How to write a mission statement: a guide for small business owners

Why does your business exist? Crafting a clear, meaningful answer to this question challenges even experienced business owners.

In this article, you’ll see real mission statement examples from companies like yours. You’ll also learn a step-by-step process for creating an effective mission statement and discover practical ways to implement it.

What is a mission statement?

A mission statement is a concise statement that explains your business’s purpose and objectives, usually in just one or two sentences.

Your mission statement is your company’s North Star, whether it appears on your website, in your business plan or on your office wall. The short text is a guiding principle that helps your teams stay focused on what you do and why you do it.

Big companies like Nike, Ikea or Amazon often have broad, aspirational mission statements because their scale and resources allow it. Take Starbucks’s mission: “To be the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world, inspiring and nurturing the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time”.

While inspiring, this statement isn’t practical for smaller businesses or startups. It lacks the specificity and practical focus to guide your team.

The best mission statements often combine these elements:

1. Your core purpose. What specific pain points you address, or what value you create.

2. Your approach. How you deliver that value differently from competitors.

3. Your impact. Who benefits, and why it matters to them.

For example, an IT services provider’s mission might be “To help small businesses grow through reliable technology support and straightforward solutions”. This statement works because it defines the company’s purpose (enabling business growth), approach (reliable, straightforward service) and impact (helping small businesses succeed) in concrete terms.

Why every small business needs a great mission statement

A mission statement isn’t just a business document. It’s a practical tool that can strengthen internal operations and brand positioning.

Whether you’re a nonprofit addressing social challenges, a healthcare provider focused on improving patient outcomes or a small IT business offering reliable technology support, the right mission statement delivers tangible value.

Here are some of the main benefits of a great mission statement:

It aligns your team around shared goals and core values

The best mission statements help teams understand how their roles contribute to the business’s success.

For example, when customer service staff know the mission emphasizes “straightforward solutions”, they feel empowered to explain complex issues in simple terms.

Say your sales team understands you’re focused on “helping businesses grow”. They’ll spend more time understanding prospects’ long-term goals rather than pushing quick deals.

This shared understanding transforms daily work from task completion to purpose-driven action.

It makes decision-making clearer and more consistent

Entrepreneurs face constant choices about resources, opportunities and priorities. The best mission statements help you evaluate options quickly and consistently.

For example, the IT company’s mission statement emphasizes “reliable technology support”. This clarity might lead it to prioritize hiring an experienced technician over investing in automated support tools. Similarly, it can assess new service offerings by whether they align with “straightforward solutions” or add complexity for customers.

This clarity becomes especially valuable when you face unexpected challenges or opportunities. Your mission statement provides a stable framework for choosing the path that best serves your core purpose.

It helps attract ideal customers who share your brand values

Your company’s mission statement acts as a magnet for customers who value what you offer most. For example, the aforementioned IT company whose mission emphasizes “straightforward solutions” will attract business owners who want clear communication and practical guidance. Those who prioritize cutting-edge technology over simplicity might look elsewhere.

This natural filtering helps you focus on customers whose needs more closely align with your product. In the long term, this alignment can lead to greater customer satisfaction and lower customer churn.

It sets you apart from competitors

Your mission statement helps you stand out by highlighting what makes your business special. Instead of competing solely on price or features, you’re showing customers why your approach matters.

For instance, when our IT company emphasizes “reliable support”, prospects know that dependability matters more than having the latest technology.

This differentiation helps you build stronger relationships with customers who value your way of working. Instead of trying to appeal to everyone, you attract customers who appreciate – and will pay for – your distinct approach.

3 mission statement examples from B2B businesses

When brainstorming your company’s mission statement, looking at how other businesses articulate their purpose can provide valuable inspiration.. These three B2B companies’ mission statement examples show different approaches to crafting statements that guide their teams and resonate with their ideal customer profile.

1. Pipedrive

Pipedrive’s mission is to “empower SMBs to unlock their business potential and scale with our easy-to-use, affordable and effective CRM”.

This statement addresses the three key elements of an effective mission:

• Purpose (empowering SMBs)

• Approach (easy-to-use, affordable, effective solutions)

• Impact (helping businesses unlock potential and scale)

Pipedrive’s mission statement focuses specifically on what matters to SMBs. It acknowledges their constraints (needing affordable, easy-to-use solutions) and their ambitions (wanting to scale and reach their potential).

You can take a similar approach to your mission statement by identifying what holds your target customers back. Build your mission around how you remove those obstacles while also supporting their growth goals.

2. TalentLMS

TalentLMS offers an intuitive online learning platform. It shares its parent company Epignosis’s mission statement: “to democratize learning by making premium eLearning technology accessible and affordable to any single company or organization worldwide”.

This great mission statement also addresses the three key elements we discussed:

• Purpose (democratize learning)

• Approach (making premium eLearning technology accessible and affordable)

• Impact (every company worldwide can reach their potential)

TalentLMS’s mission focuses on the business outcome of better learning opportunities. You can take this approach by identifying the core transformation your product or service creates. Instead of listing technical capabilities or features, focus on how you improve your customers’ work or lives.

3. Shopkeep

Shopkeep creates point-of-sale (POS) software for independent retailers. Shopkeep’s mission statement is “to empower independent business owners to dream big and fight smart”.

The three elements of a good mission statement are also present here:

• Purpose (empowering independent businesses)

• Approach (combining aspiration with practical solutions)

• Impact (helping business owners succeed on their own terms)

Shopkeep’s mission statement speaks to its customers’ entrepreneurial spirit and positions itself as an ally in the fight against big retail.

You can take a similar approach by identifying the deeper motivation driving your customers. Build your mission around supporting their ambitions while acknowledging their real challenges rather than just describing your product or service.

How to write a mission statement: a step-by-step template

Crafting a great mission statement requires a structured approach that goes beyond simple brainstorming. Follow this step-by-step template to turn your insights into a powerful, concrete statement.

1. Define your company’s purpose by focusing on customer impact

Pinning down why your business exists starts with your customers. Schedule a meeting that includes stakeholders and customer-facing staff. These team members witness your business impact firsthand and can provide valuable insights about why customers choose and stay with you.

Using a physical whiteboard or a digital whiteboard like Miro, answer two key questions:

• What specific problem do we solve?

• What transformation do we create for our customers?

Examine last quarter’s customer service reports, recent testimonials, sales call notes and project outcomes. As you review your insights, have team members add specific examples to the relevant sections of the board.

Remember our IT company example? Say they had a customer testimonial about how their service saved them “hours of troubleshooting”. This statement would go under “What specific problem do we solve?”

You don’t have to choose a single statement at this stage. Review the insights in these areas and identify the clearest, most recurring ideas. Then, use this framework to turn the ideas into concrete sentences:

Our IT company might draft several versions based on its findings, including:

• “We exist to [simplify technical problems] so that [small businesses] can [focus on running their business]”

• “We exist to [provide reliable IT support] so that [small businesses] can [grow with confidence]”

• “We exist to [remove technology barriers] so that [small businesses] can [scale]”

Review your draft purpose statements with your team. Choose the one that appears most consistently in your evidence, best captures the transformation you create and feels authentic to what your business does.

Say our IT company finds that its purpose statement about helping businesses grow through technology support is mentioned most often in customer feedback and team discussions.

2. Identify brand values that shape how you work

After identifying your business’s purpose, define how you achieve it.

During your team meeting, explore how your core values affect how you work:

• What standards do we never compromise on?

• How do we want customers to describe their experience with us?

• What makes our approach different from others?

Use this framework to turn your values into actionable brand value statements:

Use these insights to refine your purpose into a statement that captures what you do and how you do it.

In our IT company example, the team identifies that being straightforward and reliable is crucial to how they help businesses grow. These aren’t just nice-to-have qualities. They‘re fundamental to their approach. Customers consistently mention appreciation for the company’s clear communication and dependable support.

The company’s statement might evolve from “helping small businesses grow” to “helping small businesses grow through reliable technology support and straightforward solutions”.

Adding “reliable” and “straightforward” shows its values in action, not just as abstract concepts.

3. Tailor your mission to speak to customers and team members

Your mission statement must resonate with different groups while maintaining a clear focus. Review your team meeting notes and customer evidence to understand each audience’s perspective.

Complete this template for each of your core values:

For example, our IT company might map its values as follows:

• “Being straightforward means we explain complex issues simply, which helps customers understand their technology better”

• “Being reliable means we maintain consistent service standards, which helps customers focus on their business with confidence”

Does each value guide your team’s work and speak to customer needs?

Our IT company’s mission, “to help small businesses grow through reliable technology support and straightforward solutions”, works because it shows employees how to work (reliably, simply) and tells customers what to expect (growth, clear communication).

4. Draft, test and refine your mission statement with stakeholders

By now, you have all the pieces for your mission statement: your core purpose, key values and target audience. Getting these elements to flow together naturally might take a few attempts.

Try these different formats to see which best fits what your business does:

For example, our IT company might try several versions before finding the right flow.

It starts with “We help businesses with technology” – too vague. “We provide reliable IT support to small businesses” is better, but missing the impact. Finally, the company arrives at “To help small businesses grow through reliable technology support and straightforward solutions”.

Present your draft to your team and run through some real scenarios.

• When hiring: Would this help us identify the right cultural fit?

• For a new project: Does this help us decide if we should take it on?

• During sales demos: Can we explain how this guides our approach?

Refine your statement until it consistently guides these kinds of real-world decisions. Once your mission statement passes these tests, you’ll have a clear compass to direct your business, unite your team members and show customers what makes you different.

Common mission statement mistakes to avoid

Even with a clear process, it’s easy to fall into common mission statement traps. Here are the key pitfalls to watch out for and how to avoid them.

• Being too vague or generic. Statements like “to provide quality service” or “to be the best” say nothing about what makes your business special. Instead, be specific about your unique value proposition.

• Confusing mission with vision. Don’t mix up your mission statement (what you do now) with your vision statement (future aspirations). Your mission should focus on current values and approaches, not long-term dreams.

• Making it too long. If your mission statement takes more than 10 seconds to read, it’s too long. Complex, multi-sentence statements lose impact. They’re harder for teams to remember and act on.

• Copying larger competitors. The aspirational language that works for companies like Microsoft, LinkedIn or Tesla doesn’t work for startups or small businesses. Instead of “being the best X in America” or “the most customer-centric X on earth”, focus on the concrete value you provide your specific market.

• Not involving your team. Writing your mission statement alone means missing valuable insights from those interacting with customers daily. Your team’s input ensures the mission reflects reality and creates genuine buy-in from stakeholders.

• Failing to make it actionable. A mission statement should guide daily business decisions. If your team can’t use it to answer “Should we do X or Y?” it’s not specific enough to be useful.

How to put your mission statement into action

A mission statement can only reach its full potential if it actively shapes how your business operates. Here’s how to empower every person on your team to connect with your mission and bring it to life.

Bring your mission into daily operations

Regular team discussions keep your mission active and relevant. During meetings, highlight specific examples of team actions supporting your mission. For example, our IT company might recognize when support staff documented complex solutions simply. This acknowledgment reinforces their commitment to “straightforward solutions”.

When evaluating new tools, systems or partnerships, assess how they align with your core purpose. The IT company we’ve been using as an example might choose a simpler ticketing system over one with advanced features because it better supports their focus on reliable, accessible support.

Make your mission concrete for new employees by showing how it shapes their roles. Instead of just sharing the statement, provide examples of how it guides daily initiatives.

Connect your mission to customer touchpoints

Your mission should shape every stage of the customer journey, from first contact to ongoing support. Create a simple customer journey map and identify how your mission guides each interaction.

For our IT company, this means demonstrating “straightforward solutions” at every step.

• Initial contact: Clear, jargon-free explanations of services

• Sales process: Transparent pricing and honest assessments of client needs

• Project delivery: Regular updates in accessible language

• Ongoing support: Simple documentation and practical guidance

Your marketing materials should showcase real examples of your mission in action. Instead of claiming “reliable support”, share specific cases where your team solved problems efficiently. Use customer testimonials highlighting how your approach made a difference to their business.

Track your company’s mission statement impact with Pipedrive

Use Pipedrive to measure how your mission resonates with customers. Create custom fields tracking when prospects respond to specific elements of your mission during sales conversations or customer interactions.

Our IT company might set this up in Pipedrive by adding a custom field for “Key Value Mentioned” (e.g., reliable, straightforward, growth-focused).

The team can then create a deal label to mark deals where mission alignment influenced the decision.

This data helps refine strategic planning for your sales team. For example, if prospects consistently mention appreciating your “straightforward solutions”, emphasize this aspect in early sales conversations.

If certain mission elements rarely come up, consider whether they truly reflect your value to customers.

Final thoughts

Distilling a mission statement into a single sentence or short statement can be challenging, but it’s well worth the effort. A great mission statement guides strategic planning, aligns stakeholders and helps build a customer-centric culture.

When done right, your mission statement will become a practical tool that helps your business reach its full potential and stay focused on what matters most.

Use Pipedrive to track your mission statement’s business impact and refine your strategy based on real customer insights. Sign up today for your 14-day free trial.