What an improved mission statement can do for a company’s image
Public relations professionals typically work with clients from various fields of practice. They work to keep clients in the news and build their image to both the media and a series of different publics. At the core of any company is its overarching mission and thus the core of any company’s image is its mission statement. If a client does not demonstrate a clear goal in their mission statement, it is vital for their public relations professional to help craft one for them.
Mission statements should not just express the services that a company provides but demonstrate a goal that the company is aspiring towards. A well crafted mission statement will express a higher level of thinking to the media and the public and therefore will improve a company’s image. The public does not want to just see what products or services that a business provides but they want to see that they are aspiring to something more.
Take a company like Patagonia for example. Their mission statement could just stop at something like “creating the highest quality outdoor clothing,” but instead they go well beyond that. They have implemented a plan to help improve the environmental crisis and have blended that goal into their mission statement. So when the public thinks of Patagonia, they do not just think of outdoor clothing but of environmental consciousness and that benefits their image more than any quality products can.
A higher level of thinking within a company’s mission also creates more flexibility for its public relations effort. It improves its social media content because rather than just displaying pictures of products or services, it can now post content that ties to the overall mission. Patagonia is not just stuck posting pictures of its newest coats but can publish content that relates to helping the environmental crisis. It also expands sponsorship opportunity as other businesses will be more likely to partner with a company who is thinking creatively and on a greater scale than just generating profit.
Image is what public relations pros are working to build for their clients and an image grows best when it goes beyond just products and services. Working with a client to set a higher goal and incorporating that into an improved mission statement can benefit its image in a variety of ways.