Getting Started

As you begin creating content, there are basic concepts about your company that you will need to know and understand. 

What is your mission? 
What is your vision?
What does your company do?
What are your differentiators?
Who is your target market?

Sometimes the answer to these questions can be difficult to simply define. Sometimes, easy. Often, you know the answers when you start your company, but you lose it through the process of creating the business. Now you have a great product or service, but need to figure out how to share its value. Understanding the basic compass of your company will help you create the proper messaging. 

These questions are always among the first that I ask my clients. This way, I have a clear understanding of the direction of the company before embarking on tactical tasks. It is very important that every action the company takes is supporting these statements. 

Here are a few quick tips to guide your answers: 

What is your mission statement? As defined by Google, “a mission statement is a formal summary of the aims and values of a company, organization, or individual. A good mission statement can surprise, inspire, and transform your business. They provide a clearly stated purpose of your business and the goals you have for succeeding. The best mission statements go hand-in-hand with corporate philosophy and culture and help guide a company from the present into the future.”

Example: Google: To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. 

What is your vision statement? “A vision statement is an inspirational statement of an idealistic emotional future of a company or group. Vision describes the basic human emotion that a founder intends to be experienced by the people the organization interacts with, it grounds the group so it can actualize some existential impact on the world.A mission statement is the roadmap for the company’s vision statement.”

Example: Google’s corporate vision is “to provide access to the world’s information in one click.”

What does your company do? With technology companies, this question can be hard to articulate. It is important to have an elevator pitch that clearly and simply states what you do. There are always details to consider and technical jargon to iron out, but you need a quick and easy statement that anyone can understand.

What are your differentiators? What makes your company/product/service ‘better’ than the competition? What do you do differently?

Who is your target market? Do you know exactly who you are trying to sell to? As specific as target personas or as broad as job position or type of company.