Brands must deliver what they promise

A key tenet of my view on brand success is that is is vital that a brand delivers what it promises.

There is an excellent article in Forbes.com (written by Kerry Bodin at Forrester) about how brands need to carefully match what they promise in their communications with what they are capable of delivering.

The article talks about two airline ads:

A United Airlines ad run a couple of years ago showing a dad (depicted as a cartoon character) being transformed into an unreal world where he slays dragons, receives a crown from 2 beautiful girls, etc. The implicit promise being - "You're going to feel like a king on our airline" - is one that United has had trouble living up to. 

There is clearly a massive gap between the promise and the reality. 

In contrast a recent JetBlue ad pokes fun at airlines competitors by imposing buggage fees on unsuspecting New York taxi passengers who rapidly become irate. The ads explicit message is - "if you  would't take it on the ground, don't take it in the air" - also has a promise behind it.

This approach is totally in-sync with what the airline delivers.

It isn't complicated. Check-out the PDD™ 

• If you over-promise it will result in disappointed consumers - who may not buy again.
• If you deliver what you promise then you are more likely to have happy consumers who will buy again.
• The winning approach however is to over-deliver your promise in a way that delights consumers. Delighted consumers are more likely to buy again and even tell their friends. This is a powerful way to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

The Forbes article goes onto explain that brand organisations should map out their consumers' journeys and design ways to deliver at every stage. 

This echoes my thoughts on what I call the path to advocacy framework.

Why not use it and collaborate with the appropriate leaders in your organisation to ensure that great brand experiences are designed for each stage of the path; and that the whole organisation is focused on delivering and delighting.

Marketing cycle to advocacy

In the old days marketers used linear funnels to help them plan marketing that aimed to move consumers through the funnel from awareness through various other stages to purchase.

The AIDA model - Attention, Interest, Desire and Action - being one of the most well known.

The power of consumers and the growth of the internet has forced marketers to change their thinking.

Mckinsey's last year started talking about the 'consumer decision journey' and Forrester Research have recently stated talking about the 'customer life cycle'.

Now it's my turn.

Above is my new 'cycle to advocacy'.

It is simply the path to advocacy framework I have been using for the past 2 years, but drawn in a cycle.

The stages are the same and its purpose the same....to provide a framework that enables marketers to work out:

• What brand experiences they want to deliver their consumers at each stage
• How to get the whole brand organisation (marketing, sales service, etc) to focus on collaborating to delight consumers in a way that gets them to buy again and become brand advocates.

If you are keen improve how your organisation builds brand experiences that will drive sales, loyalty and advocacy I recommend you check-out all three approaches.