The importance of purpose, mission and vision statements
Over the past year, FF&M’s MD Juliet Fallowfield has been writing a bi-monthly guest column for Retail Jeweller. In this column, discover Juliet’s thoughts on why knowing your target audiences is key for storytelling success.
B Corp UK now records over 2,000 certified businesses in the UK. With a steady growth in submissions and certifications across both product and service sectors, it is becoming widely recognised that putting people and planet above profit is the way forward when conducting business.
Consumers today expect businesses to offer more than just a commodity. Brands are becoming publishers with social media and branded podcasts creating ‘owned’ platform content that can help build a community with an ethical purpose behind it. Business owners genuinely want their businesses to be forces for good and B Corp ensures this through rigorous auditing. At the time of writing, FF&M has just achieved B Corp Certification. Having taken 9 months and over 70 hours, I can personally attest it isn't a bought accolade.
So what is the importance of purpose, mission and vision statements for jewellery brands? Bain & Company state that ‘these statements explain why a company exists, how it plans to achieve its goals, and what the business will ultimately achieve.
-A Purpose Statement is an explanation of the company’s motivations and reasons for being, and why it works the way it does.
-A Mission Statement is a definition of the company’s business, who it serves, what it does, its objectives, and its approach to reaching those objectives.
-A Vision Statement is a description of the desired future state of the company. An effective vision inspires the team, showing them how success will look and feel.’
Until recently mission and vision statements were commonly defined when setting up a company. However, it is the purpose statement that has risen to the top of consumers’ concerns. This is especially the case in the jewellery sector where customers are presented with so much choice and are more concerned than ever before about ethicality and environmental responsibility.
From training brands to own their PR in-house, we know time spent on outputs that bring a return is every business owner’s north star. However, we have all gone down rabbit holes on various tasks that we should’ve cut our loses on a lot sooner, so I encourage you to find efficiencies and economies of scale from the start.
Defining your purpose, mission and vision can support decision-making across all areas of your jewellery business, differentiate your brand in a crowded landscape plus attract clients who resonate with the company’s values. This allows you to focus your attention on what will drive a return and quickly assess the relevance of an opportunity for your brand.
From your brand identity and tone of voice, to who your target clients are and therefore your press targets, to building your company culture and helping attract and recruit the right people, knowing the crux of what you’re trying to achieve will support all your hard work. In jewellery, this work can help push creative boundaries, challenge material supply chains and ensure you’re always thinking innovatively.
It will also help you say no to things that don’t align with your purpose, mission and vision, providing you with a framework in which to authentically operate.
Purpose, mission and vision all work best when they intersect and reinforce each other. We know it can be challenging to define this so feel free to get in touch if you’d like to discuss ideas on this.
Fallow, Field & Mason is a B Corp Certified PR, communications and podcast production consultancy enabling businesses to master their own PR in-house. Believing that founders and creative directors are their own best storytellers, FF&M offers a series of fixed priced modules to optimise brands’ communications so they can confidently tell their story to their key audiences, building greater brand awareness and ultimately driving revenue.
Juliet is also the host of the Apple charting podcast: How To Start Up, the entrepreneur’s ultimate handbook.