Brand Promise... Do You Have One?

What is the promise of your brand? It's important to know. The brand promise is what separates you, your products and services from all others. I was recently reminded about this concept as I was reading all the negative press on Britney Spears' latest performance at the VMAs. I can't believe I'm actually using her name in my post, but all of this media attention gives us great material for learning about brand promise.

When people used to think of Britney or similar performers, they thought "entertaining", "sexy", and "unique". After so much media exposure, the Britney brand had become well established - creating an expectation among her audience.

Fast forward to the recent VMAs. The experience that "users" expected wasn't met. Based on the previous brand equity that Britney has built up, many individuals are okay that she didn't look or sound her best. This is synonymous with walking into your favorite restaurant, the one you've eaten at dozens of time before, and having a bad meal (or perhaps the service was less than stellar). Either way, you'd probably dismiss it as an "off" night because of all the brand equity that has been built up from so many previous experiences that were positive.

This underscores the importance of a few things. First and foremost, ensure that your customers have strong first impression/experience with your company. Secondly, review, analyze and measure each customer interaction. Are you delivering a positive and consistent experience with each interaction that lives up to your brand promise?

Be mindful of your brand promise and whether or not you're keeping that promise during the on-boarding process with new customers and throughout the customer relationship. This guarantees a long term commitment from your customer base and a healthy business going forward.