Brand Promise: What Is It And How To Develop A Good One?

The brand promise is the tangible benefit that a customer can derive from your product or service which makes it desirable. As a marketer, you will work essentially in differentiating your brand from others in the market, predominantly through advertising. But a brand is simply not just what you say it is but also what people think it is. It puts forward to the customer what they can expect from a brand and also reveals the foundational value of different aspects of the company.

That being said, the brand promise can be explicit or a subtle expression, which can be interpreted by the customers and the target audience based on your brand identity and brand message. The brand promise, essentially, sets an expectation of the brand experience and it is not product or service-specific, unlike taglines and it may or not be advertised.

Why Is Brand Promise Important?

The most important aspect of developing a brand promise is to gain customers’ trust. The brand promise is the foundation based on which you can decide how your company will operate from the perspective of the customer. It also helps all the internal and external stakeholders to know what they can expect from your brand or service. 

Building Blocks Of A Successful Brand Promise

It Is Simple

A brand promise should be very precise and should not use more than one or two sentences. Do not confuse the brand promise with a mission statement which can often get long and convoluted.

It Is Be Credible

Your brand promise should also be credible, you do not want to confuse your customers by providing an experience that does not match your brand promise.

It Is Memorable

The brand promise may not be as catchy or explicit as a tagline but it needs to be concrete enough that your employees embrace it in all their interactions with their customers to make it memorable.

It Is Inspiring

People find it easy to connect to a brand when they find it inspiring in some way. While building your brand promise, do not promise something that you cannot deliver to the customer.

How To Build A Brand Promise?

Think From A Customer’s Perspective

The brand promise reveals to your targeted audience what they can expect from you and in order to outline a convincing outline for the commitment you have to first determine what the customers want from your service. So a brand promise not just focuses on a specific product or service but rather the overall experience you will be provided as a brand.

Your brand promise is also a great way to set yourself apart from your competitors. Your customer service, your brand mission, products can all embody the brand mission to deliver on your brand’s promise to the customer.

Consider All The Customer Touchpoints

Your brand promise is what you are guaranteeing your customer so to build an effective brand promise, you need to place yourself in your customers’ shoes and from there focus on how the interaction will take place between the customer and your brand. To understand the customers’ perspective ask questions like is there something that the customer can gain from your service? Is there a specific emotion involved? Also, ask yourself if the brand promise makes you unique in the eyes of the targeted audience? Once you answer all these questions you can develop a brand promise that reflects the kind of experience that you want to deliver.

Keep It Unique, Simple, And, Inspiring

As discussed earlier, an effective brand promise is one that is simple, credible, memorable, and inspiring. The brand promise may not be as witty and catchy as a tagline but it needs to articulate the experience that your brand plans to offer and inspire trust and reliability among the customers.

What To Avoid When Building A Brand Promise?

Your internal team and external team are not aligned, which leads to an imbalance in the selling and delivering of your brand promise. 

Not ensuring that the brand promise matches the experience that your customers get. Ultimately what you do matters more than what you say so both your promise and the actions taken to deliver the promise need to be in sync.

The brand promise should not be just the bare necessities that the business should do but it should go above and beyond the minimum requirements.