A more excellent way to become a valued brand

There’s a reason people don’t care about the mission and values of most businesses.

Most mission and values statements are written for the business. They typically focus on the business’s goals of being the most profitable, the most customer-centric, the most sustainable or the most ethical business in its category.

And they often put the customer in the margins.

The business talks about the customer from its point-of-view, in the context of its agenda and its business model.

This is a formula for mediocrity. Businesses need to aim higher.

Mission statements filled with self-serving goals and overused platitudes are not meaningful. They don’t inspire the people you want to matter to. People strive to add meaning to their lives. A business that adds meaning to people’s lives adds value to its brand.

There is a more excellent way to become that brand.

It is a way to establish a shared goal with customers and to press toward a higher purpose for your business … a higher purpose that builds loyalty and long term, sustainable growth. It begins with asking more meaningful questions:

• Why are you in business?
• What do you believe in?
• What do you do that nobody else does?
• What fundamental human values are you serving?
• How are you improving the lives of customers?
• Why does this matter to customers?
• How does doing business with you make people feel?
• How are you aligning culture and operations with your brand ideal?

Having a brand ideal as your North Star is a more excellent way of creating brand value. It represents the heart core of your brand, your inspirational reason for being. It helps you become a brand that is meaningful to the people you want as customers.

In a marketplace saturated with choices, meaningful ideals and meaningful experiences differentiate valued brands from commodity brands.