When you decided to launch your new product, what promise did you make to the people who you want in your community? Did you genuinely mean it?
Did you develop something so remarkable that they will tell their friends?
Did you improve a feature of the product that people pay little attention to and you made cool and special?
Did you create an ecosystem that this product plays in that is unique and makes the product more enjoyable to use?
Have you eliminated something from all your products that your community doesn’t want and believes is harmful?
Marketing is about promises.
A promise must be meaningful to the person who will open up their wallet to buy from you. When you say it is all natural, you can’t fulfill your promise by skimping on almost natural ingredients.
If you tell me the product is Fair Trade, you can’t ever substitute non-Fair-Trade goods and hope to get away with it.
Don’t tell me how much you care about your community in your CSR when you don’t treat employees fairly and respect. If you say you care, live up to that promise.
A promise is an implied commitment forever. It isn’t a promise just for today and this purchase but forever. It’s not something to be taken lightly and truly requires a committed leader and culture.
I believe Jeff Bezos from Amazon when he say that everything they do is focused on what is best for their customers. I haven’t seen evidence or experienced disappointment with them living up to that standard. They aggressively fight to deliver incredible value to me as a customer.
My experience at Whole Foods demonstrates to me, at least twice a week that they live their promise too. Their openness with information reinforces that commitment to me every time I walk in their door when they reinforce their belief system publicly.
The airline industry is no longer keeping their promises. They make travel a burden and make it difficult to enjoy the experience. Even for those of us who travel frequently, airlines has broken so many promises that their brands are weakened and forever tarnished. And no, advertising does not make my disappointment go away. You broke your promise to me even when the problems were within your control.
The true test of a brand’s promise is when things are difficult not when they are going well.
When you can’t get the supply of those very special ingredients required to produce your juice, jam or gelato. what do you do and how do you keep your promise to your customers? I love brands that are faithful to their word.
How successful are you and your company at keeping promises?
What are the pain points that make it difficult to do what you said you’d do? Pressure from the board, shareholders getting greedy or are you just stuck with rising costs and no pricing power in the market? Brands have to resist the urge to walk away from the promise because without trust, a brand will crumble.
Your brand is simply an accumulation of all the promises you keep over time.
What promises are you keeping within your community?
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Jeffrey Slater
MomentSlater
