Many people think that having a logo and a color palette is the same thing as having a brand, but this assumption can’t be further from the truth. While your logo certainly begins defining a visible presence for your brand, the true foundations of your brand are something you can’t see at all. Powerful brands don’t start with a logo – they start with a vision.
“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.”
– Jack Welch
Why is a vision so powerful? Your vision will become the driving force behind everything you do in your business. If you have the wrong vision, it will naturally steer you in the wrong direction. Leveraging the right vision as a roadmap for your business is the key to creating a sustainable and outstanding brand.
Despite having a vision statement for your business being such an important stepping stone for your brand, most entrepreneurs don’t know how to start creating it. It can help first to explain in plain terms what your vision for your business entails.
Simply put, a great business vision describes a clear, yet imaginative picture of what you aspire to achieve with your business in the future. In order for your vision to actually be be meaningful and helpful, it should be short and specific— usually only one sentence or a handful of the right words is all you need!
Unlike a mission statement, your vision statement should NOT be focused on the ‘How‘ but rather on the ‘What‘ and the ‘Why‘ of your business. It should be inspiring, bold and compelling. You’ll know you’ve written it correctly if it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy about the possibility of fulfilling it!
Related Post: Branding Your Small Business: A Foundation Checklist
Inspiring Vision Statement Examples
Here are a handful of great examples of vision statements from popular brands and companies:
“Imagine a world in which every single person is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.” – Wikipedia
“To build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.” – Amazon
“A world where everyone has a decent place to live.” – Habitat for Humanity
“Capture and Share the World’s Moments.” – Instagram
“To put joy in kids’ hearts and a smile on parents’ faces.” – Toys ‘R’ Us
Envisioning the Future of Your Business: Define Your Brand Personality
Are you excited to create your vision statement yet? If you’re still struggling on where to start with writing, one of my favorite exercises to help entrepreneurs develop their visions for their business is to first identify 3-5 aspirational adjectives or personality attributes about their brand. Once you have pinpointed these, you’ll have a more clear direction of how you see your business and brand existing in the future.
Here are some great words to help you get started:
| Adventurous Aggressive Analytical Artistic Austere Bold Cheeky Complex Crafted Curious Dynamic Emotional Enchanting Energetic Everyday Experimental Flirty Focused Fun Geeky Glamorous | Graceful Ground-breaking Humble Industrial Imaginative Innovative Intuitive Inviting Lush Modern Momentous Niche Nostalgic Nuanced Organic Opinionated Optimistic Practical Progressive Playful Quiet | Radical Rational Refined Refreshing Relatable Reliable Revolutionary Rebellious Serious Simple Sophisticated Standardized Stimulating Subtle Surprising Technical Timeless Traditional Versatile Vibrant Vintage |
While you don’t have to use these exact words in brand messaging or vision statement, you can use them to help you get closer to your final written statement if you’re having trouble finding a place to start.
Related Post: 5 Smart Tips for Branding Your Startup Business
Finalizing Your Vision Statement
Once you’ve written your statement, share it with your colleagues, friends and family to get their feedback. Also, don’t be afraid to tweak and change your vision statement as time passes and your business goals change. After all, over time, you may achieve your vision and want to create an even bigger dream for your business to pursue!
What aspirational words would you use to describe your business? Have you already written your vision statement? I’d love to see it in the comments! Or reach out to K Design Co. for more advice on Business and Branding.
I help female entrepreneurs and business owners create brands that command the spotlight. I love working with women to help them create beautiful, one-of-a-kind brands that give them the confidence to take their business to the next level and get them seriously noticed. I’ve worked with coaches, authors, influencers… you name it, and I bet I can help you too.
