Brand Vision

Imagine getting into the passenger seat of a car…

And the driver doesn’t have a clear idea of where they are going.

How would you feel?

This is how your customers, clients, employees all feel if you don’t have a strong, clear brand vision.

You’re in the driving seat. You are in control of the customer journey, steering them in the direction you choose.

Your brand vision is that direction; it’s where you’re going as a company and you need to make that clear for your customers, too.

Your brand vision steers the way for your brand and business. It’s the foundational roadmap for where you are as a company and where you want to be. The brand vision is summarized in a vision statement. But it’s more than just a statement. It’s one of the most important layers of your business foundation.

Do you know why vision is so important?

Vision matters because it’s up to you to paint a clear focused picture, rather than your clients painting one for themselves. If you’re not sure the direction your business is headed, how will you build, grow, and engage with your audience?

Your brand vision gives you focus but also gives your customers, clients, and employees an understanding of how you got to where you are and where you are going.

The ingredients in a strong brand vision include awareness of where you are, where you’re going, and why.

Let’s break this down a bit further.

Where you are right now is part of your vision because you can’t move ahead without being clear on where you are. You also can’t move ahead without knowing what obstacles and challenges are holding you back or need to be addressed.

You do not want to be that company with a murky vision, they’re like a boat without direction; lost at sea.

A clear, focused brand vision:

• It is the backbone of your branding and marketing strategy.
• Represents where you’re going
• Tells a concise, meaningful story of what customers and team members (and even investors) can expect
• All of this helps your customer, client, employee, and partner engagement.

Now let’s look at a few key examples of well-known, relatable brands:

1. IKEA

The IKEA group currently owns 276 stores in 25 countries and growing.

Their vision, as displayed on their website: “Our vision is to create a better everyday life for many people. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.”

If we take a close look at the first sentence, it tells us right there how clear their mission and vision is. It spells it right out, and we don’t even need to go further. They make simple furniture for everyday purposes and everyday life. This is also clear from their products, marketing, and all communication.

This works so well because their vision is centered around the simplicity and reliability of their products. Their vision statement sums up their values, their community (clients, customers, employees), and where they’re going.

2. TED

Their vision statement as displayed on their main website: ‘Spread ideas’.

This is their mission and vision. It’s an outstanding example of ‘less is more’.

It sounds so simple. And it is. But it’s packed with meaning.

Their vision is to help shape a world where people spread ideas continuously and freely. They fuel this future vison by hosting worldwide platforms for people to do just that: spread their ideas through short talks and speeches.

They don’t complicate their vision with specifics and details on the types of ideas they want to spread. Instead, they reinforce their ethos that ideas should be free by keeping their vision statement free of constraints and specifications.

This also leaves room for their audience to dictate and feedback what’s of most interest to them. This is the intention. This is what TED is all about.

Mission accomplished; a simple vision that packs a potentially world-changing punch.

We can study these brands to get a good idea of a strong, clear company vision.

If you don’t have rock-solid confidence in your vision, and how it is communicated, take a step back to get clear now.

Whether you hire an agency, like Jones Lane or do the work yourself, there is no better time than right now to start creating and communicating a clear, strong, focused vision for your brand. It’ll shape how you do business now and in the future.