The Key to Crafting and Executing a Brand Promise

It must touch every aspect of your company and help define what you are.

SPONSORED 8:08AM • 06/28/16

When we look at a brand as a whole, what defines it is what distinguishes it from its competition. But, at its core, is the brand promise, which defines the entire business and touches almost every aspect of a company.

A brand promise is what allows a brand to grow and thrive – something so powerful it shouldn’t be taken lightly. So what is a brand promise?

A brand promise is something that can be easily articulated to help define what the brand is. It’s not the logo, the tagline, the marketing – it’s what the brand provides.

Ask yourself what your favorite brand is. Most likely it’s your favorite because you know what they are going to deliver every time you interact with it – that’s its promise to you. The best brands are those that can deliver their promise each and every time, and a consumer comes to expect great things.

So, when consumers come to trust that brand promise, they are more likely to become repeat customers and talk about the brand. These consumers are your brand loyalists and ambassadors.

For instance, Smoothie King was born to help people live a healthy lifestyle. Wan Kim had a vision when he came on board as Smoothie King’s CEO, and it was a simple one: to build an extraordinary purpose-driven brand that’s an integral part of every health and fitness plan. That’s the Smoothie King brand promise.

“A brand promise is critical to a brand’s success. Without it, there’s no north star within the organization guiding actions and initiatives. Without it, consumers will struggle to articulate what the brand is all about, which will directly affect traffic, sales and word of mouth,” said Natalie Anderson Liu, Director of Marketing for MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes*.

She continues to explain that the brand promise for MOOYAH was established at the brand’s inception, as a brand promise should be in her opinion. For MOOYAH, it was important that the brand promise bring to life the expectation for how the internal team should act as well as what guests should feel.

Mark de Gorter, COO of WORKOUT ANYTIME* believes that today, more than ever, a clear, concise and relevant brand promise is essential to connecting with a customer. If a brand is trusted, the customer will move much more quickly from consideration to purchase, because they trust you and what you represent, and have the confidence you will deliver on their experience.

“To accomplish that large feat, a brand has to deliver on three key tenets—they are relevant, meaning they strike a chord; they are relatable, meaning the brand is seen as understanding the individual, usually on a more emotional level, and finally, they are consistent in the way they deliver the brand message through all aspects of the culture—from marketing communication to the way the phone is answered.”

So, how do you take a brand promise and live it? Anderson Lui explains that their brand promise is embroidered on the inside of their uniform hats as a reminder of how important it is to deliver the experience to guests. And, each week the team members who delivered the promise are recognized in their system wide newsletter.

“The challenge is preventing the brand promise from being forgotten or getting stale since we do look at it daily,” she added.

For WORKOUT ANYTIME, it all begins with the culture.

“That’s the foundation for any great brand, and we like to think we’re approaching it first from that perspective. Like most companies, we manage to a set of brand standards that are formally established, and applicable to as many different elements of our business as possible, but its not enough to just publish a book with all the various ways to execute your company's mission, vision and values," said Gorter. "It has to become embedded into the DNA of an organization, and when it is, everything flows together from that—not just how the brand looks, but more importantly, how the brand acts, and therefore how it delivers against the relevance, relatable and consistency tenets outlined above. The challenge is to recognize and understand that a brand is not just how your advertising or stationary looks; its a badge your consumer wears as a form of personal identification.”

*This brand is a paid partner of 1851 Franchise. For more information on paid partnerships please click here.

The Key to Crafting and Executing a Brand Promise

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS