Define Your Brand; it’s Not your Mission Statement or your Vision

What’s the difference between your brand position and your mission statement?

Sometimes when I ask a client about their brand position, they rattle off a mission statement, or the company’s vision. It’s great when employees know what these are, but these are both very different from the company’s brand position.

In short, a mission is the reason for the company’s existence. It’s vision is what it wants to be.

The mission of my company is to connect and apply my team’s experience to the communications needs of businesses with similar values.

The vision is to be a world-famous, highly respected communications firm that makes millions billions in revenue. (What? Let’s not pretend we’re not in business to make money. That’s just ridiculous.)

To define your company’s brand, try using the following formulas:

For target audience that have a specific need we offer your main offering unlike main competitor, your name provides your main benefit that allows users to . . . 

For Jaggers Communications, this brand position approach looks like this:

For businesses that want to grow by attracting new customers or inspiring loyalty through clear and consistent communications, we offer strategic communications planning, counsel and execution. Unlike firms focused solely on social media, public relations or marketing, Jaggers Communications provides applied experience in business communications counsel across disciplines and industries. We help clients reach their business goals through smart communications strategy and tactics.

This series of questions is also helpful in developing a brand position:

Who: Who are you?

What: What business are you in?

For Whom: What people do you serve?

What need: What are the special needs of the people you serve?

Against whom: With whom are you competing?

What’s different: What makes you different from those competitors?

So: What’s the benefit? What unique benefit does a client derive from your service?

Jaggers Communications offers strategic communications planning, counsel and execution to businesses  that want to grow by attracting new customers or inspiring loyalty through clear and consistent communications.  Unlike firms focused solely on social media, public relations or marketing, Jaggers Communications provides applied experience in business communications counsel across disciplines and industries. We help clients reach their business goals through smart communications strategy and tactics.

Give it a whirl in the comments (if you’re brave enough).