I’m following up from my previous posts on establishing your brand. You can read about the damage that comes from inconsistency here. You can read about your brand purpose as the first step to establishing your brand here.
Allen, my oldest son, took up archery this year. It’s a lot of fun seeing him learn a new sport. But one of the best things he’s learned? The importance of aim. In archery, you’re only as good as your aim. It’s pretty simple to know where to aim: the target. And in that target, the closer you get to the bullseye (or hitting the bullseye itself) the more points you get.
It’s the same story with your brand.
I’ve spoken before about the importance of consistency, but how can you be consistent when you don’t know what you’re trying to be consistent against? I love the late Zig Ziglar’s quote: “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”
Enter your brand promise.
Your brand promise is what you should be aiming for in all aspects of your company. It’s the one thing that aligns everyone’s efforts in meeting your customers’ expectations.
Your brand promise lies at the intersection of who you want to be, who people think you are, and what you’re good at (your capabilities and strengths). I even made a fancy little visual aid just to show you.
Rather than describing how you do what you do, your brand promise should describe the experience you deliver. A brand promise is a way for consumers to hold you accountable to the standard that sets you apart. It’s the one thing that you do for your customers every day. It’s why they come back to you time and again. They’re counting on you to fulfill your promise to them.
Your brand promise isn’t a tagline. In fact, it’s not even a public statement (although it’s okay if the public sees it every once in a while). Your brand promise is meant for you and your team members. It’s the simple articulation of what customers can expect from your brand. It’s the commitment that drives everything (decisions, actions, messages, products) your brand does.
If you want your brand to stand out (HINT: you do), keep these key elements in mind when creating your brand promise:
1. Make it simple
Your promise must be clear, simple and easy to understand. You need to convey your promise as quickly and effectively as possible. A simple promise not only helps you differentiate your brand more effectively, it also helps your team members remember it more easily.
2. Make it credible
If the customer experience you provide falls short of your promise, then you lose trust immediately. And it’s hard to build back that trust. Your promise must be a commitment that you’re able to keep. It’s a difficult balance in defining your commitment. If you aim too low, there’s no reason for customers to choose you over anyone else. If you aim too high, you’ll lose your credibility (and your customers). It’s okay to make your promise slightly aspirational, just don’t make it unrealistic.
3. Make it unique
If your brand promise sounds like someone else’s, especially a competitor, how can you distinguish yourself? Why should someone choose you over your competitors? What makes you unique and different from everyone else? What are the things that only you can deliver? That’s what you build your promise on.
4. Make it inspiring
Your team members are the ones who’ll deliver on your promise every day. So they need to understand how delivering on this promise will help make the world a better place, how your customers’ lives will be enriched by it, and how each of them plays a role in delivering the promise. I love that the FedEx brand promise is crafted in a way that every team member, from the C-Suite to the front line, is able to state it and deliver on it: “I will make every FedEx experience outstanding.”
5. Make it memorable
If your team members are going to deliver on your promise, then it must be crafted in a way that can easily be remembered. It must be used as a filter for every decision and action they make. It doesn’t have to be catchy, but it can’t be lengthy. Keep it to one sentence – two if you absolutely have to. If it’s concise, it’s easier to remember, and it’s easier for your team to know what they have to deliver.
Once you’ve crafted and shared your promise, it’s time to focus on consistency. It’s not about fulfilling the promise once and moving on to the next big thing. You’ve got to move heaven and earth everyday to make sure you’re meeting the commitment you set with your promise.
In today’s world, trust is hard to come by – promises matter. And you’re only as good as the promises you keep.
