Share Your Mission and Vision
Episode #2 of the course How to quickly build your online authority by Vinay Koshy
We know that people love stories and that people identify with those who are like them, which is why origin stories connect with an audience. Consider, for example, Watsi and the story behind how it was formed. Founder Chase Adam started Watsi because he saw the need for people to access medical care in poor remote locations in the world. On a bus journey in Central America, he saw a woman asking her fellow passengers for donations to pay for her son’s medical procedure.
You can always demonstrate your expertise and performance, but to become an authority in your niche, you need to let people know why you do what you do, not just what you do.
If we are to inspire our audience, it is mandatory that we focus not only on what we do but also on why we choose to do it. Any blog that looms large over their market niches, with a mission that inspires the audience, is the secret to instant authority! Consider, for example, Copyblogger, I Quit Sugar, or Foundr magazine.
The Key Ingredient
The key ingredient to their success at building authority is expressing the mission they are on. Their audiences see that they really care about their subject matter, and that leads to a certain level of trust in what they’re putting forth.
Have you ever wondered why people still refer to the ad done by Apple in 1984? Or why Nike has grown into a worldwide phenomenon from simple shoes sold out of a trunk?
Your mission can create a movement that we can live for, and will grant an authority status to you as the expert behind it. Equally, this will be the reason your business will undergo evolution into an authority, something aspirational and bigger in your industry.
How to Make Your Brand Stand Out
Ask yourself these questions:
• What is your mission?
• What is your core message that you are compelled to share with us and the whole world?
• How different is your undertaking, as stated through your mission?
Pay attention to these questions, as their answers have the ability to lift your blog from a mere number-and-letter repository to an inspirational heartbeat of a movement. Even if you possess a wealth of skill and renown in your field, that is not a guarantee that your followers will always remember you; you need to create a movement through your mission.
The reason some firms have broken through in their markets is they created an inspirational and compelling mission statement. Consider the mission statements of the following firms:
• Google—to organize the world’s information and make it universally useful and available
• Starbucks—to inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time
Your mission statement is important in giving your audience and customers a sense of the driving force behind your brand, which in turn gives you an air of respectability and authority that you might not get for simply doing what you do without a mission statement.
So, how do you complement your mission with your vision to gain online authority?
According to JISC, the vision statement serves to aspire the audience. It tells us the organization type that your business is striving to become, along with the high-level objectives you wish to achieve.
Consider the Starbucks vision statement: “to establish Starbucks as a premier purveyor of the world’s finest coffee while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.”
Through this, Starbucks communicates its goals, such as becoming a leader in the provision of the finest coffee. While Starbucks can operate smoothly and continue to make profits, it has a vision that distinguishes it from the rest of the competitors, thus giving it a competitive edge and a chance to thrive.
This is the reason that your vision must complement your mission to transform your blog or website into an online authority that truly matters. Your vision will give you a sound basis on which you can prioritize and track your goals.
Tomorrow, we will focus on what helps build your online authority and audience: creating niche content.
Till then,
Vinay
Recommended book
Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising by Ryan Holiday
Share with friends