What Is Your Brand Promise?
If you own a business and interact with customers regularly, you should think about your brand's commitment to them.
Like a solemn pledge you take, a brand promise commits your company to deliver on this promise every single time - even if you have to sacrifice a portion of your profits.
A brand is how a product or a service is perceived by those who interact with it. It exists in the mind of your customers. Their perception of your brand is significantly shaped by how they experience it. Since your clients deal with countless brands every day, all competing for their attention, a brand promise reduces everything you do to a single pledge. Nothing fancy or elaborate. This promise is a single commitment that clients can trust you will deliver on.
For example, BMW promises the ultimate driving machine, while Apple's "think different" guarantees its customers to create products based on seeing the world a little differently, inspiring them to do the same. Walmart's "save money - live better" combines its low price guarantee with the promise of a better quality of life. These brand promises are very powerful not only externally towards these companies' customers but also internally, focusing all their energy on delivering on these pledges in good times and not-so-good ones.
So, how do you create a compelling brand promise?
How Do You Create a Compelling Brand Promise?
The best brand promises connect with customers on a deeply emotional level. They consist of a simple, easy-to-remember message.
Make your brand promise concrete. You can be a little bold and courageous. The clearer your brand promise is, the better. Trying to be everything to everybody may hedge your bets but will ultimately mute your commitment and confuse your customers.
Make your brand promise meaningful to your customers. If you work on your brand promise, create one that resonates with your customers. That is easier said than done and requires a deep understanding of what is crucial to your customers and why they buy from you.
Do they care about low prices? In the case of Walmart, their customers are price-conscious, and Walmart, therefore, made this aspect part of their brand promise. In the case of BMW, however, price is not a significant factor. Instead, their customers want to experience the thrill that comes from a perfectly balanced car staying stable and predictable in tight turns.
Deliver on your brand promise consistently. Don't treat your brand promise as the latest marketing fad. If your employees, including yourself, are not living by your brand promise every day, your customers will quickly detect that your well-crafted brand promise is just empty words with no consequence. Don't be surprised if your customers start to view your brand as a lot of hot air. Even the best ad campaign will not be able to bridge the gap between your company's actions - or lack of - and its words. (► Do You Always Mean What You Say?)
Instead, make your brand promise an integral part of your internal reward system and thoroughly train your employees on what your brand stands for and how they should behave towards their customers. Also, give them the latitude to make appropriate decisions consistent with your brand promise. And don’t forget: lead by example.
You can state your brand promise as a tagline or make it central to your advertisements or social media messaging.
Whether your brand promise is explicit or implicit, it does not matter that much.
However, it is crucial to keep your promise and consistently deliver on it every day.
