What’s your Promise?

When laying the groundwork for a successful brand, it can get pretty confusing to distinguish all the different brand elements. A brand promise can seem similar to a brand identity, and a brand identity can seem awfully close to a brand personality. Trust us—it’s all relative.

So, what makes up a brand promise and how does it differ from all the other branding components? A brand promise is, well, a promise, that your organization makes to customers. It’s the guarantee of an experience or value that they will receive each and every time they interact with your brand. It’s a statement that is meant to promise and inspire potential customers.

Building a brand promise goes hand-in-hand with your brand personality and positioning. It’s important to understand what makes up your brand as a whole before getting down to the nitty-gritty of promises, personalities and more.

If you’ve been following our blog series then you should already have a good idea of branding basics! But before you create a brand promise, consider these key things. 

Simple

A brand promise should be concise. It should be longer than a tagline, but shorter than a mission statement. According to our friends at Workfront, a brand promise combines the catchiness of a tagline and reinforces it with the essence of the company’s mission.

Credible

A brand promise, similar to personality, should be credible. This means that the message should be fact-checked and backed by research and observations about customer personas and behaviors. When your brand makes a promise, it needs to be fully equipped to fulfill it.

Unique

As we’ve emphasized with other aspects of branding, uniqueness is important. When choosing a brand promise, focus on what makes your brand unique. Do you use all sustainable products? Are you a family-owned and operated brand? If you hone in on what makes you different, customers will likely do the same.

Value

When customers choose to interact with your brand, they are investing their time, money and resources into your brand. Make sure that your brand promise is actually promising something of value. If it doesn’t, customers will find another brand that does.

Memorable

Similar to other branding aspects, you want to be memorable. A brand promise should resonate well with customers long after their purchase.

Competitors

Competitive data is perhaps some of the most valuable information to have at your disposal when building a brand. Looking to what other brands are doing, both in and outside of your target market, gives you an idea of what is successful. 

Here’s some examples of successful, memorable brand promises. 

Geico: “15 minutes or less can save you 15% or more on car insurance.”

Starbucks: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.”

Google: “Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

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What’s one thing that all these brands have in common? They kept promises. These brands are successful because when they make a promise, they strive to keep it. Customers value this and thus keep returning, referring friends and building the brand. Ready to start keeping promises? Let us help!

Updated: Feb 23, 2023