Last week we looked at business goals and mindset. Today we'll talk about your business vision and mission, and why it's important to work on these before organising a shoot.
Both are important objectives that require time and commitment.
Vision is the goal you want to achieve for your business, what you aspire to, your dream. Mission is how you're going to achieve your dream.
Take the example of Tesla.
Vision: accelerate the spread of sustainable energy in the world.
Mission: create the most competitive automotive company of the 21st century, which will drive development in the electric vehicles sector.
It sounds easy, doesn't it? It is, if you put the effort into defining them and linking them to your value system.
I'll give you two pieces of advice:
- seek and find resources and exercises you can do which will help to define your vision and mission.
- write, rewrite and adjust until you can define them without ever deleting. I assure you that when you come back to them you'll feel really pleased with the work you've done, and it will inevitably have led you to be more mature.
One thing that will help you to do this is the notorious and much-hated business plan.
In most of my conversations with tourism operators, I've realised that the business plan is a big gap which indicates the total lack of an entrepreneurial approach. It may be that the business has been running for years, it may be that there's plenty of demand and it's flourishing, or any other reason (I call it an excuse).
Tip 1: find a serious professional to help you draw up your business plan.
Tip 2: don't leave anything out. I guarantee you'll find hidden numbers you'd never expected, especially negative ones.
If you're not working from a solid base, all your marketing efforts will cost you time, energy and money without giving a proportional return on your investment.
Get help from an agency; don't trust anyone who sells you a plan without strategic goals. Or seek help from a professional who can help you from a technical angle (e.g. a photographer or video-maker), but who can also make you think about the really important points of your marketing strategy.