Why It's Important Know Your Business Mission Statement by Heart
Second in a series
Last time, we talked about setting New Year’s goals, but to hit your targets, you must start with a good aim. Drafting – and following – a Mission Statement improves that aim.
You can make all the right turns on your business journey, but if you start out on the wrong road, you certainly won’t reach your destination. So the Sprocket team went back to the basics and took a hard look at the mission statement we wrote in 2016. If you haven’t done this exercise with your own team, follow along to see how it went for us:
What is the mission?
“To build mutually beneficial partnerships by providing valuable services, products, education, and support using web technologies.”
This statement does still describe what we do and what we hope to do this year, although we could probably update the terminology a bit. While our name is “Sprocket Websites,” we have always offered support for the websites we make through marketing – and specifically through digital marketing. “Web technologies” does cover social media, SEO, and other services we provide, but we could update that phrase to be more inclusive for whatever tech comes next.
Why is this our mission?
The Sprocket team has always been technological evangelists of sorts. We love following the latest advancements and truly get excited about putting what we know to work for clients. Helping others take advantage of digital tools and techniques is one of our core values. The “mutually beneficial” part of the statement was added because we need to support our families while helping others.
The word “partnerships” is also important to us. We’re not the kind of business where we make a whole lot of small sales, moving quickly on to the next customer. A website or digital marketing service is a serious investment for our clients. They are relying on us to help them grow and we want to be part of that growth for a long time to come.
Why have a mission?
In order to hit that year-end target, everyone on the team has to be aiming in the same direction. That includes clients, too! We can’t work together effectually if we’re headed down different paths. Referring to our shared mission helps us as we plan our five-year, one-year, and monthly goals.
What’s the next step?
Under discussion is the difference between a Mission Statement and a Vision Statement. Not every business needs both, but it’s worth considering. If any other website company could swap in our mission statement, maybe we need to delve a little deeper.
Sprocket Websites has been operating for more than a decade and a lot has changed in those years. Technology has advanced and marketing opportunities have blossomed. Everything digital is by subscription now and work-from-home exploded during an unprecedented pandemic. We accumulated a whole lot of experience – now how do we apply that?
The Sprocket team has spread all of this on the table to set our goals for the coming months and years. The intent is to experiment with as many digital marketing tools and techniques as we can get our hands on to knock off our short-term goals on the way to the long-term ones. As we go, we’ll be sharing what’s working and what’s not working for us, creating a case study that you can watch unfold and use to grow your own business.
Naturally, we will be building and supporting our clients’ websites as always during this grand experiment. You don’t have to wait until it’s over to update your site or launch a new one! If you have a project you want to get started on right now, just give us a call.
Photo by Mikhail Nilov
Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
Other posts by Kate Gingold
Contact author
Full biography
Full biography
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
x
Linked In
Google Plus