Tag Archives: Messaging

by | November 30, 2012 · 12:25 pm

Messaging my Own Company – a Lesson Learned

Messaging and positioning, defining a company story, mission statement, vision statementSince launching SAJE in 2006, I’ve gone through a few messaging revamps. I haven’t done this because I got it “wrong” in the early days, I quite simply started out focused on one area – messaging and positioning. But I’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t work full time on this – there just doesn’t seem to be enough demand in Asia Pacific – even though I believe there should be. However, in the last two years, SAJE has evolved into an Inbound Marketing or Content Marketing Agency as well – both the strategy and the content delivery. As this industry has evolved and started to mature, it just made sense to align our business within it. It was like this new industry was created just for SAJE, but someone else came up with a better name for the services.

However, there has been a significant challenge in the mix for us these last two years. The content marketing is MY side of the business, whereas the other director, Steve Johnson, is focused on sales and marketing strategies for Asia Pacific, with a focus on technical marketing, as well as setting up effective distributor partnerships in the region.

While both skill-sets are very complementary, it has been challenging coming up with the language (or the words) to really define what SAJE is at a basic level – the sort of description everyone understands and can be easily created into an elevator pitch. Many companies go through this in the early days, because it is not always clear cut when you start out. You can often see industry trends coming along (such as the Inbound Marketing revolution in my case) or you notice that one aspect of your business is cracking and two other areas just don’t generate any interest at all. When that happens, you need to refocus on what is working, because your customers are telling you where you’ve got it right. In this case, the customer is definitely right.

When that happens, you’ve got to go back to the drawing board and redefine who you are and what you mean to the world. The challenge is, are you the best person to do it? I don’t know the answer to that, because here’s my quandary.

I offer this as a service in my business. I do it with companies great and small – whether it’s redefining the whole company positioning, a product or service messaging, or ensuring the story is relevant to target vertical markets. I think I’m pretty good at this :) and my customer feedback along the way has verified that, but when it comes to my own company – man oh man it’s been hard!

So is that a lesson for all? Someone (as in me) who knows exactly how to do this stuff and yet I struggle when doing it for my own company? It leads me to think that perhaps we aren’t well equipped to do this ourselves because we’re too close to it? Therefore, as a lesson learnt by someone who specializes in this work, perhaps if you’re struggling to get your voice heard in your competitive market, bring in an outsider who can look at your business with fresh eyes?

I know I could do with some fresh eyes on my words – in fact, maybe you could be those fresh eyes? Here are my new words to describe SAJE – have I got it right? And please, don’t look at the design. That’s just not one of my strengths at all.

As a final point – my job got easier recently. Steve is now engaged full-time with two companies doing what he does best – setting up a distributor network for a heavily technical business across Asia Pacific – which means I can take his services out of the SAJE story. Phew. That makes refining my company story a lot easier.  Maybe we should never have tried to bring the two together? But the skills were definitely complementary, it was the positioning it together as an easy-to-understand-company-story that was not.

I look forward to your feedback on my new company story if you can spare the time? It’s not long I promise and I’d sure appreciate it!

Cheers

Andrea

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by | November 6, 2012 · 1:07 pm

Softbank 30 Year Vision – An Asian Lesson

SoftBank Corporation is a Japanese headquartered telecommunications and Internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, Internet, finance, and much much more. Established in Japan in 1981, its market capitalization in 2011 was more than US$43 billion. It’s a global player and recently gained the media spotlight with its 70 percent acquisition of US telco Sprint. SoftBank LogoI was recently reviewing its Website for content and thought it is a fantastic example to share on how Asian businesses do messaging differently. Having worked with companies on messaging in Europe, the US and across Asia, one thing is very clear:

  • The US leads with boldness
  • Europe is a little less bold but has learned from the Americans
  • ANZ follows the US-style but tend to be less formal
  • and Asians go about this idea in a whole different way

My take-away for companies operating globally and focusing on growth in the Asia Pacific region – the bold, pushy statements we have all come to know and love (or not) actually make a lot of business people in Asia squirm in their seats.

Business people in this region don’t like words and phrases if they do not resonate with the truth. This has been a big lesson for me as I work across multiple cultures in Asia Pacific, because when I am proposing words like ‘trail-blazing’ or ‘thought leadership’ or ‘world-class’ or even ‘great,’ anything I suggest had better resonate with the truth or I am politely told to tone it down. It’s taught me to ask up front – are we going to be bold or would you prefer to be understated?

But it’s more than words and phrases, it is also sentiment and SoftBank is a great example of this. On its Website, it asks the question – “What does happiness mean?

“Different people will give different answers: to love and be loved; to live each day to the full; to express oneself or; to smile.”

Can you think of the last time you saw the word love or happiness on a B2B Website?

Continuing with its philosophy – “SoftBank believes happiness is a form of inspiration. Why is the Group engaged in its business and what does it aim to achieve? To bring happiness and give inspiration to people — a vision that has guided SoftBank since its founding and is encapsulated in its corporate philosophy.”

“SoftBank believes that the performance of computers has increased rapidly and humanity is facing its own ‘big bang’ — an era of ultra-powerful computers that will usher in an Information Revolution of unlimited potential. It is vital that this transformation be brought about in the right way, so that it adds happiness to humanity. Since its founding, SoftBank has sought to use the Information Revolution to contribute to the wellbeing of people and society.”

But SoftBank also has a 30-year vision – I don’t think I have ever seen any company with a 30 year vision – have you?

“Our 30-Year Vision is a driving force for the Group as it continues to pursue growth: becoming a corporate group needed most by people around the world.

“This long-term vision aims for the SoftBank Group to contribute to peoples’ happiness through the Information Revolution for the next 30 years.”

I just found this messaging really insightful in regards to how differently Asian business think and position their companies, let alone the fact they’ve put a stake in the ground for the next 30 years. That alone is amazing. Truth, empathy, humanity, sincerity and more, are important in Asia and it’s a great lesson in being more sensitive when marketing across this vast region. When you pay attention to the global companies coming out of Asia, they really do go about business in a very different way, and while it can be more understated than the US and EMEA counterparts, it is still very successful. They just don’t embrace the flashy ‘stuff.’

Something to keep in mind when working on messaging for any company that positions itself for the global market.

Can you think of any other great examples of Asian messaging you can share?

Cheers

Andrea

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by | October 2, 2012 · 2:24 pm

Facebook Corporate Values

I’ve been undertaking extensive research on corporate values across companies all over the world – large and small. This is for an ebook I’m putting together on messaging, and while I have no idea where I’ll publish it just yet, it’s been a really interesting process contrasting and comparing the biggest brands in the world on such a massive scale, across multiple sectors. Some companies have awesome, deeply meaningful corporate values (with tech/digital companies standing out), but many companies remain very weak in this area, some with no values at all.

Facebook is definitely an awesome example, and when you read its Values and watch the employee videos, it’s definitely something that feels true and motivating – which is exactly what Values should be. You can find this information on Facebook’s career page.

Values are the core of corporate culture – small or large – and it’s the qualities, customs, standards, and principles that drives the business, as well as its employees belief in the company’s direction – all culminating to ensure the company AND its employees succeed. In fact, Steve Jobs is better at explaining this in a way that will resonate. Check out this old video, filmed when Steve Jobs returned to Apple and launched the “Think Different” campaign. As he says, the Core Values should never change, and he famously and very successfully realigned Apple back to focus on its original Values as its driving force.

Facebook Values

Working at Facebook means doing what you love. We hire trailblazers, hackers and pioneers. We want people who can solve challenging problems, make a real impact and build something big. You should join us.

We don’t have rules. We have values.

Focus on Impact

To have the biggest impact, we need to focus on solving the most important problems. It sounds simple, but most companies do this poorly and waste a lot of time. We expect everyone at Facebook to be good at finding the biggest problems to work on.

Move Fast

We have a saying: “Move fast and break things.” The idea is that if you never break anything, you’re probably not moving fast enough. At Facebook, we’re less afraid of making mistakes than we are of losing opportunities.

Be Bold

We have another saying: “The riskiest thing is to take no risks.” In a world that’s changing so quickly, you’re guaranteed to fail if you don’t take any risks. We encourage everyone to make bold decisions, even if that means being wrong some of the time.

Be Open

We believe that a more open world is a better world. The same goes for our company. Informed people make better decisions and have a greater impact, which is why we work hard to make sure everyone at Facebook has access to as much information about the company as possible.

Build Social Value

Facebook was created to make the world more open and connected, not just to build a company. We expect everyone at Facebook to focus every day on how to build real value for the world in everything they do.

Facebook goes onto elaborate about the sort of people they want, and its commitment to encouraging people to be themselves:

When we say “be yourself,” we mean it.

At Facebook, we value diversity on an individual level. We’re dedicated to creating an environment where people can be their authentic selves and share their own diverse backgrounds, experiences, perspectives and ideas.

I found Facebook’s Values honest and inspiring. Additionally, because of the negative media coverage recently, they stand out because it demonstrates that Facebook is a future-focused company. If they stick to and embrace these values, I am sure the company will make it through its current period of negative publicity.

As a reminder, when creating Corporate Values, they need to be:

  • Personified within the business from the top down – if C-level execs do not embody them, they will be dismissed as irrelevant
  • The business drivers that help a company stand out in a competitive market
  • Considered more important than making profits – because profit should follow if the values are held true
  • The core of your recruitment process – hire and fire based on how a person fits within the corporate values – if they fit, they’re in, if they don’t, they’re out
  • The cornerstone of corporate culture – look at any successful business and you’ll see that corporate culture is the key to success. Therefore if it’s a stern and serious business, the values should reflect that, if it’s fun and youthful, they should reflect that, or if it’s customer driven, make sure your employees are too
  • Reflected in all you do and your employees should willingly embrace them, that’s how you get a corporate culture that delivers success

I found lots of great company Values and will share the highlights as I go. In the meantime, what company do you think has the best Corporate Values? What company has the worst or none at all?

Cheers

Andrea

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by | September 27, 2012 · 1:14 pm

How Many Characters for Social Media Business Pages?

characters allowed on social media business pagesI’ve just spent a great deal of time researching the number of characters allowed on the business pages for the significant social media sites. I have been looking for content limits for the “About” section, and while this is not the only opportunity to tell your story on a profile page – with headings and banners requiring attention and creativity to maximize potential – it was not easy to find answers to this question.

Actually, in most cases, I found the number of characters by physically going to each site and passing the limit, rather than finding the answers online. To say it’s been a little bit frustrating is an understatement, so here’s hoping you find my blog if you’re looking for this information, and you don’t have to go through the same time consuming process.

The reason I was looking for it? I’ve recently worked with a company to reposition it top-to-bottom. Now that the content is finalised and the Website updated, the next step is to identify which social media channels the company should be present on. Together we’ve identified the social media sites below as being relevant, mainly based on my rule – join the sites where your customers are actively engaging in conversation, and sites that are good for business and SEO – such as Google+. By the way, every business should be active on G+ from an SEO perspective.

When a company needs to update multiple social channels with company content – which many are doing right now - it’s pretty handy to know how much information can be included in advance. If you know how much space you have, all you need to do is locate the most recent content to ensure consistent messaging across the Web, trim it down to fit (if necessary), and then include the most important information – because there’s just not enough space for everything. It’s definitely an exercise in focus, because you are forced to sharpen your message to fit within the character limits.

The sites I’ve covered are: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Quora, SlideShare and Google+. There are many others, but this is a good starting point.

LinkedIn

1,500 characters – and remember spaces are counted as characters for all social media sites. LinkedIn has different sections where you can build out your story, such as products/services, so ensure the corporate content is focused and doesn’t overlap into products/services, otherwise you’re just wasting this valuable content real estate. Also, once you have your final company content up on LinkedIn, send it to all of your employees and ask them to update their personal profiles with the same company information. Consistency is good.

Twitter

160 characters, although there’s now a banner for Twitter, so make sure you maximize this space too.

Facebook

I was unable to find the exact information, so I put in 4,000 characters as an experiment and it accepted the content. I then put in 10,000 characters, and it accepted this too. I think a good rule of thumb would be to aim for a single page view. This example from Samsung Singapore is a good example of single page use-age and it’s about 1,500 characters.

However, Facebook has another About section, which is featured at the very top of a company Facebook page and it takes 255 characters. Make sure this is impactful content with links to your Website, blog, quotes, snappy statements, etc… because this is your chance to make a first impression! Don’t forget the banner potential too, but be sure to check in on Facebook for the rules. Everything is not OK.

Pinterest

The About section in your profile is 200 characters.

For a Board, you get 500 characters to explain what it’s about.

Quora

The best I could find is 596 – a Q&A on Quora itself.

SlideShare

700 characters in the About section.

character length for social media business pagesGoogle

Even though I’m active on G+, I don’t have a G+ business page yet – something I need to do I know. However, another challenge I’ve faced this week is Google+ is having a few issues (is it just me?), so the task of setting up a business page to work out how many characters I can include, while it might fall over at any moment, is not appealing.

Therefore, I don’t know the exact number of characters a G+ page allows, although typically, it is more than the other social sites seem to allow. If anyone knows absolutely – can you please tell me? I’ve spent too much time searching for this information, with no result forthcoming. More than all the others, this has been very frustrating and surprising!

This link doesn’t provide the answer but it has some pretty detailed background if you want to set up a page on Google+.

I sincerely hope I’ve helped if you’re looking for this information and that it enables you to do all of your company pages in one go. Knowing how much content you can include, so you can prepare in advance, definitely makes it easier.

If you happen to know the G+ limit, I’d sure appreciate you sharing it? Also any other significant social media sites I’ve missed that you’re familiar with?

Cheers

Andrea

BTW you can like our Facebook page if you’re interested in what we have to say!

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by | September 20, 2012 · 12:00 pm

Anyone Know Someone who Works at Apple?

A quick blog today – phew huh? I’m wondering if someone can make an introduction, just because I want to be 100 percent sure I’m sharing the right information? You see, the majority of searches that land on my site are interested in understanding things like the difference between a vision and mission statement, so I’ve done a few blogs on this topic to help those interested. However, one specific search that has landed on my blog around 1,600 times and growing (that’s a lot for my site), is a specific search for Apple’s Mission Statement. It’s one of the greatest brands in the world, so I’m not surprised in the level of interest.

In two previous blogs here and here, I suggested Apple’s Mission statement is this:

“Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.”

I got this directly from Apple’s Website in a previous search, although more recently I was not able to find it, and today couldn’t find it again. As an example of a Mission Statement, it’s not great because it has no future focus and I was surprised when I originally found it – because, let’s face it, Apple is a messaging machine. Therefore, I’m really keen to know if this is the right Mission Statement?

People are obviously interested, and whether that is students, potential employees or professionals looking for inspiration, I’d sure appreciate someone from Apple marketing coming back to me, confirming if this is correct, or perhaps there is a newer one? I know my readers would be appreciative of a confirmation as well.

So if you know of someone who works at Apple, would you mind passing this on? I’m not having any luck in my direct outreach to Apple because I don’t actually know anyone who works there.

Cheers

Andrea

PS: if someone from Apple reads this, feel free to email me andreaatsajeideasdotcom – cheers!

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by | August 1, 2012 · 3:18 pm

Toys “R” Us Asia Pacific – Vision and Mission – Really?

I’ve been struggling with ‘Toys “R” Us’ in Singapore recently. It’s a place I have to visit on a regular basis – not just because I have two young sons, but also because Singapore is one of those places where you are constantly invited to kids’ birthday parties and as such, there are always presents to be bought. It’s great for the kids of course, but not so kind on Mum and Dad’s wallets.

My challenge with ‘Toys “R” Us’ is its customer service. I estimate I have been into its various Singapore stores at least 50 times in the last 18 months. I can honestly say in all of those visits, I’ve only had one good customer service experience. The staff don’t smile at all – in fact, they don’t seem to enjoy being there. That is one issue, and for me, working in the world’s largest toy store – it’s a BIG issue! What’s more fun than toys after all? Let alone the pure pleasure kids get from just being in one of these mega stores? Their eyes light up before they even walk in the door.

Once again, yesterday, I was in ‘Toys “R” Us’ for some good old fashioned kiddie spoiling, as well as to get much needed haircuts (the kids’ hairdresser is a separate business within ‘Toys “R” Us’ and don’t even get me started on the grumpy hairdresser!), when I noticed the Vision and Mission statements for Asia Pacific – a tiny sign, I’m sure many miss.

The Vision

That is not a Vision Statement in my opinion, and it’s also a very bad Mission Statement. A Vision is something you constantly strive towards – to be the best, to be the greatest, etc.. Another important point – when you are already a dominant player, using words like this is not a positive reflection on your brand.

The Mission

Again, not a Mission Statement and it says nothing – which it should do. A Mission Statement clarifies an organizations’ purpose, and should include socially meaningful statements – the value you deliver to the world. It should take your business to a higher level.

Looking through the ‘Toys “R” Us’ Website, I noticed a couple of things. The Singapore store is part of ‘Toys “R” Us’ International (so it’s owned by HQ and not a licensed retailer) AND the vision and values expressed on this Website are not in-line with the ones I saw in Singapore.

According to the Website, here are the Values:

“At Toys“R”Us, Inc., we believe that by being rapid, real, reliable and responsible, we will best serve our customers, employees, shareholders, communities and kids!

  • Rapid: We believe that speed is a reflection of our culture. Our team is focused and clear with common, user-friendly processes and solutions; fast and urgent in decision-making and speed-to-market; and quick in adapting to change.
  • Real: Our team is urgent, sincere, authentic, helpful to work with and confident. We are “Playing to Win!”
  • Reliable: Being reliable means working as a team so everything can move faster. We are a company that is dependable, and we produce what we promise.
  • Responsible: We believe that honesty, integrity and compassion are the foundation upon which we work together and conduct our business. Keeping kids safe is a cornerstone of the brand.”

I’m sorry, but I don’t think the R idea is working. It’s corny and to me, comes across as insincere. Does anyone else agree?

As a publicly listed company, I appreciate that ‘Toys “R” Us’ have an obligation to focus on things like child safety, and the other educational benefits of the products offered. However, I would say that for the world’s largest toy store, they are certainly lacking the true benefits a well crafted Vision and Mission statement (as well as Values) can deliver to a company. They also aren’t translating these ideas into action in Asia – such as a focus on excellent customer service. I’m also a little curious why the vision and mission in Singapore is different to HQ, when it is owned directly? Localise it for sure, but it should be similar.

The only statement in the corporate section I think they got right is “At Toys“R”Us®, we love kids!” Yes, that’s right, that’s what your company is all about, so everything you write about the company and attribute to the company should reflect exactly that. These words need to be about the heart of your company, and as far as I can see – there’s very little heart in the words at all.

Here’s a little dabble at what I think would make great statements for your company:

Our Vision

To be the greatest toy shop in the world for kids and their loved ones

Or why not get cheeky, because it’s true…

To be the greatest toy shop in the world for kids and those responsible for the spoiling

Our Mission

I would suggest you check out Ben & Jerry’s for inspiration in how to approach your mission statement - as I think this is one of the most inspiring B2C mission statements today.

However, as a large company, doing great things in the community, I believe you have a real opportunity to come up with a meaningful yet delightful mission statement, that reflects what you do, as well as acknowledging your customers – kids with huge smiles on their faces whenever they enter your premises.  

A starting suggestion:

“Our mission is to fulfil kids’ fantasies by providing the best range of fun AND educational toys in the world. We inspire their imaginations and creativity. We inspire them to be better people. And we encourage them to be healthy and active, ready to embrace their futures. We achieve this by….. Over to your marketing team.

A bit of a moan about ‘Toys “R” Us’ but hey, don’t put your Vision and Mission Statements on display for people like me to see, ‘cos I never miss a bad one, but neither do I miss a good one.

Cheers

Andrea

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by | June 15, 2012 · 12:53 pm

Mission Statements – World’s Top 10 Brands

Continuing the discussion on mission statements (the most searched content on this blog), the world’s top 100 brands were recently announced by Millward Brown. Now in its 7th year, the 2012 Top 100 Global Brandz saw Apple retaining its number one position, with IBM in 2nd place, pushing Google out to 3rd. As before, the tech sector continues to dominate (securing seven out of the 10 top places), and here’s the full list if you’re interested. If you want more detail on how the brands are measured, you can also check out the news on Reuters or MSNBC.

And the Top 10 are:

  1. Apple
  2. IBM
  3. Google
  4. McDonalds
  5. Microsoft
  6. Coca-Cola
  7. Marlboro
  8. AT&T
  9. Verizon
  10. China Mobile

As the top 10 brands in the world, I thought it would be interesting to find and assess one aspect of their marketing – mission statements. So I looked through all of the Websites, sometimes finding these statements (but sometimes not), and other times finding something different but in most cases, it meets the need of defining what drives a company. My conclusion – it’s extremely interesting how differently the Top 10 go about things, but not all of them are doing it well. As far as I’m concerned, a mission statement (plus vision and corporate values) are the driving force for a company, its reason for existence, and only seven out of the 10 had something called a mission statement, with only four of them being what I would define as mission statements.

So what does this tell us? Is it no longer important? And if so, how do employees understand the central driving force of the company they work for? IBM obviously believes it’s still important to have direction, and while they went about it in a different way, the results created (see below) ensure the global workforce has something to focus on and align with. Based on IBM’s example, I would consider defining driving principles are still important, no? But then again, big companies can do things differently to smaller companies.

As a result, I had to change my approach and instead of looking for mission statements, I ended up looking for the words that defined the driving force of each of the Top 10. When no mission statement was available, I found the content most closely aligned to a central driving force philosophy for each company.

For each of the companies listed, I’ve included comments on the quality of the statements, and how easy they were to find – this is important, because really, this sort of information should be front and centre. Any text in purple is a direct copy from the companies’ Website and not my own writing – I’ve even left in the spelling mistakes and typos.

The Driving Principles of the Top 10 Global Brands

Apple

I posted this mission statement up on an earlier blog BUT I could not find the mission statement today on Apple when I went looking for it again… it seems to have disappeared… Perhaps someone at Apple can tell me if this is the right and current one?

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

As far as mission statements go, I find this boring. It doesn’t talk about its people, it doesn’t talk about its environmental aims (something important to Apple when you review its Website) and it makes no mention of its corporate responsibility around the world. It talks about the products it has already created and its leadership position, but it doesn’t inspire the imagination about where it’s going to take us next. This is a shame, and I definitely think Apple could do a much better job of it, because Apple certainly is inspiring. The Apple Mission Statement in particular is a highly searched term on my blog, so marketing folk are interested and looking for inspiration from the world’s number one brand.

IBM

When looking for its mission statement, I came across its core values and how IBM went about recreating them  – this is great information on the importance of involving everyone in the process to ensure buy-in. As such, I didn’t find a mission statement per se, but this is what drives IBM world-wide:

Today, shared values are more essential than ever before-for enterprises, for individuals and for the globally integrating society of the 21st Century.

  • Dedication to every clients success
  • Innovation that matters – for our company and the world
  • Trust and responsibility in all relationships

These are the core values that serve as the foundation of IBM’s culture and brand and the guide for each IBMer’s work, decisions and relationships.

PS: there is some pretty useful information on this link for anyone in marketing today. 

Google

Google’s is short and sweet, and many would define this as a vision statement

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

If you’re wondering what drives Google as a core philosophy, here are the 10 things defined in the early days, which get tweaked occasionally as the company evolves. 

McDonalds

Interestingly, I’ve never looked at the McDonalds Website before, but the mission statement was easy to find, and if you’re interested, the values follow on and can be found here.

McDonald’s brand mission is to be our customers’ favorite place and way to eat. Our worldwide operations are aligned around a global strategy called the Plan to Win, which center on an exceptional customer experience – People, Products, Place, Price and Promotion. We are committed to continuously improving our operations and enhancing our customers’ experience.

In many ways, this includes the company’s core drivers, but it lacks passion for me. On the ‘About McDonalds’ page, they had this summary and I actually think this content forms the basis of a much better mission statement:

At McDonald’s, we strive to be more than just a restaurant – we’re a first job for many, a community partner, a model for other restaurants around the world, and a company seeking new ways to fulfil our brand promise of Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and Value.

Microsoft

Easy to find and it looks like Microsoft has done a recent revamp of its messaging since the last time I checked in and blogged about it. The new mission statement I found is this:

At Microsoft, our mission and values are to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential.

Great, but more of a vision statement don’t you think? It’s definitely not quantifiable, which is what a vision is?

On this same page, Microsoft includes its values, which are good and probably closer to a mission statement:

As a company, and as individuals, we value integrity, honesty, openness, personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continual self-improvement, and mutual respect. We are committed to our customers and partners and have a passion for technology. We take on big challenges, and pride ourselves on seeing them through. We hold ourselves accountable to our customers, shareholders, partners, and employees by honoring our commitments, providing results, and striving for the highest quality.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola does the whole mission, vision, etc… in a different way again, but with such a massive global brand, and a vast product range, I figure it’s not so easy to come up with a one line vision, and paragraph-length mission statement? This is how Coca-Cola positions its mission and vision. I’d swap mission and vision if it was me, but easy to find this information on the Website.

Our Mission

Our Roadmap starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions.

  • To refresh the world…
  • To inspire moments of optimism and happiness…
  • To create value and make a difference

Our Vision  

Our vision serves as the framework for our Roadmap and guides every aspect of our business by describing what we need to accomplish in order to continue achieving sustainable, quality growth.

  • People: Be a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can be.
  • Portfolio: Bring to the world a portfolio of quality beverage brands that anticipate and satisfy people’s desires and needs.
  • Partners: Nurture a winning network of customers and suppliers, together we create mutual, enduring value.
  • Planet: Be a responsible citizen that makes a difference by helping build and support sustainable communities.
  • Profit: Maximize long-term return to shareowners while being mindful of our overall responsibilities.
  • Productivity: Be a highly effective, lean and fast-moving organization

Marlboro

I wasn’t able to find the Marlboro mission statement, because I had to register on the site as an over 18 year old to get access, BUT as I didn’t have a PIN number (which looks relevant only to US residents). Therefore I had to go to parent company Philip Morris, which then meant going to its operating company, Altria. As an example of driving principles, this is definitely the most interesting of the group, because they face massive challenges with negative public opinion in relation to health concerns, and need to address them within the context of a mission statement. Definitely a good example for companies looking to define their mission in the context of similar challenges:

Our Mission is to own and develop financially disciplined businesses that are leaders in responsibly providing adult tobacco and wine consumers with superior branded products. In pursuing our Mission, we have established the following goals for Altria Group and its subsidiary companies:

Invest in Leadership

We will invest in excellent people, leading brands and external stakeholders important to our businesses’ success.

Align With Society

We will actively participate in resolving societal concerns that are relevant to our businesses.

Satisfy Adult Consumers

We will convert our deep understanding of adult tobacco and wine consumers into better and more creative products that satisfy their preferences.

Create Substantial Value For Shareholders

We will execute our business plans to create sustainable growth and generate substantial returns for shareholders.

AT&T

AT&T is relatively easy to find but I think they’ve got their mission and vision confused. One is definitely not the other and both are mixed up in this statement.

Today, our mission is to connect people with their world, everywhere they live and work, and do it better than anyone else. We’re fulfilling this vision by creating new solutions for consumers and businesses and by driving innovation in the communications and entertainment industry.

Verizon

I couldn’t find a mission or vision statement for Verizon as I define them, but the Website claims a ‘Verizon Credo’ as its driving force. 

“The Verizon Credo guides us in every decision and shapes relationships with our customers, our suppliers and the communities we serve.”

While a little different and much longer, it demonstrates focus and alignment. It’s also the best example I could find for Verizon. 

Who We Are

We have work because our customers value our high-quality communications services.

We deliver superior customer experiences through our products and our actions. Everything we do we build on a strong network, systems and process foundation. The quality and reliability of the products we deliver are paramount. Customers pay us to provide them with services that they can rely on.

We focus outward on the customer, not inward. We make it easy for customers to do business with us, by listening, anticipating and responding to their needs.

We know our products and can explain them to customers. We focus on fundamental execution. We are accountable and we follow through with a sense of urgency. We know that having the highest ethical standards is a competitive advantage.

We know teamwork enables us to serve our customers better and faster. We embrace diversity and personal development not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s smart business.

We are driven not by ego but by accomplishments. We keep our commitments to each other and our customers. Our word is our contract. We respect and trust one another, communicating openly, candidly and directly since any other way is unfair and a waste of time. We voice our opinion and exercise constructive dissent, and then rally around the agreed-upon action with our full support. Any one of us can deliver a view or idea to anyone else, and listen to and value another’s view regardless of title or level. Ideas live and die on their merits rather than where they were invented.

We believe integrity is at the core of who we are. It establishes the trust that is critical to the relationships we have.

We are committed to do the right thing and follow sound business practices in dealing with our customers, suppliers, owners and competitors. Our competitors are not enemies; they are challengers who drive us to improve. We are good corporate citizens and share our success with the community to make the world in which we work better than it was yesterday.

We know that bigness is not our strength, best is our strength.

Bureaucracy is an enemy. We fight every day to stay “small” and keep bureaucracy out. We are more agile than companies a fraction of our size, because we act fast and take risks every day. We see crisis and change as opportunities, not threats. We run to a crisis, not away. Change energizes us. We work hard, take action and take personal accountability for getting things done. Our actions produce measurable results.

Everything we do is built on the strong foundation of our corporate values.

We work 24×7 because our customers depend on us 24×7. We know our best was good for today. Tomorrow we’ll do better.

We Are VERIZON

INTEGRITY • RESPECT • PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE • ACCOUNTABILITY

China Mobile

The only non-US company in the Top 10 is China Mobile and unlike the others, it does not have the slick Website and punchy statements that go with it. I couldn’t find anything resembling a mission statement or corporate values, and the only aspect that clarified its driving principles was under the corporate governance tab. Of course, the site in Mandarin might actually include this information, but I could only read the English version.

Our goal has always been to enhance our corporate value, maintain our sustainable long-term development and generate greater returns for our shareholders. In order to better achieve the above objectives, we have established good corporate governance practices following the principles of integrity, transparency, openness and efficiency, and have implemented sound governance structure and measures. We have established and improved various policies, internal control system and other management mechanisms and procedure for the key participants involved in good corporate governance, including shareholders, board of directors and its committees, management and staff, internal auditors, external auditors and other stakeholders (including our customers, local communities, industry peers, regulatory authorities, etc.).

We believe that corporate governance goes hand in hand with corporate culture. High standard of corporate governance is built on the basis of good corporate culture. Corporate governance principles and policies can only be applied effectively and consistently with a corporate culture that is premised on honesty and integrity. By upholding our core value of “Responsibility Makes Perfection”, we strive to achieve economic, social and environmental sustainability in a way that coordinates the present and the future while taking the interests of ourselves and our stakeholders into account.

This is not unusual for a PRC company Website, and while the growth in this region is on a massive scale, there is still a long way to go in regards to the glossy marketing output of its US counterparts. They will get there in time I’m sure.

Conclusion

As you can see, all of these companies go about defining their driving principles in different ways, but as global brand leaders we should expect it to be done with exceptional panache. Most have achieved it, but some have not, and for those looking for information on how to define a company’s mission statement, I hope the homework I’ve done here helps you. If you’re defining your mission, vision or corporate values, you’ve got to make them mean something, because every employee in the organisation needs to embrace them and approach their work with them as a core driving principle. I continue to believe they are that important.

As I’ve said in earlier blogs, a mission statement clarifies an organizations’ purpose and typically, needs to be about one paragraph in length. It should be unambiguous and to the point, integrating meaningful statements, such as: moral stance, how you want to be perceived, primary focus, your customers, who you care about, your presence and how you will grow. Check out my first blog on this topic for more detail on what to include in a mission statement.

I wish you luck if you’re embarking on this journey, and remember, involve as many people in your company as you can, because then you’ll come up with something really meaningful – as IBM did.

If you’re in Asia and need some help, that’s one of the services we offer.

Cheers

Andrea

PS if you think someone else will benefit from this information, we’d really appreciate you sharing it. We’ve also got a Facebook page, where we share all sorts of interesting information – with a focus on content strategy – and it’s not just our own. Or sign up directly and get our blogs on email. We’re also on Twitter @SAJEIdeas

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by | May 2, 2012 · 12:57 pm

The Difference between a Vision and a Mission Statement – Simplified

The most searched term on my blog – by a very long way – is: “what is the difference between a vision and a mission statement?” I did a pretty comprehensive blog on this in September 2011, and then another entitled “Are Corporate Values Important?” in December 2011, which built on this discussion. Based on the obvious need to understand the difference between these two concepts, I thought a very quick blog summarizing the difference between vision and mission, in a very simple way, could be handy for all of those people landing here looking for answers to this question.

Vision Statement

A vision statement is a short phrase detailing what a company wants to become in the future – it needs to be inspirational, aspirational and energizing. It should only be a sentence in length and must capture the essence of a company’s goal, but does not explain how you are going to achieve those goals. In essence, it needs to be visionary.

Our vision

To be true to ourselves and others in everything we do.

Mission Statement

A mission statement clarifies an organizations’ purpose and typically, needs to be about one paragraph in length. It should be unambiguous and to the point, integrating meaningful statements, such as: moral stance, how you want to be perceived, primary focus, your customers, who you care about, your presence and how you will grow.

Our mission

To set the standard of excellence for communication across Asia Pacific. We will always strive to provide exceptional service to our customers. We will always be willing to go the extra mile to meet our customers’ needs. We will always work with great people and employ or partner with great people, and we will live a life that enables us to smile and laugh as much as possible. We will always aspire to be the best and to be passionate, in everything that we do, always.

If you look at my earlier blogs, there is a lot more guidance on how to build these out, but as a quick snap shot for those wondering which is which, I hope this helps. Of course, you may completely disagree, but the examples I included previously from industry leading companies (Virgin, Nike, Boeing, Harley Davidson, Apple, Ben & Jerry’s and Google, to name a few) back up what I’m saying – although even some of these leaders get it wrong in my opinion. There’s definitely a lot of confusion around this subject.

As I said in my corporate values blog – “the way I see it – your vision is what you strive for, your mission is how you’re going to get there, and your values are the sort of company/people you’ll be on the journey.”

Let me know if you agree and I really hope this helps those struggling to find clarity around the important aspect of a company’s messaging.

Cheers

Andrea Edwards

Managing Director

SAJE

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by | December 22, 2011 · 1:51 pm

Are Corporate Values Important?

I took my sons to Ben & Jerry’s for an ice-cream treat at the end of school term. I think it’s a phenomenal business, really standing by what it represents and I’m sure it’s one of the rare corporations actively supporting “Occupy Wall Street.” It’s a company that constantly promotes what it stands for in every way, and you cannot be in a Ben & Jerry’s store without knowing the company’s vision and mission, as well as how it’s interpreted into action. It’s impressive. While waiting in line for our turn, I looked down and saw the company’s corporate values stuck to a table. Nice touch.

It reminded me of something I am regularly asked – are corporate values worth the effort? To which I always reply – definitely. The way I see it – your vision is what you strive for, your mission is how you’re going to get there, and your values are the sort of company/people you’ll be on the journey – so yes, it’s very important. Values are all about what you stand for in the world, and like vision and mission statements, need to be embraced by every employee, and should be on display in whatever way is appropriate for an organisation to keep people focused.

Corporate values should be:

  • Personified within the business from the top down – if C-level execs do not personify them, they will be dismissed as irrelevant
  • The business drivers that help a company stand out in a competitive market
  • Considered more important than making profits – because profit should follow if the values are held true
  • The core of your recruitment process – hire and fire based on how a person fits within the corporate values – if they fit, they’re in, if they don’t, they’re out
  • The cornerstone of corporate culture – look at any successful business and you’ll see that corporate culture is the key to success. Therefore if it’s stern and serious business, the values should reflect that, if it’s fun and youthful, they should reflect that, or if it’s customer driven, make sure your employees are too
  • Reflected in all you do and your employees should willingly embrace them, that’s how you get a corporate culture that delivers success

I could go on, but in essence, values are the core of your corporate culture – small or large – and it’s the qualities, customs, standards, and principles that a company believes, which will ensure it AND its employees succeed. It’s important stuff.

So here’s a question, right now, before looking them up – do you know your corporate values? If you do, do you believe your company lives them? Are they even relevant to your corporate culture? Does your senior management embrace them? Or are they some marketing fluff pushed down your throat and not embraced at all?

The surprising thing is most employees don’t even know what their corporate values are. When I hear this, I find it such a shame, because a lot of effort goes in to creating them and if everyone embraced them, what a difference it could make right across a company. But they need to be relevant and lived from the top down, not just words you think you need to have. The best way to get great corporate values is to ask every employee – and I mean everyone – what they think are the top four or five values the company embraces? It’s an interesting exercise and the synergy should be impressive. Of course, if senior management and junior staff are out of synch, you have a problem.

Getting back to Ben and Jerry’s, here are their corporate values, as stated on their Website:

“Leading with Progressive Values Across our Business

“We have a progressive, nonpartisan social mission that seeks to meet human needs and eliminate injustices in our local, national and international communities by integrating these concerns into our day-to-day business activities. Our focus is on children and families, the environment and sustainable agriculture on family farms.

  • “Capitalism and the wealth it produces do not create opportunity for everyone equally. We recognize that the gap between the rich and the poor is wider than at any time since the 1920’s. We strive to create economic opportunities for those who have been denied them and to advance new models of economic justice that are sustainable and replicable.
  •  “By definition, the manufacturing of products creates waste. We strive to minimize our negative impact on the environment.
  • “The growing of food is overly reliant on the use of toxic chemicals and other methods that are unsustainable. We support sustainable and safe methods of food production that reduce environmental degradation, maintain the productivity of the land over time, and support the economic viability of family farms and rural communities.
  • “We seek and support nonviolent ways to achieve peace and justice. We believe government resources are more productively used in meeting human needs than in building and maintaining weapons systems.
  • “We strive to show a deep respect for human beings inside and outside our company and for the communities in which they live.”

Some other corporate values include:

Corporate values are important for all companies – IF they are done properly – but they are equally important for small companies, and especially for start-ups to set the tone. If you can start building your dream in the right way, you’ll have great direction to keep you focused. The problem is many small businesses don’t believe they have the time to do it, or even worse – think the whole “marketing thing” brings no value at all to the bottom line. Therefore I suggest you think of it another way – it will save you time and money. If you hire according to your values, you’ll cut down on employee mistakes and you’ll focus on winning the business you want rather than taking business because you need the cash. It’s a great focus and will help you build your business faster and smarter than your competition.

At SAJE, we’re a small business, and we have goals for our company. We don’t want to build a behemoth, but we DO want to do great work and work with people we like. In fact, we have walked away from business that we needed from a cash flow perspective, because it clashed with our vision and values – it’s that important to us. We know that if we don’t make these hard decisions we’re not going to be happy, and what’s the point of being entrepreneurs if it doesn’t make us smile every day?

So we defined our values before we did anything else, because it helps us to stay true to ourselves – and that is more important than anything, which is why it’s also our vision.

Here are SAJE’s values

  • Truth and honesty
  • Trust is really important to us – the giving and the receiving
  • Our word really is our bond
  • Being the best we can be in everything we do
  • We never sell ourselves short
  • We’re never “normal” and we’re proud of that
  • We are fair
  • Being respectful is important to us
  • We never make promises we won’t or can’t keep
  • We do stuff differently because we’ve seen how it’s done and reckon there’s a better way
  • We do not believe in short cuts to success
  • We believe that the harder you work the luckier you get
  • We don’t follow the crowd and have the conviction behind our beliefs
  • Life and laughter is our priority
  • People are our passion – humanity

So as the silly season approaches, check out your corporate values. Is that the company you work for? Is it embraced? If it isn’t, have a word with your CEO and suggest that he or she gets feedback from every single employee in your company. All they need to do is ask everyone to provide what they see as the four or five key corporate values for your organisation. The rest will follow, and I can reassure you of one thing – it will definitely be an interesting exercise and one that gets 2012 – the Year of the Dragon - off to a much more focused and positive start.

With that, I’d like to wish you Happy Holidays from the team at SAJE and take this opportunity to thank our customers, partners and friends for the great support we’ve received in 2011. We really appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts.

Cheers

Andrea Edwards

Managing Director

SAJE

PS if you like what you read, please do share it. Alternatively, if you know someone who’d enjoy it, pass it on. You can sign up above to get our blogs directly on email; you can like us on Facebook and get them in your feed; connect with me on LinkedIn; or follow SAJE on Twitter @SAJEIdeas. Come on, show us some love!

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by | October 31, 2011 · 1:48 pm

Writing an Awesome Case Study

I’ve been a bit slack on the blogging front of late, but managed to get in a holiday to Holland, which was much needed. One of the things I was thinking about when away is writing great case studies; because so many companies issue case studies that just don’t do them justice. I’m also sure most do not get the desired results – aka winning new business. Essentially I believe there is a lot of money being wasted on sub-standard case studies, so I thought I’d add a few thoughts that I hope help people refocus on what is necessary. Great case studies are great fuel for ALL marketing efforts after all.

The basic information in a case study remains:

  • What was the business problem your customer was facing?
  • Why did your company stand out in the selection process? What were the decision making parameters?
  • What benefits have they experienced?
  • What were the lessons learnt?
  • More plans for the future?

Obvious right? BUT the important thing to make it really powerful – it must be focused on the customer experience throughout and focus on the business benefits achieved. This is usually where most companies make mistakes – and I’m including the biggest companies in the world here – they get too focused on themselves, pushing their brand and solution/product every step of the way – when it should be about the customer and the business benefits they gained. You’ve got to tantalise, and you don’t do that by talking about yourself.

However, I believe there is another aspect to writing a successful case study that needs to be factored into the timeline. This might seem like a time consuming addition to the process BUT if you do this, what you create will be more impactful than anything you have ever done. After all, you usually get one chance to interview a customer, so make it count.

BEFORE you interview a customer, get the writer, marketing and sales/relationship manager together to discuss:

  • What solution/product the customer has installed/purchased, and why
  • ANY problems encountered along the way and how they were handled
  • Any feedback – positive or negative – from the customer to date, and how it was handled
  • The business benefits you understand the customer has experienced since adopting your solution/product
  •  The key messages you want to get across in the case study, for example:
    • This solution/product significantly improved our CRM processes
    • We’ve been able to increase output by 20% since adopting this product/service
    • We can take our service to market faster because of this solution/product
    • This solution/product gives us real peace of mind
    • We can more effectively market ourselves and measure ROI because of this solution/product
    • And so on

Understanding what you want to achieve with a case study before you write it is absolutely vital. You’ve got to get your customer to speak this language and the way to do this is to prepare the writer beforehand. If prepared, they can lead the customer to the conclusions you want to highlight.

If you can integrate this step into the process, then you will have a case study that is so much more powerful than sending a writer in blind. The writer MUST know what you want to get out of it from a messaging point of view and they must understand the business benefits you want to communicate. So make sure you give them that and invest in smart, business savvy writers to get the real results you need to win. Also, get them face-to-face – it is ALWAYS better. Hard to do in Asia I know, but you’ll appreciate the investment.

The most important thing is defining what business benefits you want to get across to help your sales team sell. That’s what it’s about after all.

Cheers,

Andrea Edwards

Managing Director

SAJE

PS if you like what you read, please do share it. Alternatively, if you know someone who’d enjoy it, pass it on. You can sign up here to get our blogs directly in your Inbox; you can like us on Facebook and get them in your feed; connect with me on LinkedIn; or follow SAJE on Twitter @SAJEIdeas. Come on, show us some love!

 

 

 

 

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