Company Mission Statement Examples (And How To Write)

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Every major company in the United States has a mission statement. It’s used as a way to communicate with the public, personnel, customers, and potential employees. A mission statement is often short, giving a condensed insight into the company’s purpose, culture, and focus. Such statements can vary in length from just a handful of words to a paragraph.

However, the purpose is the same no matter the length. A mission statement communicates a business’s message to a broad audience. It’s a confluence of marketing and public relations, along with talent attraction and retention.

Key Takeaways:

• A mission statement states what a company does, its values, and its goals.

• Mission statements have thought and work put into them. They are written over time with multiple revisions and changes.

• They should be short and to the point, with room for growth and inspiration.

• The audience is both employees of the company and its customers. It also shouldn’t be forgotten that it’s communication to the public at large.

What Is a Company’s Mission Statement?

A company mission statement lays out the goals, culture, and focus of a company. It can also lay out the way that a company operates in broad strokes. For instance, LinkedIn’s mission statement is: “to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.” That lays out what the company does and the purpose of them doing so.

Mission statements should be brief, accurate, and punchy. If you can, it’s best to add a little bit of inspiration to them as well. You want both your staff and your customers to understand and agree with your mission statement and what you stand for. That helps inspire more dedicated workers as well as repeat customers.

How to Write a Company Mission Statement

If you’re starting a company, you may be curious as to how to write your own mission statement. Even if you aren’t, you may still wonder how mission statements are crafted. There’s no one size fits all way to generate a mission statement, however, here are some tips and tricks to work out some ideas.

1. Identify your target audience. Of course, it’s for the company, but who are you speaking to? Who is your customer base, and are your employees largely pulled from that base? If they are, then your audience is a similar group of people. If not, you have to decide who it’s more important to speak to or find a way to fuse the two.

2. What are the company’s goals? Of course, all businesses want to make money, but that’s not generally what people want to see in a mission statement. What service or product do you provide? Why did you choose this particular service or product? In short, it comes down to:

   • What do you do? What does your business do to make money? How do you go about it, both in practical terms and philosophical ones?

   • Who do you do it for? Who’s your audience? Who are your customers? Are they looking for something practical and descriptive, or do they want something more abstract?

3. Pay attention to any philosophical or ideological aspects of your company culture. While you don’t need your mission statement to focus entirely on this – depending on your company – how you go about things is important. And not just in the sense of doing things properly, though if you, say, make airplanes, highlighting that isn’t a bad thing.

   But a mission statement isn’t just what you do, it’s how you go about it. You’re communicating more than what you make or the services you provide. You want to draw people to work for you, as well as have customers have a positive reaction to your company culture. People also choose or don’t choose companies based on their PR.

4. Write a draft. As with all writing, this is the first step. Yes, it will likely be terrible. The first few you write don’t have to be shown to anyone else. Take this draft and alter it until you think it’s passable.

5. Ask for feedback. This is extremely important. You need more sets of eyes on your mission statement. First, you need to know that the others in the company like your mission statement and think it describes what they do. Second, it’s easy to miss errors or other meanings in what you write, as you know what you mean.

6. Rework. Revise. Polish. Mission statements should be concise, relevant, and punchy. That’ll take work, multiple iterations, and thought. Keep working at it until you get one that fits your company.

Some of this will vary if you don’t work directly for the company in question. Some people will hire outside consultants in order to write a mission statement. But even if you do work directly for the company, it’s a good idea to talk to the leadership, or other members of leadership, to get a feel for the company’s philosophy and emphasis.

Common Company Mission Statement Mistakes

There are also a few things NOT to do in a mission statement. Don’t:

• Write a treatise. Mission statements should be short. While it can be difficult to condense what you do to a simple sentence, it’s best to be a bit vague rather than bog it down in detail. If people want to know more about your company, they’ll look it up.

  This doesn’t mean that your draft of your mission statement can’t start out long. But you have to be able to pare it back over time, carving out the pieces that are unnecessary or too lengthy.

• Use too much jargon. While it’s important to appeal to your customers, getting too slangy or buzzword-happy isn’t a good idea. it’ll make it seem like you’re trying too hard, for one thing, and it’ll exclude people who aren’t familiar with the business. And you want to be as inclusive as you can with your mission statement.

• Make it too flat. A mission statement should say something about your company. If you do serious work, it’s fine to have a serious tone in your statement. However, there should be a hint of your company culture or goals in there. That being said, an unmemorable mission statement is far preferable to an off-putting one.

• Leave no room for expansion. Companies are expected to grow and expand over time. If your mission statement is laser-focused on what you do now, it can make it difficult to expand in the future. You also want to inspire your employees to be willing to look beyond just what you do right now.

Mission Statement Examples for Business

There are several different ways to write a mission statement. Generally, it’s best to actually lay out the company’s mission: i.e., what they do. However, in some cases, the company can be indirect and still end up with a good mission statement. This is often the case with companies whose mission is incredibly prosaic, such as Coca-Cola.

Here are some real-life examples of mission statements, along with this author’s opinions on how well they follow what a mission statement should be:

1. Esri: We support our users in the successful implementation of GIS.

   This is very much focused on the business’s mission. Esri supplied geographic and mapping data to businesses, which shows that their mission statement is very much focused on their audience. If you’re unfamiliar with GIS, it’s unlikely that you’re going to be an Esri customer.

2. American Express: Become essential to our customers by providing differentiated products and services to help them achieve their aspirations.

   This mission statement is more abstract than some other ones. However, it does describe what they do while leaving room for growth. At this point, American Express is known for its credit cards, but allowing people credit and loans can open up a lot of options for people.

3. Warby Parker: To offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses.

   While not shying away from hyperbole, this mission statement makes it clear what they do, and who they do it for, and gives a glimpse of their company culture. That means it hits the trifecta in a single sentence.

4. Honest Tea: To create and promote great-tasting, healthy, organic beverages.

   Much like the mission statement above, this statement explains what the company does, and who it does it for, and touches on the company culture. It tells you that they’re interested in sustainability and health, as well as the fact that they’re a beverage company.

5. IKEA: To offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.

   If you didn’t know what IKEA did, then this mission statement would make it clear that they sell home furnishings. They also manage to hit on price point – very important in a business like this – and inclusivity, which touches on their culture. They also emphasize quality, in the well-designed and functional aspect, to make it clear that it’s not just about bargains.

6. Cradles to Crayons: Provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school, and at play.

   While the language in the middle here is a little bit clunky, it’s focused on being as precise as possible with its mission. For a charity that can be very useful, as you want it to be clear both to clients and donors who will be benefiting from their services.

7. JetBlue: To inspire humanity – both in the air and on the ground.

   While this statement does hit the markers of being punchy, inspirational, and concise, it is a bit light on their actual mission. While they can assume with their name having the word jet in it, as in an aircraft, that most people will know what they do, it’s a bit light in that regard. It also tells you a little about the company culture – inspire how?

8. Workday: We aim for innovation not only in our development organization but also in the way we approach every aspect of our business.

   This mission statement gets a little too caught up in company culture and fails to really mention what they do. Innovation is an excellent thing to emphasize for a technology-based company, however, if you aren’t familiar with the company, it’ll be unclear what they do.

   Their software is used for several different purposes, however, giving some hint as to what it does likely would have improved it.

9. Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

   This mission statement even goes so far as to include a bit of a pun. As Tesla sells cars, having ‘accelerate’ as part of its mission statement hints at that – especially as those who are familiar with cars know that electric cars accelerate faster than internal combustion ones.

   It also tells you about the company’s focus and leaves a lot of room for growth. It doesn’t specify that it’s simply electric cars, meaning that if they move into other renewable energy ventures, the mission statement is still relevant.

10. TED: Spread ideas.

    This mission statement takes the punchy aspect to the extreme. It does, however, also tell you a bit about the company. It’s all about the sharing of ideas and inclusivity. That being said, it does lack information as to how they do that.

Company Mission Statement FAQ

1. What’s the difference between a mission statement and a vision statement?

   The difference between a mission statement and a vision statement is mainly aspiration. A mission statement focuses on what the company does and its core values. A vision statement is more aspirational and about where the company would like to go. It’s more about culture and how the company can grow.

2. What are the benefits of having a mission statement?

   Mission statements have several benefits, such as marketing, attracting talent, and keeping you on track with the company’s goals. Mission statements highlight the company’s values, beliefs, and purpose, which can help you remember what it is your focus was in the first place.

   They also have the benefit of communicating your values, purpose, and culture to the outside world. This can help in attracting talent, customers, PR, and retaining employees.

3. What’s the difference between a mission statement and a purpose statement?

   The difference between a mission statement and a purpose statement is that a mission statement looks at the present, while a purpose statement looks toward the future.

   Mission statements outline what a company does, along with a few other qualities, such as who and how. It’s a condensed description of what you do, who you do it for, and how you do it.

   A purpose statement is more aspirational. It’s more about why you do the things you do and the importance of them.

Author

Di Doherty

Di has been a writer for more than half her life. Most of her writing so far has been fiction, and she’s gotten short stories published in online magazines Kzine and Silver Blade, as well as a flash fiction piece in the Bookends review. Di graduated from Mary Baldwin College (now University) with a degree in Psychology and Sociology.