A brand promise is that particular term which is used as an official statement which is made by entities (a business organization) to approach their customers positively. The brand promise is thus, used to make their customers believe that the brand will beneficial to them.
It gives the customers hope that whatever they expect from the brand in terms of the features or facilities will be fulfilled. This is used in the context of the benefits and the experience that the customer has by purchasing the goods and services from a particular brand.
Understanding the concept of the brand promise
So basically as the name suggests, the term brand promise is nothing but a promise made by the brand that their product will fulfill the demands and the need of the customer in a certain way. It also helps in gaining the trust of the customers and thus maintaining a long term relationship with them.
The brand promise is taken into consideration in terms of the value proposition which is again one of the most critical aspects for a brand. The value proposition represents the unfitness of a particular brand and makes them stand out from their rival in a competitive marketing field.
The brand promise helps the companies to differentiate themselves from others even though all of them will be selling similar kind of products. This way by proving themselves different and much beet than the others, they will be able to gain more customers which in turn will lead to an increase in their sales.
A brand promise is a very powerful tool for any company. If it is used in a proper way, it will help the companies engage the trust of their customers. It increases their expectation from their products and hence motivates them to buy.
Also if the brand promise sues segments that are encouraging enough, it will increase the willingness of the customer to buy a particular product. A brand promise articulates such an ideology which surpasses the rational advantages that may have worked out in the past and emphasis more on an emotional reward of a higher order.
Many people confuse the brand promise to be like a slogan or a headline used for advertising. But this is not the case. This is not like a public statement or some unique selling proposition. So basically a brand promise is not about they say but how they perform.
It is about how the company or the business organization can create a strong connection with its customers that too for a longer duration. So for a brand promise to be effective, it not only focuses on the promises made in the past but also explores the emotional based, positive, societal as well as the ecological outcomes that may be created by the brand.
A brand promise that is purposeful not only focused on the profit aspects but also tries to forge deep, meaningful emotional connections with its customers which may in the long term give some useful results and outcomes. Thus brand promise is one of the branches of the corporate strategies which ha to maintain three of its objective which is the values, missing and the vision.
Thus brand promise for any organization helps them by providing a powerful platform which can justify all of these three core elements and then actualize it.
Examples of an effective brand promise
Now there are mainly two different ways in which the brand promise can be conveyed. The first one is through advertisement and the second approach is through marketing campaigns. Both the methods are equally beneficial for the company or the business organization to help establish their brand promise among the customers in the market.
Now the brand promises are often reflected through the tag lines of some companies. Some of the examples are-
1) Let us take the case of the company ‘Britannia.’
The tag line of this company is – ‘Eat Healthily, Think Better’. Now here through this tag line, the company makes a promise to its customers that the products that the Britannia Company delivers to its customers like the biscuits and cookies are healthy and will help the customers in growing better which in turn will help them improve their thinking abilities.
Now Britannia is a well-established company, and by using this tag line, things have only been better for them.
2) Another example we can consider is of the company ‘Vodafone.’
The tag line of this company is ‘wherever you go, we will follow.’ With the help of this tag line, the Vodafone company could assure their customers that wherever they will travel, they will get a good mobile network, irrespective of the fact that how remote location it may be.
Thus a compelling tag line that assures the customers that their demand will be fulfilled and helps them in gaining a considerable customer base and maintaining a long term relationship.
3) Let us take the example of Nike.
The tag line of this brand is ‘just does it.’ Now, this is a very famous tagline and inspires people to go ahead and do what they want to do instead of being lazy or afraid of something. This tagline time and again has created a buzz among the people.
Though this tag line, Nike promises to inspire people to push their limits and innovate new possibilities. Now, this brand is related to sport-related goods; they focus mainly on the athletic side of the people. On the bias of this tag in, they have also recently started campaigns targeting on the issue of the women empowerment and with the help of this social cause they were able to create such rage customer base.
4) Another example can be of coca cola.
The tagline of this brand is to “Refresh the world… to inspire moments of optimism and uplift…. To create value and make a difference.” This is yet another influential tag line that supports the strong brand promise. With the help of this tagline, they are not focusing much on their products, but instead, they are focusing on the mindset of the people.
This way they were abet o gain the trust of the people and hence increase large customer base which is loyal to them.
How can a compelling brand promise be built?
Now a brand helps the companies in letting their customers know what they stand for. A brand promise can be related to any of the social causes which may help the brands to connect with their customers at an emotional level.
Thus a brand promise should be in the form of that statement which should be both clear and distilled enough. Therefore the brand promise is something that defines the company on an overall basis and touches every single aspect of that business.
For a brand promise to be compelling enough, five building blocks should be taken into consideration.
These building blocks are as follows-
1) It should be simple
To have an effective brand promise, make sure that it is made in simpler language and does not have a very in-depth meaning so that the ordinary people have to brainstorm to understand it. A tag line should be such that it should be simple but effective at the same time.
One or two sentences are enough to have a good tag line. One should make sure that the phrase that is being used as a tagline is catchy enough and at the same time reinforces the mission of the company.
2) It should be credible
This is another building block for a compelling brand promise. The value of the brand may weaken immediately if the objective of the brand promise does not match the experiences of the customer.
If that happens, the company may lose a good number of its customer base. So to strengthen the value of the brand, the companies should make sure that their brand promise stands up to the expectation of their customers.
3) It should be unique
If the tag lines sound similar to those of its competitors, the customers wouldn’t be able to differentiate between the two. So to have the maximum benefit from the brand promise, it is essential that the tag lines are different and catchy.
4) It should be memorable
A brand promise should be such that it creates an impact on the mind of the customers. A tag line should be such that it just fits in the mind of people who listen to it once. Example like Nike says- ‘if you have a body, you are an athlete.
This way the Nike makes people believing themselves by winning the hearts of common people who far from being an athlete. And in this way, people can’t forget this tag line.
5) It should be inspiring
A brand promise is meant to encourage people. For example, Apple says ‘Think Different.’ This is such a simple tagline, but so effective. It inspires people to have different missed and always remain inquisitive.
The brand promise is quite essential for any company because if it is good enough, it will help the company stand apart from its competitors and win the heart of their customers.
