What promise are you making?
Your brand is your promise. It’s what your customers can count on you to deliver every time. If you can’t state your brand promise, your customers will do it for you, and they won’t bother to consult you!
I recently asked a client to define their brand promise. They listed the qualities of the service they provide. Good stuff, to be sure, but not the same as stating the promise of their brand. We worked together to understand how all of those items they mentioned are present because of the promise that was implicitly being made. All they needed to do was define it.
Once that was done, they had a common language to use with their team. They had something to explicitly share with their customers. And they had a way to measure whether or not the promise was landing with their clients as they intended, so they could either enhance what they were doing or correct course.
What story are you sharing?
Human beings are story-tellers. It permeates every aspect of our lives. Religion is the retelling of stories over the course of thousands of years. The extraordinary interest in genealogy stems from people wanting to accurately know their own story and how they fit into the bigger picture of the story of their family.
Brands are no different, or at least they shouldn’t be. You probably don’t have a few thousand years of history to recount, but you certainly can tell a story. You can humanize the work that you do or the products that you supply. You can tell stories about the creation of your company and the team members who comprise it.
You can tell stories about the value of what you’re doing and the impact that you are having or hope to have. And what if you’re selling widgets? Look deeper. How does the widget connect with a bigger picture? Still can’t find anything? Then join forces with a reputable charitable organization, donate a percentage of your income to them, and tell that story.
What experience are you delivering and what emotion are you evoking?
Brand is experiential and emotional. What experience are you delivering to your clients? What emotions are you evoking in them? Does the experience deliver on the promise of your brand? Can your customers clearly identify the promise that you made in the experience that they had, and how it made them feel?
It’s a lot to consider, without a doubt. But it’s worth every minute of time invested. No one intellectually remembers their first drive in a sports car, or the first time they saw the Eiffel Tower or the first time they contributed to a local food bank.
No.
We remember the feeling of speed as we hit the accelerator. We remember the feeling as we rounded the street corner and our breath was taken away by the tower piercing the sky. We remember the feeling of knowing that by our contribution, a family would have a meal tonight.
I’ll ask again: what promise are you making? What story are you sharing? What experience are you delivering and what emotion are you evoking?
Take a moment now to jot down the answers. If you’re not satisfied, schedule time now to come back to these questions and to delve into them. It will pay dividends 10 times over.
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Ken Mosesian is the author of:
The Power of Promise: How to Win and Keep Customers By Telling the Truth About Your Brand
Available at Amazon