We have listed them for you at a glance:
- You can focus your company development on a specific goal.
- You create trust because you clearly communicate what you want to achieve.
- You create identity - for customers and employees.
- Your customers and employees can better identify with your brand.
- You can better align your corporate strategy both externally and internally.
- Your statement shows the way and helps with decisions as well as doubts.
- You make your decisions transparent and comprehensible for your team.
- You motivate your team better to achieve the goals you have set.
Overall, your vision will bring you measurably more success . This has even been proven: In their study "Corporate Culture and Performance", John P. Kotter and James L. Heskett demonstrated how much better companies with a concrete vision perform compared to those without a vision. According to this study, companies with a vision achieved
- 4 times higher sales growth
- 8 times higher employment growth
- a 12 times higher growth in share price
Your vision is your statement
Make it easy for yourself and just say it. A good vision convinces through its simplicity. It is clear, easy to remember and can also be bold. It must also convey emotion. This applies to your team, who should follow you on this basis. And it applies to your customers, who want to identify with your vision. A good vision therefore provides drive both internally and externally.
Before you find and formulate your vision, please remember: don't describe an unrealistic ideal. Avoid superficial phrases such as "innovative" or "intelligent solutions". Stay authentic, credible and on the ball. If your vision makes sense straight away, it's good. If people have to think about it first, throw it overboard.
Examples of well-formulated visions
Fortunately, there are already a lot of wonderful visions from world-famous brands from which you can learn how to do it right. What immediately stands out in every example is the simplicity of the statement - which is precisely why it evokes emotions.
- IKEA: Creating a better everyday life for the many people.
Actually bordering on the general, this vision impresses with its honesty and simplicity. It could also have been called "The best everyday life ...", but then the effect would be completely different. It would be unbelievable.
- Oxfam: A just world without poverty.
A gigantic goal, and yet you buy it from Oxfam. Because it's not about ever achieving this goal 100%. What counts is the belief and the will to try.
- Alzheimer's Association: Our vision: A world without Alzheimer's.
Clear, extremely simple and consistently to the point. It couldn't be more direct. A good example of the fact that it's not about fancy language or wordplay. What counts is the pure statement.
- WalMart: Giving ordinary people the opportunity to buy the same things as rich people.
Sounds tempting, doesn't it? It's translated from English, of course, but the meaning and wording are clear. Everyone who has a little less in their wallet can, indeed wants to, identify with it. Perfectly made for the large WalMart target group.
- Microsoft: A computer on every desk and in every home.
The example is from the seventies and is no longer relevant. It is a statement that hardly anyone could have imagined at the time. And yet it was a wonderful vision that everyone wanted. Can you think of anything else? Exactly: visions are only valid until their goal has been achieved. After that, they can, indeed must, be adapted.
Examples of less well formulated visions
As many good visions as there are, there are also many that can be safely forgotten. This can even be done quite automatically, as they do not generate any enthusiasm.
- REWE: The best performance - for customers, merchants, employees.
Do you realize how off-putting a superlative comes across in a vision? What is the best performance? Nobody can imagine anything tangible. On top of that, it is probably more of a value than a vision.
- BASF: We are "The Chemical Company" and work successfully in all important markets.
Hm, there's no real goal here. It sounds more like a statement about wanting to dominate the competition. That has nothing in common with a vision.
The time is ripe for your vision
Have you already stumbled across your vision while reading this? It will probably take you a little longer to clarify what the core of your brand is. Try things out. Collect ideas and present them internally. Find your vision together. Once it's in place, the next process awaits: identifying your mission. But more on this in the next post in our blog series on the vision, mission and values of a brand.