16 minute read
BUSINESS
Defining Your Brand Vision, Mission and Values
Think about the brands you purchase from over and over. Why do you choose to buy products and or services from them, even when cheaper options exist? Well, there's a good reason for it — because of their values. Darren Isaac explains why a company's values are vital to its success.
If you run your own business, one of the first things you should do is define the fabric of your brand—what does it stand for? It’s actually quite common for many businesses not to have done this but it is hugely important and valuable in defining your direction and every decision you make. When working out ‘what should we do?’, you need a brand barometer to evaluate your decisions against so you are actually considering ‘what would our brand do?’.
Why we do what we do The reason many business owners overlook this is that they simply aren’t aware it is something that should be done. Most of us are so focused on delivering what we do day to day, that we end up forgetting the importance of why we are doing it and who we are doing it for. Without our customers we have no business so we serve our customers’ needs and expectations and have to embody this in all that we do. The underpinnings of your brand decisionmaking are all about ‘finding your why’; why there is a need, why I am doing this and, ultimately, why should people buy from me? (or do they buy from my competitors?) When we look at what drives our business from the customer end we start to look more from the outside in than the inside out and this is the most important viewpoint we can have.
Defining your Vision The first place you should begin is with the vision you have for your brand. The aim is to write a few succinct lines, maximum a short paragraph of around 50-100 words, that define what success looks like for your brand. You really want this to be ‘big thinking’ in the context of what you personally would like to achieve. This can be as big as you want it to be but it shouldn’t be any bigger. What I mean by this is there is no sense in having a vision for growth and expansion if you would simply like to be the most popular Italian restaurant in your area. On the flip side, you may have a dream of building a regional franchise network of Italian restaurants. Let’s imagine you run a dry cleaning business and your goal is to retire in ten years’ time with a group of dry cleaning stores that virtually run themselves.
Your Vision may look like this and should follow this type of format: “Vision Statement: Clean Genie’s vision is to be the most profitable independent chain of dry cleaning stores in Buckinghamshire. We aim to be the brand that the public knows better than any other and that customers choose first because we consistently meet and exceed their expectations and we do so with personality and style.”
Your Vision Statement need be no more than this and you should have it on your wall and remind yourself every day what you are working towards.
Defining your Mission The Mission Statement is as important as your Vision Statement. How can you achieve your vision without some kind of idea of how you’re going to get there? Well, this is your mission. You will see an immediate difference in that the vision is centred around you, and what you aim to do, whereas the mission is centred around your customers and how, by pleasing them, they will facilitate your vision. The Vision Statement belongs on the wall in your office and the Mission Statement on the wall in reception. Your mission is your summary roadmap for success and it looks like this:
“Mission Statement: We will become the most recognised and loved dry cleaning brand in Buckinghamshire by creating positive and memorable visibility of our brand in all of the locations we serve. Our style will be bright, vibrant, warm and we dare to be different in ways that our customers will love. In delivering our service, our customers will find that they simply get more than expected with us, consistent excellence and value, and that this keeps them coming back and also telling their friends and family to do the same.” Anyone can run a good business. Running a great business, one that really stands out, takes an unwavering commitment to being different in ways that really matter to customers and that are palpable in a superior customer experience.
Though quite simple, you can hopefully see how valuable a statement like this in setting out, very specifically, the components of how you will do what you do. Moreover, it sets out the things that will have true value to your customers and enable your business to reach its goals through a growing customer base. Your mission defines what makes you different in your delivery and the things you will strive for, every day. Ultimately, you want your customers to love doing business with you and to tell others because you do it differently and you do it better. Brand Values The final piece of the puzzle with your brand foundations is your set of brand Values. It helps to go through the process in the order I have set out above because having a Vision and a Mission are your roots and these help to shape your values that form the trunk of the tree. Your values are essentially a list of words, elaborated into broader sentences, that define the spirit and strengths of how you do what you do.
Your brand values list should look something like this:
• Care and Excellence - We care for our customers’ garments as though they are priceless, returning them without a crease or a mark, always on time. • Warmth - We take the time to get to know our customers, provide service with a smile and simply be enjoyable to do business with. • Giving Extra - The little things that matter and that make a difference will be prevalent in our service every time.
Ideally, you want somewhere between five and ten core values that you run your business by. Now you have set in clear and simple terms, what your brand goal is, how you’re going to get there and the way you will do things to make it all happen. This should be part of your DNA and, going back to what I said at the very start, should underpin every decision you make and all that you do.
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Meet our publisher
with her finger on the Pulse
One minute she might be commissioning a feature about a round-the-world charity trek, and the next organising her dozens of delivery staff, or getting creative with advertising artwork. As the editor and publisher of the biggest monthly titles covering Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire, Kerry Lewis-Stevenson thrives on the variety that heading up Pulse Magazine involves. Kerry spoke with Sammy Jones about her journey so far and her vision for the future...
With a keen eye for art and design, Kerry was a creative force from a young age. She completed a foundation course in Art and Design at Nene College before hot-footing it to Liverpool to undertake a three year degree in graphic design.
Returning to Northamptonshire, she worked for Blue Ribbon Label Company in Milton Keynes, which proved a great learning curve.
“I learned the print trade from the ground up, gaining an understanding of every kind of print method there was, and that was the start of my career path,” Kerry said.
“When the company relocated, I worked as a gift designer, but I wanted to go back to graphic design, so I went to work for another local company and they allowed me to work self-employed.”
Kerry’s business brain began ticking: “I realised I could earn the same amount of money that I earned full time working just three days a week for myself. I made the jump and I’ve never looked back.”
Kerry had also studied with the Chartered Institute of Marketing, gaining a Post-Grad Diploma which bolstered her know-how.
In the late noughties, Kerry began drawing up a new plan – for a magazine that would sit at the heart of the community.
“There were other titles locally, and one was being used by everyone to source suppliers and to keep in touch with what was happening. I loved the village vibe that surrounded it. I thought, ‘Why can’t we do that for Milton Keynes?’
“I felt I could do it and had enough print experience behind me to make it work.”
That first issue of Pulse came out in the spring of 2009. The print run was 10,000, which might have been seen as rather ambitious.
“I wanted to hit the ground running,” she explains, “I never thought I’d fail, I genuinely didn’t. It might sound arrogant or foolish, but I just really believed in the product. I knew it was something that people would respond to, would need and would use.
I only ever saw the magazine continuing to grow, and that’s what has happened.”
But during those early days Pulse might have been seen as ‘just’ another title in a busy market. What gave it the edge?
“There were other magazines available to people, but they were all A5 and we were an A4 publication, which gave advertisers a bit more space to contribute editorial,” Kerry said.
“People must have picked it up because of its size and because it had fairly good content, but if I am brutally honest, in those early days it wasn’t anything special – it wasn’t the brilliant page-turner that it is today.
“What I wanted was a real community spirit around printed media, and that’s most definitely what Pulse is today.”
Print has been in sharp decline in recent years, but it’s not game over. Far from it. Titles like Pulse are bucking the trend and going from strength to strength.
And it’s not just luck and a prayer that has put Pulse into pole position. It’s a sound business plan and a real understanding of where the title sits in the community that has done that.
“People see us everywhere; walk into an office building, or centre:mk or somewhere locally and you will see Pulse,” Kerry says, “Visibility, content and advertising are all key – if any one of those fails, we don’t have readers, and without them, we are nothing. We will never forget that.”
“We care about the people in our titles - we want them to succeed and get business from our printed matter and digital matter.
“I see Pulse having an online presence as big as the print presence that we already have, and I am actively working on plans for that expansion just now.”
Pulse delivers community stories, exclusive features, music and theatre and much more.
It doesn’t do hard news, and that’s a conscious thing: “News is a different kettle of fish – it’s immediate and it’s taken online. We can see that very much at the moment with the horror happening in Europe,” Kerry said, “Pulse, and the business papers, offer positive stories and promote what is going on locally in the community. It’s real content too – not click-bait nonsense.
“We are something that doesn’t just last a week on a coffee table – we last a month, sometimes two...people keep us and re-read us and that’s what is so important. It proves that people care about our content.”
Pulse is a growing title in MK and Northampton, and it stands to reason that it is something of a sizeable employer too.
With 12 employed staff members, three self-employed contributors and 120 delivery agents, work is definitely not a 9-5 affair for the lady at the helm.
The laptop is always by Kerry’s side, but that’s the way it needs to be: “A lot of people rely on us now and that is a responsibility, but it’s a good responsibility to have,” she considers, “We have grown the business to where it is today and the whole team has worked to get it to this size, not just me.”
By putting in the hard graft, Kerry has learned that taking a little downtime is not a luxury, it’s a necessary part of the job.
“I would advise anybody starting out in business that you need to put in the hours to make the business a success, but you do still need to take some time out, you really do, otherwise work can really wear you down, which can be really detrimental.”
Her bulldogs Cooper and Diesel take life at a leisurely pace, which forces Kerry to take her foot off the gas every now and then, but she is a dab hand at putting the pedal to the metal too – she shares a love of motorbiking with husband Martin and they relish their trips in the saddle.
“There is nothing better than motorbiking on the continent,” she promises, and we’ll take her word for that!
It was International Women’s Day earlier this month; a chance to celebrate women and their contribution to business. Do you ever feel like a woman in a man’s world?
“I suppose if you think of the hazy days of Fleet Street journalism, you would see it very much as a man’s world, but of course there are a hell of a lot of great females in the industry too,” Kerry shrugged, “I suppose I am a woman in a man’s world, but it’s not something I’ve ever dwelled on – I just get on with the job.”
Like many other publications, Pulse ceased printing for a spell during the pandemic, but Kerry made sure the magazine came back fast – and first.
“We had to in order to ensure our survival, but also because we are there for our advertisers – and that doesn’t mean only during the good times. It means we are there for them all the time, and I’m proud of that fact.”
At a time when business uncertainty was rife, Kerry went one further – expanding the portfolio with two business titles – Business MK and Business Times.
Kerry knows that digital still has a major part to play in today’s environment, though.
“I love print and I think it really is here to stay and it will become more exclusive because there are less of us doing it, but I do realise that I have to future proof the business, so I am working on our online offering and our digital capability, and building Facebook groups and keeping that community feel, which is what the magazines and our business papers do so well.
Kerry in the saddle - ‘There’s nothing better than motorbiking on the continent’
Winchester House school celebrates ‘excellent’ rating
Winchester House, the day and boarding prep school in Brackley, is celebrating after being awarded an ‘Excellent’ rating by the Independent Schools Inspectorate.
Inspectors visited the school over a week, joining lessons and meeting with staff and pupils.
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This is the highest award available as an outcome of the inspection following the inspectors’ visit in January. The report focuses on the achievement of the pupils, including both academic development and personal development.
Head teacher Antonia Lee said: “I am incredibly proud of this wonderful assessment of life and learning at Winchester House. The result is not only a testament to the hard work, dedication and passion of our magnificent team but also to the pupils throughout the school who continue to push themselves to thrive in all areas of school life.”
Inspectors visited the school over a week, joining lessons and meeting with staff and pupils. “I was particularly thrilled to see such positive observations on Winchester House children throughout the report” said Ms Lee. “We have high academic aspirations at the school of course, but to receive such positive feedback on well-rounded Winchester House pupils was very satisfying and a celebration of the rich curriculum and broad aspirations for learning we have here.”
Dr Anthony Wallersteiner, head of The Stowe Group of which Winchester House is part, added: “Winchester House is the first school in The Stowe Group to have a full ISI inspection since last year’s merger. I am delighted that Winchester House has been awarded the ultimate accolade of being excellent in all respects. This is a resounding endorsement of a Winchester House education and testimony to the professionalism, pride and hard work of pupils, teachers, and support staff.”
