Create a unique mission, values, and personality for your brand that resonates with your audience.

Overview

Defining your brand’s mission, values, and personality is crucial in creating a strong brand identity.

It helps your customers understand what your brand stands for, what it believes in, and how it’s different from its competitors.

A clear and consistent brand identity can help build trust and loyalty with your customers, and ultimately drive sales.

Two well-known global brands that have successfully used this strategy are Nike and Apple.

Nike’s mission statement is “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world”, and its brand personality is all about empowerment, athleticism, and motivation.

Apple’s mission statement is “To bring the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and services”, and its brand personality is all about simplicity, elegance, and innovation.

How to

Defining your brand’s mission, values, and personality requires a collaborative effort from your team.

Here’s a step-by-step guide outlining the roles and responsibilities:

Start with your mission statement. This should be a clear and concise statement that defines your brand’s purpose and why it exists. The CEO or founder should lead this effort, but it’s important to involve other stakeholders in the process.
Identify your brand’s values. These are the principles and beliefs that guide your brand’s behavior and decision-making. This can be done through a workshop or survey with your team to identify the core values that define your brand.
Define your brand’s personality. This is the human characteristics and traits that your brand embodies. This can be done by identifying the adjectives that describe your brand and how it wants to be perceived by its customers.
Ensure consistency across all touchpoints. Your brand’s mission, values, and personality should be reflected in all aspects of your brand, including your logo, colors, typography, messaging, and customer experience.
Communicate your brand’s identity. Once you have defined your brand’s mission, values, and personality, it’s important to communicate it to your team, customers, and stakeholders. This can be done through brand guidelines, messaging documents, and training sessions.
Continuously evaluate and evolve your brand’s identity. Your brand’s mission, values, and personality should evolve as your business grows and changes. It’s important to regularly evaluate and update your brand’s identity to ensure it remains relevant and resonates with your target audience.

Best practices

Here are six best practices to keep in mind when defining your brand’s mission, values, and personality:

Be authentic. Your brand’s identity should be a true reflection of your business and its values.
Be clear and concise. Your mission statement should be easy to understand and memorable.
Be consistent. Your brand’s identity should be consistent across all touchpoints.
Be customer-centric. Your brand’s identity should be focused on your customers’ needs and wants.
Be flexible. Your brand’s identity should be adaptable to change and evolution.
Be creative. Your brand’s identity should be unique and stand out from your competitors.

Examples

Here are two potential examples for everyday small businesses:

A local bakery might have a mission statement of “To bring joy and happiness through delicious baked goods”, values of quality, community, and sustainability, and a brand personality that is warm, friendly, and inviting. This could be reflected in its logo, which might feature a smiling chef or a friendly animal, and its color scheme, which might include warm, inviting colors like yellow and orange.
A freelance graphic designer might have a mission statement of “To create beautiful, effective designs that help businesses succeed”, values of creativity, collaboration, and professionalism, and a brand personality that is creative, innovative, and approachable. This could be reflected in its logo, which might feature a stylized pencil or paintbrush, and its color scheme, which might include bold, vibrant colors like purple and green.