To be successful, every marketing team needs to be able to define their brand promise coherently and demonstrate how they’re consistently delivering on it every day.
A marketing team that can’t do that, is likely struggling.
So the brand promise is important. Here are some quick thoughts on defining and delivering on your brand promise consistently.
What is the brand promise?
The brand promise is the tangible, emotional, and aspirational benefits your customer can expect to gain by using your brand. B2B companies can think of it as how your brand will create value for your customer.
Obviously, then, the brand promise is broadcast loud and clear whether you know what it is or not. With every interaction they have with your brand, your B2B or B2C customers are either learning what your brand promises or experiencing the reality behind that promise.
The trouble is, if you’re not in control of that brand promise, the messages they’re receiving may be costing you millions.
How to define your brand promise
An effective marketing strategy has to accomplish two main objectives: providing ROI for the company and generating value for the customer. No strategy is sustainable if it fails on either account. So, how you market yourself has a lot to do with whether or not customers understand and respond to your brand promise.
“Know thy self” is good advice here. The brand promise needs to be identified and fully understood internally before it can be effectively communicated outside. Everyone has to agree on the role of the brand, what benefits or value they can expect the brand to deliver, and finally on a relevant, inclusive, and understandable brand promise.
Then, that unified definition needs to be presented in an way that’s easily understood via multiple messaging channels so that the brand promise becomes inseparable from the brand itself.
Does your whole company understand and agree with your brand promise?
How to deliver on your brand promise
Establishing a brand promise that everyone understands and accepts internally and presenting that to customers is one thing. Delivering on that promise is something else.
Here is where other parts of the business must step up and take accountability for providing the value Marketing has promised the customer they’ll receive by choosing the brand. If the brand promise includes a low-price factor, the Purchasing and Manufacturing departments need to keep costs down so that promise can be fulfilled. If the promise includes a guarantee of fast, courteous service, the Customer Service department needs to be onboard with that and have systems in place to ensure customers are served quickly and courteously.
This is no easy feat contemporary corporate environments. According to the March, 2015 edition of Harvard Business Review in the article on “Why Strategy Execution Unravels”, the authors report that a breakdown in trust and the inability to coordinate across functions and units are the biggest drivers of failed execution.
Is your whole company on board with delivering on your brand promise?
While the actual product or service the customer is buying has to be great, it’s the entire customer experience that determines if the brand promise is really being delivered. It’s not just what they get, but how they feel about it that determines if the customer is truly satisfied at the end.
Defining and delivering on your brand promise is just one part of an overall Marketing Excellence plan. Download our free eBook to learn more.
