Your Business – Who Are You?

A business is more than the sum of its parts and a set of processes. Rather a good business should have a mission statement, a personality, vision, drive and responsibility. You should be looking to bring value to an area, to improve the world and you should feel passionately about all that. If you do, then you will have a much better time getting other people to feel passionately about what you do as well and as a result your business will be far more likely to soar.

Whatever your business does, it should be aiming to improve the world in some small way. If you are in logistics then you will be making it easier for people to get things to where they need to be. If you are a green grocers then you should be contributing your delicious fruits and vegetables and you should care about quality, taste and value.

If you see your businesses cynically, then you will find it doesn't stand out among the crowd, and that your message is mixed and confusing. At the same time you'll find that you never grow and develop in any exciting way and rather continue to chug along. You won't innovate and eventually you'll die out.

So think then, when you are asked what your business does – how are you going to answer? Don't just describe how you make money, but rather think what is at the core of your business? What is important to your organization? And what sets you apart from all the others?

And how are you going to make it sound truly innovative and exciting? Likewise ask yourself what your long term goals are and what your vision is for the future. Ask yourself what you are contributing to the world and ask yourself what values are truly important. Do you care about going green? Do you care about driving forward innovation? About personal freedom? Health? Most services, even if they are seemingly 'dull' probably satisfy one of these basic needs on some level in order to attract business and attention. Make your business statement, describe your organization in one sentence, and highlight your values. Now use these guiding principles to guide future decisions and to transform your company into your vision for the future.

Once you have done all this you will find that marketing becomes much easier and that the creativity and enthusiasm starts to really flow. Find ways to communicate your spirit and message to your customers and to let them know how important your values and their satisfaction are to your company. A good logo and strong brand identity can greatly help you to accomplish this, as can finding ways to let your customers and clients to get involved in the direction of your company. Meanwhile you should make sure that all of your staff understand your company's goals and values and that they take this into account in their interactions as well.

This might sound like a waste of time, and self-aggrandizing even, but you will find that the benefits to your company, and ultimately the world, are actually well worth the time.

Twelve Creative will help you to come up with your branding and vision. Click here to learn what we can do for you.