4 Ways to Live Your Brand Promise

Do You Consistently Live Your Brand Promise?

It is not always easy to live your brand promise.  With the speed of social media, big and visible branding mistakes can happen in seconds.

4 Smart Ways to Grow and Live Your Brand Promise
Companies that most often make branding mistakes often overly focus on the “what” and “how” of their product and neglect the “customer why.” They understand what the product is and how they will produce and try to sell it, but they forget to fully consider why people will want and need it. For some reason, they underestimate the importance of true market differentiation in the equation of how the product is perceived and embodied in the marketplace.

As rational as you need to be in order to commercialize your offerings, do not overlook the emotional side. It is, after all, what ultimately drives many purchases. Savvy consumers will research a product, near the decision point and then choose, not by their brain alone but also by their feelings. Savvy companies understand this and do all they can to elicit the positive emotional response that steers consumers in their direction by:

1. Looking Inside their Own Company and Developing a Culture that Supports their Brand
   Think, for example, of the tremendous effect service reps can have on how the product is perceived by the public. Reps work directly with the customers, one-on-one, and have the best sense of why the consumer appreciates the product — or not.

   Be sure you have invested in everyone who touches the customer to instill enthusiasm and loyalty to the brand.  Any misalignment between sales and marketing will dilute your brand promise.

2. Thinking Like a Customer
   Ask yourself why customers would want your product and how they would use it. What features are most important? What will make them fall in love with your product over others so they come back again and so they spread the good word to others?

   Putting the customer first makes all the difference.

3. Not Getting Complacent
   If you have a product that dominates the market, enjoy your success but don’t feel you can sit back and relax. Complacency at work is the enemy of higher performance.

   You need to continue to understand what consumers want. As their circumstances and needs change, so should your product and your outreach.

4. Making It Easy for People to do Business with You
   Examine the buying process and make sure that your customers face no annoying obstacles. Eliminate all the reasons for hesitation by considering how people engage with your product at each point in their buying decision. Test out the entire experience as if you were a buyer.

   Does your company make it easy to try and buy your offerings?

The Bottom Line
Grow your brand by putting the buyer and your employees back into the picture. Are your offerings easy to sell, try, and buy?

To learn more about setting your sales strategy up for high growth, download 7 Ways to Stress Test Your Current Sales Strategy