What is brand vision, and why is it important?

Every company starts with a vision. The founders see a need in the market they want to fill. But not every vision is well-defined or properly acted on beyond that initial creative spark.

With a good brand vision, your company can easily identify and reach its goals, gain a positive reputation in the marketplace, and support sustainable growth.

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Brand vision and brand identity are two distinct concepts that play different roles in shaping a brand.

Brand vision is a long-term goal that guides the company’s direction. It encompasses the brand’s values and purpose. Meanwhile, brand identity refers to the elements that make up a brand’s image, including its name, logo, colors, typography, and more. A brand’s identity is how it presents itself to the world and how it wants to be differentiated.

The steps below will help you define the vision you have for your brand. Then, you’ll learn how to expand upon that and turn the vision into actionable steps.

1. Identifying brand values

The first step is to identify your brand’s core values. These are the values that guide your decision-making process.

Carry out a values assessment to help you determine the identity, values, and positioning that align with your brand’s purpose and company culture. Defining these values will help you outline the brand’s character and personality. These statements should be inspiring and honest. They should be positive about the impact your brand can make.

2. Defining your mission and vision statements

Your mission statement focuses on your brand’s values. It sets out the brand’s purpose, how it wants to be perceived, the reason it exists, and what it hopes to achieve.

A well-crafted mission statement will clarify the brand’s direction and help inform decisions. It should provide a clear picture of where your brand wants to go and what it wants to be known for.

3. Understanding your current position

Your company’s vision is its long-term goals and directions, so it’s essential to have a realistic understanding of where you’re starting from.

Assess your brand’s strengths and weaknesses as well as its opportunities and threats. By understanding these issues and your brand’s position in the market, you can set realistic goals for your brand vision.

4. Deciding where you want to go

Now you can start crafting your brand’s vision. Use the information you’ve gathered up until this point to determine the long-term goal you’d like your brand to achieve. The goals should be ambitious enough to drive you forward but not so unrealistic that you’re set up for failure.

Consider your desired market position, target audience, and competitive advantage to help you set the clearest and most beneficial direction.

5. Planning and taking action

Develop an action plan outlining the steps you must take to achieve your brand vision. This strategy should align with the values, mission, and vision you’ve already outlined. It should include the specific objectives, timelines, and key metrics you’ll use to measure your success. By putting the vision into action, you’ll be able to identify any areas that need tweaking.

This section explains how you can move forward with your brand vision. You’ll learn how to use the vision statement to plan your company’s future and take action on the insights the vision provides.

Creating your brand vision with vision statements

The vision statement is the heart and soul of your brand’s vision. It should be compelling and capture your brand’s aspirations and desired outcomes. If you create a good vision statement, you’ll be able to turn to it for inspiration and guidance on business decisions.

Here’s what a vision statement should be like:

• Clear and concise: the statement should be easy to read and understand. The target audience should be as broad as possible to inspire those from all areas of your company. Keep it as short as possible while still capturing your vision and detailing what sets you apart from competitors.

• Aspirational: write the vision in a way that will inspire those who read it to live up to the values it represents. The vision statement describes your company’s future. Make sure it’s exciting, emotionally compelling, and achievable so people want to work toward it.

• Aligned with your values and mission: the purpose of your vision statement is to guide you in your goals. As such, it should align with your brand’s values and mission. This way, when people refer to it for guidance, you can be sure their takeaways keep the company moving in the right direction.

• Memorable: your vision statement must be memorable for people to recall it easily and communicate it to others. People should ideally be able to refer back to their memory of it whenever they need guidance.

• Inclusive: your vision statement should inspire everybody involved with your company—internally and externally. It should be inclusive and reflect the diversity of your team and customers. Craft a statement that serves as a unifying force to bring people with different backgrounds and perspectives together to work toward a common goal.

Diagnosing your current position

You already conducted a simple analysis of your current position when you defined your vision. Now it’s time to take a more in-depth look at where you are currently. More specifically, you’re looking at where you are compared to where you want to be.

This assessment should be more comprehensive than the previous one. You should include customer feedback, market trends, and competitor analysis. Determine where the gaps are between your current position and your desired outcome.

Enacting your brand strategy to reach your brand vision

Detail the specific tactics and initiatives you’ll use to guide your brand toward its destination. Try to create a strategy that will set you apart from competitors. Identify your target customers and craft your strategy around the best ways to reach the specific people you want to sell to.

You can’t just assume your brand strategy is working. Regularly evaluate the metrics you’ve identified to ensure you’re making progress. If a metric isn’t keeping pace with your targets, make adjustments to keep your vision on track.

Remember that your brand vision and identity statement are for everyone. Your entire staff needs to be on board with it if your brand is going to stay on track. Regularly communicating about updates and progress can help build excitement among your team and stakeholders.

Finally, you need to understand that a brand vision must be flexible. Companies must be agile to keep up with evolving market conditions and customer needs. A brand vision needs to be written in a way that allows it to accommodate these changing needs without constantly being rewritten.

Looking at brand statements from big brands can help you understand what a good brand vision statement looks like.

Nike

“To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”

In its vision statement, Nike clearly outlines its focus on inspiring athletes. Notice how the company focuses on inclusivity. They say they want to inspire every athlete, from people playing sports in their backyard to professional athletes, regardless of their location or background.

Tesla

“To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

This statement might be succinct, but it contains a lot of information. It highlights Tesla’s commitment to sustainability and helping the world transition away from fossil fuels. In mentioning the desire to accelerate this transition, it also highlights the focus on innovation that has made Tesla a leader in the field.

BMW

“To be the world’s leading provider of premium products and premium services for individual mobility.”

As a luxury brand, it’s not surprising that BMW focuses on premium quality. Notice how they drive this idea home by using the word twice. The focus on individual mobility shows this commitment extends to each customer.

Amazon

“To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”

This statement is longer than the others but provides important clues about how Amazon views itself. Notice they say “Earth’s most,” showing they’re not content just to be the best ecommerce company—they want to be the best. The use of the word “anything” also shows their commitment to being a true one-stop shop.