Courtesy of Ben and Jerry’s
Before a company establishes a blog, it’s important to determine its goals. Maybe it’s to drive sales or strengthen a brand; or, perhaps it’s to become an influencer in a category or sector. Either way, a blog has goals just like program strategy has goals.
If you own or work at a company, having business goals are also critical. Everything implemented throughout the company is in alignment with business goals.
What of a company mission statement?
No matter the size of your team, if you’re a small-to-medium business (SMB), then you need to think strategically about your company’s purpose. What is the philosophy you’ll guide your teams with? With whom are you engaging and in what location? Do you have a product or service you want to particularly focus on that should be added to your mission statement?
I honed in on the word “mission” in a story by Crain’s Chicago Business when I saw the viral video by the Chicago Music Exchange called “100 Riffs.” The owner of the Chicago Music Exchange asked its employees to create viral video (I think you can only create video with the hopes of it going viral, really).
The video of 100 riffs on the history of rock in one take did go viral and is still being viewed on YouTube. The campaign was submitted to Crain’s Chicago Business and was featured in a story. The owner of the Chicago Music Exchange said the video aligned with its mission, was perfect for customers, and showcased the very essence of the Chicago retailer of music equipment.
In the Jan. 28, 2013 issue of Advertising Age, a story “How the usually dry annual report has become brands’ secret marketing weapon,” detailed how a bland annual report took the 2012 Cannes International Festival of Creativity by storm.
Austria Solar submitted what looked to be a completely blank white book as its annual report. The pages were solid white with no ink…until someone took the book outside and exposed it to solar rays. The sun’s rays reacted with the specially treated paper to bring the words inside to light, literally.
Here’s the hitch…the article stated, “While it could have come across as gimmicky, it was a solid concept that conveyed the company’s mission in a single, startling moment.”
Think about that a sec…here is a reporter making the connection from a highly creative annual report the likes no juror at this international competition has ever seen to the company’s mission. When do reporters draw that bridge? When something so extremely innovative makes someone connect the dots to the company that launched it. Fabulous, eh?
We can draw the same correlation to the Chicago Music Exchange video, too. It asked the staff to develop something that showed customers its equipment, talent, knowledge, and love for music — all part of the mission.
We rarely see mission statements of companies; they’re oft hidden on websites or buried deep in a dusty file cabinet. Every so often, pull your mission statement off the shelf and see if your company is adhering to that original intent, philosophy, and strategy with highly creative products, services and actions.
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