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The more you know: How to write a killer mission statement

Regardless if you are in the process of writing a business plan for your business or not, you need a mission statement.

A mission statement is a statement of purpose. It’s a sentence to use as a guide in making business decisions. Business owners and employees should be able to look at the company mission statement to help lead them in decision making.

Notice I said “sentence” above. A mission statement isn’t a paragraph or essay or several sentences. It is literally a sentence that explains several things in very few words.

A mission statement states why we exist and what our purpose is. It usually includes our business name, operational identity and our target market. Writing a mission statement doesn’t have to be hard though.

Answer these questions:

1-What is my business name?

2a-At the heart of it, what do we do? 2b-Why do we exist?

3-Who is our target market?

Mission Statement Template

(Business Name) (Action Verb) (What we Do) (Who we do it for).

Example: ALW Consulting provides Digital Marketing, Social Media Management, and LinkedIn Coaching for small & mid-sized businesses, self-employed individuals and online influencers.

We CAN get creative with the wording. It doesn’t have to be boring but it does have to get to the point pretty quickly.

Example Take 2.0: ALW Consulting gives small businesses, self-employed individuals and online influencers time back to devote to their business by handling the Digital Marketing, Social Media Management and LinkedIn Coaching each client needs.

They both say the same thing but one is a little more creative than the other.

Written by April Hearne, UA-PTC’s Chair of Business and Information Technology