brand promise and core customer

Execute For Growth

RhythmBrand Promise & Core Customer

2008-2015 Rhythm Systems, Inc.

Brand Promise

The promise you make to your customers

It must really matter to your customers

It must differentiate you from your competition

2012-2015 Rhythm Systems, Inc.NOTE TO FACILITATOR: This is an educational slide.

Your Brand Promise is the promise you're making to your customers that both really matters to them and makes you different from your competitors.

Brand PromiseIts HOW you sell your WHAT to your WHO

WHO? Your Core Customer & their Needs

WHAT? What makes you unique or at least uncommon

HOW? The persuasive strategy that will convince your WHO to buy your WHAT


Your Brand Promise will help you win more of the Right Customers by helping you focus on HOW you sell your WHAT to your WHO.

How to Determine Your Brand Promise:Identify your WHO: Your Core Customer and their Needs (not wants)Identify your WHAT: Determine what is your unique or uncommon offering to your Core CustomerIdentify your HOW: How becomes the persuasive strategy that will convince the core customer to buy the firm's uncommon offering vs. all competitive offerings. This sells WHAT to WHO.

Power of A Great Brand PromiseEasily attract your core customerFocus sales and delivery teamsClose deals faster and easierPlay to your strengthsGain clarity on whats important to your core customerMakes you memorable, remarkable, and standout in the market


This is what a great Brand Promise can do for your company.

Decide on your SandboxIdentify your WHODiscuss their needs (vs. wants)Understand what you are uniquely qualified to deliverDetermine your Brand Promise

Steps to Determine Your Brand Promise


These are the steps this slide deck will walk through to help you determine your Brand Promise.

What is your Sandbox?(Where will you DOMINATE over the next 3-5 years?)Where will you sell? (geography)What will you sell? (product lines)Distribution Channel? (B2B, B2C, dedicated sales force, sales reps, on-line, retail)

2012-2015 Rhythm Systems, Inc.NOTE TO FACILITATOR: This is a discussion slide.

Before we jump into the specifics of your Core Customer, lets narrow the scope a little and first clarify your Sandbox (market).

Clarity around your Sandbox should answer the question what market will you dominate over the next 3-5 years? The sandbox should be large enough to support your 3-5 year revenue and market share goals, but concise enough to give you direction and focus.

Its not necessarily to limit where you will sell, only to clarify where you want to focus your resources. And again, this is not a forever decision, just over the next 3-5 years.

The key questions for discussion here are:#1 Where will you sell?#2 What will you sell?#3 Distribution Channel?

Document your thoughts here in Rhythm: https://rhythm.rhythmsystems.com/#BrandPromisePlace:;tab=1;seg=2

Who is your WHO?The ONE you cannot live without A real person, not a category Much deeper than market segments They have reasons, emotions, fears, interests they have NEEDS

2012-2015 Rhythm Systems, Inc.NOTE TO FACILITATOR: This is an education slide.

In his book The Inside Advantage, Bob Bloom has created a simple and repeatable four step process to help determine your Core Customer. The process helps you clarify Who? (is your core customer) What? (you are selling) How? (you position and sell it), and the Imaginative Acts? (that differentiate you and make you successful). The end result is a simple and compelling one page statement encompassing these four items.

To make sure your Who is clear, you must be able to describe your customer as a living, breathing person. A person you can get to know, develop a relationship with, form a mental picture of. You dont sell your product or service to a demographic, you sell it to a real person. Your WHO describes the customer most likely to buy your product or service in the quantity required for optimal profit! Your WHO is the customer you cant live without.

To get to your WHO, you should be able to describe your Core Customer in 20 words or less.

Why do you need to know your Core Customer?They will buy at optimal price & quantity to generate profit Personalizing your who allows you to really understand them This allows you to focus your resources & clarify your messageYou can discover their habits and determine the best way to reach them social media, on-line media


There are four key things to consider about your Core Customer. #1 Your Core Customer will purchase your product at the optimal price point and quantity to generate profit. #2 Your WHO is a real person, with wants, needs and fears they are not a lifeless profile on paper they are alive and are just like you and me AND they have specific reasons, emotions and interests in your product. #3 You should focus significant resources on attracting and talking to your WHO so that your message is clear and compelling. #4 Your Core Customer has an online identity that can be appealed to through social and digital media.

An adult man or woman who wants and can afford an exceptional personal training experienceExampleStart-Up Fitness Center

2012-2015 Rhythm Systems, Inc.NOTE TO FACILITATOR: This is an example slide.

This example of the Core Customer for a start up fitness center comes from p. 190 of The Inside Advantage.

More Examples of Core Customer: An affluent local male or female status seeker who is looking for a fashion statementAn individual, or family, or community that is underserved in terms of human needs or resourcesA financial professional who provides advice and solutions to clients who want or need to be better informed about insurance

Their WHO?A mom who wants her young children to get more nutrition

ExampleRealized it is not the child who is making the purchasing decisionDeveloped web strategy targeting their online savvy WHOResult: #1 brand in category, $400m a year in sales


A few years ago, Nestle hired Bob Bloom to help them create a breakaway strategy for the juice category. Bob took them through the WHO, WHAT, HOW and Imaginative Acts process, resulting in the realization that their Core Customer was NOT the child wanting to drink Juice it was the 25-45 year old, middle class, stay at home mom who wants to ensure that her children have a nutritious juice drink at snack time or in their school lunch.

In addition, they found that their WHO was relatively web savvy and would go online to find out nutrition information, ask questions, and wanted to provide comments about their childrens habits. As a result, Nestle launched the Juicy Juice 100% Juice product and an interactive online website that catered to the mothers online preferences. The Inside Advantage Strategy vaulted Juicy Juice into the number one brand position in its category, and generated sales in excess of $400 Million a year.

Our WHO?The coachable CEO of a growing company with 50+ employees, and multiple levels of management who wants to empower their team to stay focused, aligned & accountable to achieve results.

Example


This is our Core Customer for Rhythm.

In 20 words or less:Who is Your Core Customer?Who are your best customers?Who makes the buying decision?What does your team love about working with them?What do they love about working with you and your team?What do they all have in common?Role, title, responsibilitiesCharacteristics, traits


Use the questions on the slide to have a discussion. Take notes on a flipchart or white board and look for patterns. Remember to think about your customer as a person, even if you are in a B to B industry (there is always a person who makes the decision whether to buy your product or service or not.)

Another way to run this discussion is to think about the customers who havent worked out:Who has been hard to work with? Who does your team not enjoy?Do you have customers that consume too much of your teams time and energy that just arent worth it for some reason?

After some discussion time, you should be able to write a description of the individual who represents your Core Customer using 20 words or less

You can document your Core Customer definition here in Rhythm: https://rhythm.rhythmsystems.com/#BrandPromisePlace:;tab=1;seg=0

The next step is to use this Core Customer definition to help you determine the right Brand Promise.

Now, what does your WHO Need?Focus on Needs not WantsWhat need is your competition unwilling or unable to meet?Put yourself in their shoesWhat keeps them awake at night?


Now that you have a clear image of who your core customer is, ask the question: what is it these customers truly need

We emphasize need versus want here, because while theyre usually pretty clear about what they want, they may not even completely understand for themselves what it is they need. But if you can figure that out for them, offer it in a unique or at least uncommon way, youll be able to add true value.

As you facilitate this discussion, make notes on a flipchart or document the needs of your Core Customer here in Rhythm: https://rhythm.rhythmsystems.com/#BrandPromisePlace:;tab=1;seg=0

Your Brand Promise is the key factor that sets you apart from all your competitors, and when you get it right, it will bring the right customers to you.

What are you uniquely qualified to deliver?That fulfills their NEED (Not Wants) What are your strengths & Core Competencies What are you uniquely qualified to do that others cannot do? Is there something you already do that they dont even know about? Do you have an asset you can use?If you have done the Hedgehog exercise consider your Best At

2012-2015 Rhythm Systems, Inc.NOTE TO FACILITATOR: This is an exercise slide. Use the questions on the slide to lead a discussion.

Heres a way to start this discussion:Look at your Strengths and Core competencies (these may be documented in Rhythm: https://rhythm.rhythmsystems.com/#LongTermStrategyPlace:;seg=2;tab=1).

q. What are you doing that works right now? Or has worked in the past?q: Think about the times when you were able to achieve customer delightq: Think about when you were able to WOW the customer

Again, as you are having this discussion, jot down ideas somewhere for the team to see and refer back to (either on a flipchart or whiteboard or in Rhythm).

Measured progress toward total wellbeingExampleStart-Up Fitness Center


Excerpt from p. 190 of The Inside Advantage.:WHO: An adult man or woman who wants and can afford an exceptional personal training experience

WHAT: Consistent progress toward complete personal well-being, planned and monitored by expert trainers and nutritionists

HOW: Provide a system of measurement and expert advice that assures progress toward an individuals evolving health and fitness goals

Peace of Mind

Had to raise the stakes from overnight deliveryNow, customers can know where their packages are at any timeExample

2012-2015 Rhythm Systems, Inc.NOTE TO FACILITATOR: This is an Example Slide.

From Verne Harnishs Brand Promise Article: http://university.rhythmsystems.com/images/Resources/BrandPromise.pdf FedExs latest brand promise, peace of mind raises the stakes. The measurable deliverable is the customers ability to know where his or her package is at all times. FedEx figured this out several years ago, and quietly spent a billion dollars a year making sure that customers big and small had the necessary terminals installed to handle this new tracking capability. They handed out disks containing the necessary software like so many AOL freebies. Now the brand promise is being sold via the marketing slogan, Relax, Its FedEx.

For more examples of Brand Promise, see the book The Inside Advantage or check out our blog: http://www.rhythmsystems.com/blog/brand-promise-examples-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly

The promise you will make to your customers that really matters to them and differentiates you from your competitionThink about your Core CustomerThink about their needsThink about your strengths & assetsThink about what your competition wont do

What is your Brand Promise?

2012-2015 Rhythm Systems, Inc.NOTE TO FACILITATOR: This is an exercise slide.

Now bring it all together. Consider all of the discussions youve had and notes youve made related to the previous slides. Brainstorm several ideas what could you promise to customers that would solve their problem and get them to say yes to you. Have the team continue to discuss until there is concensus around the main theme or idea. You may need to revisit the idea several times before it crystalizes and becomes completely clear.

Strive for something simple and easy to understand.

Dont worry about wordsmithing it the marketing team can work on that later for now it is just important for you as a team to really understand what it is.

Once you have a Brand Promise to work with, document it here in Rhythm: https://rhythm.rhythmsystems.com/#BrandPromisePlace:;tab=1;seg=0You can use the Comments tab here to continue sharing ideas and insights to tweak and refine your Brand Promise as you put it to the test.

Pitfalls To AvoidOverly complex promise that customers find confusingGeneric promise, not specific enoughPromising something that is tablestakes for your industry

Education


Typical pitfalls: Overly complex promise - multi-faceted - seems very intelligent yet confusing Too generic - not specificTablestakes doesnt make you unique

19

2012-2015 Rhythm Systems, Inc.NOTE TO FACILITATOR: This is an activity/discussion slide.

Use the questions on the slide to lead a discussion to test your brand promise.

Deliver On Your Brand PromiseThe real value lies in the system you create to ensure you deliver it:ActivitiesStrategiesBrand Promise KPIsBrand Promise Guarantee

Next Steps

2012-2015 Rhythm Systems, Inc.NOTE TO FACILITATOR: This is an education slide.

Now that you have tested your Brand Promise, the next step is to create a system and process for delivering on that promise.

The brand promise is not only about marketing, it is also about being able to deliver what you are promising:What are the right key activities?How are you measuring whether or not you are delivering? (KPIs)

Use Rhythm to set up KPIs and Priorities that Focus and Align your team to consistently deliver your Brand Promise in a way that attracts new customers and delights the ones you love. Discuss those priorities and KPIs at your weekly meetings. When you struggle to deliver on your promise, discuss what adjustments you need to make in your execution in order to get back on track to success.

When you are ready to work on your Brand Promise Guarantee, go to Rhythm University for help. (http://university.rhythmsystems.com/index.php/think/determine-my-brand-promise)

You can document the key activities, KPIs, and Guarantee in Rhythm (https://rhythm.rhythmsystems.com/#BrandPromisePlace:;tab=1;seg=0), or use the tool available in Rhythm University: http://university.rhythmsystems.com/images/Resources/BrandPromiseToolED.pdf

How to Bring Your Brand Promise to LifeNext StepsAsk your Marketing team to test the messaging does it attract more prospects?

Have Sales team test it with prospects does it help close deals?

Have Service/Delivery team provide feedback on the customers you are attracting

Is it bringing alignment to your Sales and Service/Delivery team?

2012-2015 Rhythm Systems, Inc.NOTE TO FACILITATOR:

Put your Brand Promise in a think rhythm for a few months to collect the data to fine tune and tweak it based on whether you are getting the desired results.

brand promise and core customer

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