What's Your Brand Promise?

Before we can answer the question of what your Brand Promise is, we must first all understand exactly what a Brand Promise is.

In its simplest form, your Brand Promise is the one statement you can make to a member of your target audience to stimulate your Desired Reaction. If you can't make a compelling promise to your audience, why on earth would they do whatever it is you want them to do?

The basic format of a Brand Promise is...
When you ______________,
you will _________________.

Filling in the first blank is normally pretty simple. Most of the time, it's filled with your ultimate Desired Reaction. In other words, the first blank is whatever it is we want the audience member to do. Here are a couple of real and hypothetical examples. When you visit GiggleFliggle.com,

When you bring your car to QuickOil,

When you buy a Zippy Car,

When you work with Smith, Jones & Washington,

The second blank can be a little more difficult to fill in. This blank has to tell your audience members what's in it for them. It must sum up the most important benefit of your product or service.

The second blank can be tangible or emotional. It can be straight-forward or esoteric. It can be a simple product benefit or a broad statement of confidence. Here are some endings to the hypothetical Brand Promises started above. When you visit GiggleFliggle.com, you will find the smartest toys available.

When you bring your car to QuickOil, your car will receive the best possible care.

When you buy a Zippy Car, you will own one of the best cars in the world.

When you work with Smith, Jones & Washington, you will be confident that you're receiving sound advice.

But one simple question may still remain in your clients' minds: "Why?" And the answer to this question is, "Because." Well, maybe that's not the entire answer, but it is the first word of the answer.
When you _______________,
you will _______________,
because _________________________.

This third and final blank (what we often call the support for the Brand Promise) can sometimes be a little more difficult to fill in. And in many cases, you may have different and changing support statements depending on the audience, the medium, and what is going on in the marketplace. However, to give you an idea of how to support your Brand Promise, here are some potential support statements for the Brand Promises listed above. When you visit GiggleFliggle.com, you will find the smartest toys available, because all of our toys inspire creativity, are made in the USA, and are non-toxic.

When you bring your car to QuickOil, your car will receive the best possible care, because all of our technicians are QO certified.

When you buy a Zippy Car, you will own one of the best cars in the world, because we recently won three Automobile of the Year Awards.

When you work with Smith, Jones & Washington, you will be confident that you're receiving sound advice, because we have the most committed consultants in the industry.

Because these support statements may frequently change, it's important to nail down the first two blanks first. And then, continually revisit the third blank to make sure it's right for the specific tactic at hand.

Depending on how your audience is segmented, you may have multiple Brand Promises.

For example, a toy company might have one Brand Promise about "fun" to kids who will play with the toys, and another Promise about "education" to the parents who will buy the toys.

A flooring company may have one Promise to retail customers that's all about selection and price, and a different one to homebuilders that focuses on reliable installation and meeting deadlines.

An athletic shoe company may have a performance-based Brand Promise to athletes who wear the shoes for their sport, and a fashion-based Promise to those who wear the shoes as a part of their everyday casual apparel.

In addition to having different Brand Promises for different segments of your target audience, you may also need different promises for different products, product categories, or services you offer.

For example, the Brand Promise for a Dodge Caravan is bound to be different than the Promise for a Dodge Viper. Maybe that example is a little too obvious. Here's a subtler one. A company that sells deodorant might have one Brand Promise for their original line of scented antiperspirants, another for their line of athletic deodorants, and yet another Promise for their line of clear deodorants.

But no matter what your Brand Promise is, and how many of them you have, every piece of marketing you produce must explicitly state or at least imply this Promise. If not, what reason would your audience members have to act in the way that you desire?

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