Create Your Brand Vision (Includes FREE Worksheet)

Brand Vision vs. Brand Mission

Don’t confuse your brand’s vision with your brand’s mission. While they may seem similar, they are indeed quite different.

Your vision should be a descriptive statement of your company’s ideal future, your mission should be the action statement that will make your vision a reality.

Defining Your Brand Vision

In this article, we will define what a brand vision should and shouldn’t be; why it's important for your company to have a brand vision; we will also share brand vision examples that we find inspiring, and provide you with a worksheet to help you create your own brand vision.

What a brand vision should and shouldn’t be

• Your brand vision should state the reason why you are in business, the future you are continuously striving for. Your brand vision should not focus on what your business does.
• Your brand vision should focus on the people you are helping. Your brand vision should not be all about you.
• Your brand vision should be what you want people to say about you and your impact on the community. Your brand vision should not be about monetary gain.
• Your brand vision should be positive, motivating, clearly stated, and concise. Your brand vision should not be a list of services and capabilities describing all aspects of your business.
• Your brand vision should be the force that drives everything your company does and why it matters. Your brand vision should not be simply a new look and tagline for your latest marketing campaign.
• Your brand vision should be challenging and optimistic, but you need to believe that you can do it. Your brand vision should not be far-fetched and unrealistic.
• Your brand vision should focus on a specific group of people. Your brand vision should not try to be everything to everyone.

“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.”

—Jack Welch

11 reasons why it is important for your company to have a brand vision.

1. Provides a picture of what your business will look like in the future.
2. Clarifies the direction in which your organization needs to move and keeps everyone pushing forward.
3. Gives people in your organization a greater sense of purpose. They will see themselves “building a cathedral” not just “chipping away at rocks.”
4. Establishes a long-term goal for you and your company that helps guide all of your future strategic business decisions.
5. Builds an organizational culture.
6. Attracts like-minded people to your brand.
7. Keeps your team focused and aligned on a shared future.
8. Reinforces positive behaviours and attitudes that are expected of the people that work in your organization.
9. Provides a filter to help you decide whether a new opportunity is a good or bad fit for your company.
10. Uncovers your hidden value and differentiates yourself from your competitors.
11. Creates consistency with your brand communications across all types of media.

“If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

—Antoine de Saint-Exupery

11 brand vision examples that we find inspiring.

1. “Advancing man’s capability to explore the heavens”. (NASA)
2. “To live in a healthy, honest and supportive world”. (Core Foods)
3. “To fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality”. (Hilton)
4. “Driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles”. (Tesla)
5. “To make sustainable living commonplace”. (Unilever)
6. “To provide access to the world’s information in one click”. (Google)
7. “To bring smart, connected devices to every person on earth”. (Intel)
8. “To help individuals and businesses realize their full potential”. (Microsoft)
9. “To leave a sustainable world for future generations”. (The Nature Conservancy)
10. “To make our oceans as rich, healthy and abundant as they once were”. (Oceana)
11. “Helping investors help themselves”. (Charles Schwab)

Brand Vision Templates

When crafting your brand vision it can be helpful to use the following templates. It's interesting to see how the inspiring examples from above fit into these structures.

Template 1

To (provide, give, create, make, etc…) a (healthy, happy, productive, safe, etc…) (world, place, dream, reality, existence, etc…) for (the group of people you want to help).

Template 2

(Providing, giving, creating, making, etc…) a (healthier, happier, more productive, safer, etc…) (world, place, dream, reality, existence, etc…) for (the group of people you want to help).

Brand Vision Worksheet

Create your brand vision with our step-by-step worksheet. You should expect to invest about 2 hours working on your brand vision. Compare this to the positive impact it can have on your company and it is easy to see that the time is well spent.

Download the Brand Vision Worksheet

Print out a copy for everyone that is participating in the brand vision exercise (instructions are included). Each person should fill out their own copy so you can compare answers later.

Hash it out with your team and refine your rough drafts into a single idealised sentence describing the good your company plans to do in the world. Remember to keep your final draft short so it will be easier to communicate and gain the commitment from others.

“Determine that the thing can and shall be done and then we shall find the way.”

—Abraham Lincoln

To be effective, your brand vision will require a lot of support. Your vision must become intertwined with every aspect of your organization's culture.

The leadership team within your organization is responsible for communicating your vision regularly. Most importantly, both short and long-term decisions made by your organization must support the objectives of your brand vision.