Building Your Brand Promise
As a new product to the marketplace (or perhaps an existing product that lacks brand identity), you have a name, identified product features, and perhaps you’re have a logo—but your brand itself does not yet exist. These are simply markers on the way to establishing your brand, as ideas about your product build over time. Your brand is not what you think or say you are. Your brand is who and what your customers say you are.
It’s your job to help craft that conversation.
Your brand should communicate the qualities, values, and attributes of what you are, and are not. It encourages people to buy your products. It is the promise you make to your customers—this is who we are, this is what we’re about.
Your brand promise is the unifying promise that will be used and supported throughout all your marketing, communication, and customer experiences. It’s not your vision or mission statement, rather, a promise you make to your audiences—and deliver on.
It’s one statement that can be broken down like this:
Your golf company is the: ___what_______ for: ___who_____ that want to: solve this problem.
The what: What are you?
First, let’s start with what your product is, and what it can do. This should be simple and to the point.
The who: Who is your target audience?
The answer isn’t “golfers”. We need to delve deeper to understand your ideal target audiences. Let’s move beyond “all golfers” to some truly segmented markets.
This can be broken down by demographics, geographics (location), and psychographics (based on prospective customer behaviors—how frequently the golf, have they seen a pro within the last year, have purchased golf equipment before, etc.)
Your WHO could also be tied to your solution meaning: we are targeting golfers with back pain or golfers who like new technology. Make sure you spend quality time researching this and learning this from your current customers to further identify just exactly who you are selling to. Google analytics can be a great starting point to develop your consumer profile by tapping the data of website visitors; lead source, search terminology, demographics, geography and much more.
The solution: What problem are you solving?
Articulate the value your product will provide from your customers point of view, and how it will help them solve their problem.
Keywords
Let’s focus on what messages you want your customers to say about you when someone asks their opinion. The images they associate with your golf product. Start with three to five words that describe what your golf company does. Think basic terms your customers might use to search for you on Google.
We need to incorporate these messages into your marketing efforts and the customer experience so we’re consistently conveying these attributes.
Now, you have something tangible to guide your efforts. We’ve clearly defined a promise statement and keywords that convey what your business is about, who you are, who your audiences are, and what they want from you.
With your brand promise in hand, you should now look at your business and see how each element of your company aligns or does not align with this. Does this messaging sync with your website, your internal emails, your ad campaigns, videos?
Your next move is to develop a brand image and brand content that moves your promise forward and into the view of your newly refined target audience.
Need more help finding your brand identity? We've helped launch over 40 golf products and can assist your business in building the right brand image - connect with us and learn more.
