STEP 7

MISSION STATEMENT

I wrote up my mission statement for my new web based business.

To do this i needed some specific information which was harder to come by than i first thought would be.

I had to find out EXACTLY what i was selling?

(Surely you'd think i would know already?)

You see nobody actually sells a product! What you are selling is an emotion!

ASK YOURSELF THESE VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO FIND YOUR PRODUCT

• Why would someone buy this product?
• What do they think they want?
• How must they feel to want this?
• Therefore what emotional need are they trying to fulfill?
• How does my product relate to this?
• Can i fill that emotional need?
• What other products would fill this need?

EXAMPLE

PRODUCT: Anti wrinkle cream

• To hopefully erase wrinkles or at least soften them
• To look more youthful
• Unrecognised, less attractive, lost youth
• The need to be recognised, to be wanted physically
• The cream would make them believe they were more youthful looking
• Yes by giving back a feeling of youth
• Many, varied but based on youth.

MARKETING STRAGEDY:

• Use of youthful images, lifestyle,
• Use specific words relating to youth
• Target other industries relating to youth for example gyms

and the list goes on.

As you can see by asking questions you find more questions needing to be answered.

In the above example a lady wanting an anti wrinkle cream is more than likely trying to recapture a youthful appearance. In todays world youth is like gold! Wanted, craved by all now wether or not we agree with this is irrelavant. All we need to know is WHY she buys this particular cream? What does she hope to achieve with it? And theirin lies the key to selling the product.

FULLFILL THE NEED NOT THE WANT

How does this relate back to my mission statement?

I needed to find out the needs of my primary customer to be able to understand what it was i was trying to sell. Knowing the need rather than the product means you can comunicate at an emotional level with your customers and better understand how to service those needs.

My mission statement tells the story of who my business is, what we sell (the emotion) and how we best hope to achieve this. It is a personal thing and must tie in with the beliefs, values and long term goals of the business.

My partner and myself have written a personal mission statements as well as the business one and therefore we will be able to follow this blueprint to the business a lot better being that it is based on us and our desires.