Your brand is much more than just the product or service your company provides; it encapsulates the value you offer and differentiates you from competitors. It also reflects your company’s personality, evident in your content and culture. A key element of branding, the vision statement, communicates all of this and more.

This guide covers everything you need to know about crafting an effective vision statement for your company and putting it into action.

We’ll explore:

• What a vision statement is
• The difference between a mission and a vision statement
• How to write a vision statement

To inspire you to create a company with a larger impact, we’ll also share some of our favorite vision statement examples.

A vision statement outlines your company’s long-term objectives. An effective vision statement illustrates the broader impact of your daily work. A truly exceptional one achieves all this while inspiring your employees, customers, and community to support your vision.

We’ll break down how to create a great vision statement for your company.

While important, the distinction between a mission and a vision statement is simple: Your vision is the outcome of your mission.

Your vision statement is part of a larger brand identity that includes your mission statement and company values. Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Your mission statement defines your actions, target audience, methods, and significance.
• Your vision statement outlines your long-term goals and the effects of achieving your mission.
• Your values are the guiding principles and beliefs that your brand embodies.

Therefore, your vision statement should be the natural outcome of fulfilling your mission statement. By pursuing your mission, your company will achieve your brand’s long-term, bigger-picture vision for your customers, and potentially even society as a whole.

This distinction is crucial, especially given the frequent confusion between mission and vision statements. Ensure you’re expressing this clearly to your employees and customers.

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Now that we understand what a vision statement is and its importance, let’s start creating yours.

1. Think Big

Start by brainstorming. Your goal is to draft a compelling vision statement that captures your company’s long-term goals and the impact of achieving them, inspiring your customers, employees, and community.

Here are some questions to get you started:

• What change do you envision your business bringing to your customers? To the world?
• How do your product or service help customers? What would happen if everyone became your customer?
• How does the value you provide impact your customers’ lives? How about society?
• What does success look like for your business in 10 years? What about for your customers?

Answer these questions to identify your business’s broader impact. Don’t censor yourself; consider ambitious goals like addressing the housing crisis or improving access to healthcare. Remember, this is your long-term vision, not an immediate promise.

2. Connect to your mission

While forward-looking, your vision statement should logically connect to your current operations. This is where aligning with your mission statement comes in.

Once you’ve identified several key themes, compare them to your mission statement. Does achieving your mission contribute to realizing these larger goals?

Let’s look at an example. LinkedIn’s vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Its mission is to connect professionals globally to enhance their productivity and success.

Despite being broad and ambitious, the vision remains connected to the mission. Connecting all professionals and fostering productivity and success can lead to creating economic opportunities for the global workforce.

Remember, your vision doesn’t need to be an immediate outcome of your mission, but it should be related.

3. Inject Emotion

Your vision’s scope should be inspiring, but compelling copywriting is still crucial. Once you’ve established your long-term goal(s) and their impact, it’s time for refinement.

When choosing words for your vision statement, aim to evoke an emotional response.

Image source The emotional response should be positive and motivating. Beyond that, whether you aim to inspire joy, action, tranquility, or another emotion depends on your brand. Once you’ve determined the desired emotional response, choose your words accordingly.

Free guide >> The 120 Best Words & Phrases for Marketing with Emotion

4. Keep it Concise

Your vision statement should be one or two sentences maximum. While creating a longer internal document outlining your vision for your leadership team or board can be beneficial, that shouldn’t be the marketing copy used for branding.

Keep it short, simple, and easy to understand. This allows everyone to grasp, remember, and connect with your vision.

5. Share it Widely

Your vision statement is fundamental marketing copy. Leverage it for your company culture, customer marketing, and even prospective employees.

Incorporate your vision statement into your employer branding, including your career page and company descriptions. LinkedIn found that a strong corporate brand can reduce cost-per-hire by more than 50%.

Don’t limit sharing to external audiences. Your employees, who work towards the company mission daily, are also contributing to the path of your vision. Communicate this clearly.

Starting with a blank page can be daunting, with too many options and not enough direction. That’s where examples become invaluable for brainstorming and copywriting.

Here are 11 exceptional vision statement examples to serve as models, guides, and inspiration for writing your own.

1. Shopify

Shopify’s vision statement is concise and to the point: “Make commerce better for everyone, so businesses can focus on what they do best: building and selling their products.”

Image source Despite its straightforwardness (and direct link to its mission statement to “Make commerce better for everyone”), the statement still conveys a significant and appealing goal. We’ve all experienced clunky commerce interactions, from failed transactions to impossible return processes.

This makes its structure a great template: Make [blank] better for [blank], so that [blank].

Fill in the blanks to craft your own vision statement or even just to get started.

2. Zoom

Zoom has a powerful vision statement: “Communications empowering people to accomplish more.”

The ubiquitous video meeting platform effectively communicates how its vision aligns with its brand identity.

Image source Unsurprisingly, a communication-focused company can articulate this so effectively.

3. Lego

Lego’s vision statement is simple and joyful: “A global force of learning through play.”

This toy company uses its vision statement to frame its impact reporting. Their Lego Foundation is “reaching more children with learning through play,” and they share progress updates on this goal.

Lego’s branding is consistently playful, and using its vision statement in action extends this. It also effectively demonstrates that a vision statement isn’t just an aspirational goal but the tangible outcome of fulfilling your mission.

4. Drift

Drift’s vision is clear: “A world where people are free to have a conversation with any business, at any time, on their terms.”

Image source Drift’s chatbots enable businesses to address inquiries and engage with customers or prospects at any time. The vision statement shifts the focus from the value proposition for businesses to the benefit for us as customers. No more waiting for business hours to call with questions.

5. Labster

Labster, an educational platform offering virtual labs and science simulations, states its vision as: “To make science education accessible to any student with an internet connection and a laptop. To help teachers educate and empower the next generation of scientists to change the world.”

Image source This statement resonates with both of Labster’s key user groups: students and teachers. Additionally, it highlights the limitless potential impact on everyone if future generations receive quality science education. Truly inspiring.

6. Coded Minds

Coded Minds, an edtech startup, has a concise but impactful vision statement: “To be the revolutionary platform of choice for educating the next generation of leaders in the 21st century.”

Image source This example effectively outlines the company’s long-term goals. The mission is what the company does, the vision is the desired outcome, and the values highlight its importance.

This exemplifies the simple but significant impact of defining your mission, vision, and values.

7. Zendesk

Zendesk’s slogan positions the company as a champion of customer service. Their vision is the ultimate outcome of advocating for universal customer service: a global economy fueled by lifelong customers.

Image source Zendesk firmly believes in the importance of customer service and its impact on everyone. Like Drift, Zendesk recognizes that we are all consumers interacting with businesses and often requiring support. By championing customer service, Zendesk empowers businesses to better serve their customers. Ultimately, by enhancing consumer experiences, they contribute to building the economy. While ambitious, the vision logically follows their mission.

8. Alltech

Alltech develops agricultural products that assist farmers in raising livestock and crops to feed the world. Their vision statement explains why: “We firmly believe agriculture has the greatest potential to shape the future of our planet.”

Image source This inspiring vision is particularly motivating for purpose-driven individuals. It serves as a reminder that their daily work in offices and labs contributes not only to feeding the world but also shaping the planet’s future. A compelling reason to join a company.

9. Nike

Nike’s marketing is consistently sharp and energetic, and their vision statement is no different: “We see a world where everybody is an athlete—united in the joy of movement.”

Image source The core message that everyone is an athlete resonates with the rest of Nike’s branding. The second part emphasizes the power of embracing this shared identity: Unity.

10. Billie

Billie’s vision extends beyond razors and highlights a greater purpose: “We want to undo the unfair social pressures women face, starting with double standards around shaving and bodycare, and celebrate the infinite ways women can look, feel, and be in the world.”

Image source Impressively, this purpose is reflected throughout their website and product copy. They don’t just state their long-term goals; they consistently reinforce them.

11. Ikea

Ikea might be known for its flat-pack furniture, but their vision statement focuses on something more: “To create a better everyday life for the many people.”

Image source While seemingly vague, it’s actually quite broad. Ikea’s vision statement captures the significant impact that affordable, quality furniture can have: improving people’s lives.

Furthermore, it allows the company to expand beyond furniture in the future, a valuable strategy to consider for your own vision statement.

Start writing your business’s vision statement

These examples demonstrate that your vision statement doesn’t need to be complex or lengthy. Instead, it should effectively communicate your business’s long-term purpose and aspirations. Now, draw inspiration from these examples and follow the step-by-step guide to begin drafting your own vision statement. Good luck!