The Debate: Mission vs. Vision

What's the difference between defining your business's mission or vision? How does one answer that? What's more important to know is how a marketing agency can guide their clients in this answer, too.

Over the course of the last century of marketing, the imagination and attention of the consumer has become harder to understand and capture.

Consequently, developments such as various persuasion models, acronyms and abbreviations, promotional habits, and advertising jargon have been used to "facilitate clarity". Some of these ideas have been crafted for our industry, while others are merely re-applications of time-old knowledge.

The questionable appropriation of "vision" and "mission" is a wonderful example of this scenario.

These concepts are often used as mere statements. In a worst case scenario, these two statements are just fluffed up pieces of writing stuffed with grandiosity and poor punctuation; they become better suited backs to business cards than carriers of ideology in the employees and the brand's consumers. In the best case scenario, these things are the simple, well-stated beliefs of a brand that knows how to be useful and be seen as a resourceful authority.

This means that "vision" and "mission" can be wonderful assets for leading consumers who share a common interest.

So where does the confusion originate? 

These two concepts have gone from similar bodies to synonymous. How are they supposed to be used? How are they different and how do they work together?

Here's how:

• A vision and a mission are complementary statements. 
• Vision takes priority over mission. 
• A vision is a goal or aspirational objective that a company may never meet but hopes to do so. 
• A mission is a way to achieve success by delivering specific action(s) that will flow with the vision. 
• The simpler, the better. The better they are, the more likely they are to be remembered and used. 
• Simply put: vision= internal, mission = external. 
• Or, the vision wins the war, the mission wins the battle. 

Does your business need help defining its mission and/or vision? Then contact Integraphix, a leading Chicago creative marketing team with over 25 years experience with branding. 

GIF source: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/blues-brothers

Consumers Sure Do Love the Multi-Device Life

As a digital marketing agency, many of our creatives have multiple devices. Laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones. All at work, all going the whole day. For people outside of this industry, average consumers, this lifestyle rings true as well.

One of the first things we reach for in the morning are our smartphones. We use multiple devices throughout the day, sometimes at the same time. Right now, I am using my desktop to write the blog and my MacBook is streaming music and being used for other assignments. During lunch, I switch to either my iPad or my phone to see what is going on in the world. At the end of the day, the iPad or phone is again used for personal internet surfing or social media while the Apple TV streams Netflix. It's just part of the life of a social media marketing specialist.

As mentioned before, this lifestyle of using many devices throughout the day is true for many people. It is hard for creative marketing agencies to get a good handle on it; the issue for advertisers is how to make sure the ads get seen. It can be difficult for marketers to keep a storyline going that keeps consumers engaged when the marketing teams have to skip across so many platforms. Companies have become more aggressive at tackling this issue of continuing ads, stories, and engagement across devices and platforms.

The opportunity for companies to target consumers with even more accuracy is a hidden gem in the multi-device lifestyle that brands seem to have difficulty negotiating. The story, the ads, the frequency of it all does not have to be the same across each platform, each one deserves a unique approach. The engagement needs to be customized and more intelligent so the effectiveness and ROI is greater than ever before.

How Do You Reach Your Audience? Do This One Thing

When clients come to our Chicago marketing agency desiring marketing assistance, they always ask, "How can we break through the clutter?" or "How can you make us noticed?"

Be useful.

Find a way to make yourself useful to consumers. If they have no reason to call you because you're just "one of the boys", then they will not call you. No matter how much promotion work you do. Give a great deal, make your product offerings unique, something to stand out.

You may hear a lot of chatter about the latest and greatest thing in digital marketing and other forms of creative marketing, such as who's the brightest, most suave, biggest, etc. If we are honest with ourselves, that stuff just adds to the clutter sometimes. Consumers are smart! Consumers know what advertising lingo to avoid or forget; think about this for yourself, what words or phrases are you tired of hearing and seeing in ads?

Being useful is solving a problem and meeting a need. This can only be accomplished if you understand your consumer. If your business is ignoring the wants and needs of its audience, then it will not survive as a business. The art of listening and understanding is often overlooked in many business strategies.

Listen. Understand. Find where your business fits in. And go there.

Being useful to consumers is nothing new in business, so why do so many businesses skip this step? Or assume they are useful without any information to back it up?

Companies that last decades and have good relationships with their consumers are businesses that make sure they are meeting the needs of their consumers. Not businesses that expect consumers to change to them.

Being useful is a simple theory but the practice is hard. For help understanding how your business can be useful, contact Integraphix.

NBA Players & Their Kids in Post-Game Interviews: Marketing Tactic or Family Fun

You've likely seen the videos of NBA players bringing their kids onto the podium during post game interviews.

It is not something that is new, NBA players (and players of many sports) have been bringing their kids to the podium with them during post game interviews. However, it seems that this season, it has been more popular then ever.

Could this be a simple trend amongst the NBA's elite or is it a tactic to get more mentions and popularity with marketing, especially on social media?

A couple weeks ago, Stephen Curry brought his daughter, Riley, on stage with him. Curry's mentions on social media lit up; his position on sites like The Pulse, NBA.com, among others, went up to number one!

Derrick Rose saw similar popularity when he brought his son on stage after the Bulls' game 4 loss to the Cavs in the Eastern Conf. Semi-Finals.

Some reporters find the practice to be unprofessional but it seems the league thinks otherwise, since they've done nothing to deter the practice. Also, as we mentioned, it is a huge hit on social media and generates wonderful web traffic for whichever site can publish a story about the child first; this is a big deal for NBA.com, who struggles for traffic over ESPN.

Is this great content marketing for the NBA? Or is it a way to show the players are family men and improving branding for the league since pro athletes are often thought of as unfaithful? Or is it just family fun?

Let us know your thoughts! Comment below, on social media, or email Integraphix.

Also, if you have not seen any of these interviews, here are a few. Enjoy.