Learn what a brand promise is and how to create one and deliver on it. This guide walks you through everything you need to know.
If someone asked you to sum up your brand’s value in one bold sentence, could you do it? That one bold sentence is your brand promise. It’s not just a catchy line; it’s the heartbeat of your brand. It’s the reason people trust you, buy from you, and come back for more.
A strong brand promise builds loyalty, sharpens your positioning, and drives real results. In this guide, we’re breaking down what a brand promise is, showing standout brand promise examples, and walking you through how to craft one that sticks (and sells).
What is a brand promise?
A brand promise is a clear and concise statement that communicates what customers can consistently expect from your brand. It reflects your company’s mission, values, and the experience you aim to deliver at every interaction. In other words, it can be defined as:
“A commitment your business makes to its customers.”
For example, Nike’s mission is “to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world (*If you have a body, you are an athlete).” This mission suggests a brand promise to inspire everyone to be active and challenge themselves. It also promises to deliver innovation through cutting-edge products. Finally, the footnote shows that this brand includes everyone, not just professional athletes.
Why your brand promise matters
A brand promise is essential for several reasons:
- It differentiates your brand. Your brand promise sets your company apart in a crowded market. Even among similar products, yours can be unique if you offer a different brand promise.
- It drives consistency. A brand promise acts like a north star for everything from your company’s messaging to customer service and operations. This makes it easier to make decisions, even when the options appear to be equally good (or equally bad). The choice that helps you deliver on your brand promise is the best one for your business.
Take Hippie Snacks, for example. Its brand promise is to deliver healthy snacks with sustainable ingredients that taste good. The company carries this brand promise to its workplace culture, too. In this video, Hippie Snacks founder Ian Walker explains how staff are rewarded for making sustainable lifestyle choices. This encourages employees to live out the values the company promises to uphold and promote.
- It builds trust and loyalty. When current and prospective customers know what to expect from you, and you deliver on your brand promise, they grow to trust your business more. They’ll keep returning because they know they can count on you to be consistent.
How to create a brand promise
Step 1: Know your audience
It’s useless to promise to deliver something that doesn’t matter to your customers. So the first step to creating a brand promise is understanding your target audience’s needs, motivations, and values. Remember to uphold inclusive branding to connect with diverse audiences.
Remember that your audience may not always be able to articulate what they’re looking for. Sometimes, we don’t know we want something until it actually exists. We were delighted with early mobile phones until this happened:
Step 2: Define your brand’s unique value
When you know what attributes and values are essential to your audience, it’s time for the second step: express the value you deliver. State clearly and concisely what makes your product or service unique, distinct, and valuable to your customers.
Warby Parker’s brand promise is “vision for all.” It delivers on this promise by:
- Making eyeglasses affordable
- Being accessible to customers online, in retail stores, “or even in their home”
- Donating glasses to people in need
The brand also makes it feel cool to wear glasses through humorous posts like this:
Step 3: Make it simple and memorable
Use everyday language that your customers understand. Ideally, use words that they use. Stay away from technical terms and jargon. This way, your customers will not only understand your brand promise but also remember it. Keep refining and rewriting your brand promise until it’s distilled into a simple statement (or two) that’s easy to understand.
For example, Envato promises to empower creatives with unlimited creative resources and one simple subscription. It’s got a set brand voice that’s clear and speaks to the audience.
This video is just one example of how Envato delivers on this promise:
How to deliver on your brand promise
Now you have a great brand promise, but you’re just getting started. The most important part is delivering on that brand promise. Don’t adopt a brand promise unless you’re absolutely sure that you can deliver, and deliver consistently.
For example, let’s say you’re a creative agency, and your brand promise is “professional results every time.” You could use Envato’s creative assets and AI tools to deliver on that promise. You could use InspoGen to spark a creative idea and then use professional graphic templates to give you a head start on the design. Smart use of tools and templates allows you to spend more time on the creative part of the job, while ensuring the professional results you’ve promised.
Here are other tips to deliver on your brand promise:
- Be authentic. Craft a brand promise that’s aligned with your brand’s values.
- Be realistic. Only commit to what you can deliver.
- Appeal to emotions. Connect with your audience’s emotions rather than just their logic or reasoning (one of the branding fundamentals).
- Be consistent. Deliver on your brand promise throughout the business, each touchpoint of the sales process, and over time.
Need more help with branding? Learn what branding is and pick up some branding tips.
What will you promise?
A brand promise is the foundation for earning your audience’s trust. It’s a guide to business decision-making. It provides cohesion and consistency to your messaging and operations. A compelling brand promise makes your business stand out in a crowded market. Most of all, when you deliver on a brand promise, it makes your customers connect with your brand on an emotional level.
Follow the steps above to craft your own powerful brand promise. Then use Envato’s creative assets, tutorials, and other resources to express and deliver on your brand promise.
