John Manlove
281-830-1379
jgmanlove@johnmmanlove.com
Gina Manlove
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Less Talk, More Action Part 1: Defining Your Brand Promise

Posted on May 21, 2019

Less Talk, More Action Part 1: Defining Your Brand Promise

Your brand is about more than just your name, logo, and tagline—it’s about standing for something. A strong brand evokes emotion and encourages people to connect with your business.  Your brand isn’t what you say it is—it’s what people perceive it to be. Creating a brand promise helps you solidify the connection with your customers and builds authentic relationships with them.

Just what is a brand promise? It’s the definition of your entire business summed up in one concise statement. It describes the value or experience your customers can expect every time they interact with your brand. The more effectively you deliver on your promise, the stronger your brand will become in the minds of your customers.

If you’re ready to clarify your brand promise, give it plenty of thought before you share it with your employees or publish it anywhere. In part one of this series, we’ll discuss the five building blocks of an effective brand promise.

Simplicity

Your brand promise should be no longer than one or two sentences. Remember, it’s not the same as your mission statement, which is often longer than this. The most effective brand promises combine a memorable tagline with the essence of your mission statement.

Credibility

As stated earlier, you can’t define your brand talking about how great it is—you must deliver on your promise if you want the value of your brand to hold up. (We’ll discuss more about delivering on your brand promise in part two of this series.)

Individuality

Is your brand promise too similar to other companies in your industry? While it’s certainly acceptable to take inspiration from your competitors, you won’t distinguish yourself if you only change a word or two before publishing your version on your website.

Think about what makes your business stand out. This refers to more than just the features and benefits of your product—it goes straight to the heart of your company and what you hope to accomplish.

Significance

Your brand promise shouldn’t be written once and then forgotten about. It should be at the forefront of every decision your company makes and come to mind during every customer interaction.

Inspiration

While you want to spark an emotional connection to help encourage customers to act, you should only promise what you can deliver. In this way, your promise should be both inspirational and realistic.

If you’re struggling to come up with a meaningful brand promise, consider these examples:

  • Nike promises “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world,” with the asterisk stating: “If you have a body, you’re an athlete.”
  • Coca-Cola promises “To refresh the world…To inspire moments of optimism and uplift…To create value and make a difference.”

Having a brand promise strengthens the value of your company, but only if you act on it. Part two will discuss how to deliver on your brand promise. For more marketing tips, please contact John Manlove Marketing & Communications at 281-487-6767.