Brand Promise
Branding has many aspects, but from your customers’ point of view, your brand promise will be the most important of all.
A well-established brand has many aspects. It has its logos and slogans; it has its personality, which is designed to appeal to the human emotions of its target market. But perhaps the most important thing in helping a brand maintain a strong reputation is its promise.
A brand promise can be defined as the single most important thing a firm or organisation promises to deliver to its customers.
What promise might you make?
That can, of course, be one of many things, depending on what it is you offer, what markets you target and what image you wish to portray in order to stand out from the competition. It could be any of the following:
- You may promise goods and services of a certain standard
- You may focus on delivering services or responding to a problem within a set time
- You may offer valuable extra help like aftercare or technical support
- Service or money-back guarantees
- The absence of hidden extra charges or other shocks buried in the small print
Some of these will be more relevant to some firms than others. For instance, delivery on time is vital for a B2B ecommerce firm.
Why should you not promise what you cannot deliver?
Highlighting these can be a key element of your branding and be highlighted in your marketing strategy, including things like your social media presence. At the same time, however, these must be promises that you can keep. If you fail to do so, your brand can be harmed through the reputational damage that is sure to arise:
- People will tell their friends, family and colleagues if they have been let down
- People will broadcast their disappointment on social media
- If people find a rival firm that keeps its promise instead, they will recommend them over you.
For these reasons, it is crucial that your brand does not make promises it cannot keep. It is also important to make sure standards and systems are in place - such as key performance indicators - to ensure your promises are kept.
How you can benefit from under-promising and over-delivering
The best way of all to do this is to under-promise and over-deliver, such as delivering goods or services well ahead of the deadline. This has many advantages:
- You give yourself more leeway and reduce the chances of the customer being let down
- Your reputation will be boosted and the customer will trust you more if you exceed what you promised
- The extra satisfaction created by over-delivery will be more likely to turn customers into advocates for your brand
What can we do to help?
At BeUniqueness, we have years of branding experience to draw on and know how important the brand promise is. Working with us, you’ll be able to draw up promises that can be delivered, ensuring your brand reputation is strengthened.