Brand promise: A make or break for your business | Deloitte Report
In every industry today, businesses and consumers are bombarded with an overwhelming choice of products and services. A distinctive and well-executed brand promise can cut through the clutter and drive intense customer loyalty and increased revenue. In short, a brand promise has the potential to make or break a brand.
Why is your brand promise so important?
While a brand promise may seem hard to define, it can directly affect your company's bottom line—positively or negatively. It can translate into lower cost of sales because selling more products and services to loyal, emotionally connected customers is less expensive than winning over new customers. Furthermore, when your company consistently delivers on its brand promise, it reinforces the organization's reputation and builds brand equity—a store of goodwill that can help you weather situations when the customer experience may be compromised.
Delivering on brand promise is directly tied to overall brand strength, and there's plenty of evidence that a strong brand affects financial performance. In 2014, the top 100 global brands were valued at $2.9 trillion.1 In addition, the share prices of the top 100 global brands outperformed the S&P 500 by over 30 percent from April 2006 to April 2014.2
On the other hand, when a company fails to stand behind its brand promise, the opposite can happen. Look no further than product recalls or negative social media attention to see how not delivering on a brand promise can adversely impact a company, both in terms of reputation and market value. With such a hefty premium placed on brand and reputation, it's more important than ever to be on the alert for situations that can damage or sabotage them.
1 "BrandZ: Top 100 most valuable global brands 2016," Millward Brown
2 Ibid
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