Your brand promise is only what customers see but also what they FEEL. The eyes and brain create a kaleidoscope of impressions: past and present; real and perceived; rational and emotional. It is what is physically in front of customer’s eyes and senses, and then what the brain does with that information.
No one will ever know or remember your brand unless it is the same every time they are exposed to it.
It is the most important thing that the company promises to deliver – EVERY time.
Your Brand Promise is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.
Once you define these elements, your promise is to deliver every time, again and again and again! Without consistency, brand awareness becomes impossible to achieve.
Repetition is the key to the success of the branding promise. You must self-enforce and live it!
The next element is one most associated with brand identity – the specific physical items that make up the brand. By consistently using brand associations you successfully build brand awareness and can leverage your brand to help increase sales and obtain clients. These artifacts are designed to work together, be used consistently, and be given enough time to have an impact. They should be used religiously.
Identify your brand artifacts. These include things such as your company name, logo, tagline, colors, typefaces and fonts, and visual imagery. Does your company name reflect your brand? You have a logo? Do you have a tag line and does it compliment or reflect your brand promise? Are your colors consistent in all your materials? Are your typefaces and fonts consistent on all your documents and on the Web site? Does your visual imagery reflect the image you want to project?
All of the aforementioned topics discuss how you are perceived by your clients and prospects and why they buy or work with you. Test perception versus reality with them, making sure what you say and believe you are, really is true and that it is relevant to your target market.
Ask yourself, why do my customers buy from me? You may be excellent at customer service, but what your customers most value you for is the quality of your work or availability. Your customer might even agree that you are excellent at customer service, but it is not the KEY reason why they work with you. If it’s not, then you’ve branded in an area your core customers don’t really care about. The brand promise you project should be the brand promise your customers most want.
The brand story describes your history, along with how your history adds value and credibility to the brand. It usually includes a summary of your products or services and illustrates how your unique philosophy or methodology impacts when you offer.
In a nutshell, your brand must be important to your core customers.
Competitive prices might open the door for consideration, but to win and retain the client, you need much more, e.g., product mix, service, look and marketing. All important options you need to re-examine to determine where you want to dominate. If you deliver a compelling, competitive advantage that delivers a superior customer benefit, you can only be challenged by the competition over a long period of time and at great cost.
Brand loyalty is the ultimate goal a company sets. It occurs because clients perceive that YOU, the Brand, offers the right product, features, images, level of quality, etc. at the right price. This perception becomes a foundation for a new buying habit and sustained relationship.
Brand loyalty is also important because of the following economic reasons:
Higher sales volume. Reducing customer loss can dramatically improve business growth and consistent purchases.
Premium pricing. As brand loyalty increases clients are less sensitive to price changes and are willing to pay more for their preferred service.
Retainer capabilities. Brand loyalists are less susceptible to competitive promotions. The result is lower costs for advertising, marketing and distribution. As the saying goes, it costs more to get a client than to keep one.
In order to convert occasional purchasers into brand loyalists, habits must be reinforced. Prospects must be reminded of the value of your service and encouraged to continue working with you. Creating and reinforcing awareness are tools to accomplish this.
What if you approach a potential client and networking event or some other setting? You identify yourself, pitch your business, and ask the prospect to purchase from you. But the individual responds that they don’t know who you are, that they have never heard of your company, or that they don’t know about your products or services. You wonder, why this person responded to you in this manner. It’s because you have not established and articulated a strong brand. They have no reason to trust you. You must share your promise, stating what they can consistently expect from you or your services, and how they can differentiate your offerings from your competitors.
Devise a method to share your promise with the prospect; send a note, share an article of interest, learn about the prospects business, wants and needs, and think of ways you can solve her problems. Suggest non intrusive ways to assist, create a connection between you, your suggestions, your business and experiences.
Remember, people develop relationships with individuals they trust, and don’t trust people they don’t know. Until you share your promise, developing a bridge of trust between you and prospects, you won’t consistently get or keep clients. It may take time and commitment but eventually prospects will develop trust in your knowledge, background, experience, product and service and ask for your help – because they know you deliver. And when they ask, you know you’ve built trust between you.
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