One of the most potent tools we have is our brand promise. Our brand promise helps prospects understand the difference we pledge to make in their lives. When written well, it can be a powerful expression, charged with emotion.

Unfortunately, too many brand promises feel clinical and uninspiring. If your brand promise lacks verve, how can you expect any message that emanates from that promise to feel exciting and memorable?

The curse of ‘one more thing’

There is so much we want people to know about our brand. So much we want to say. So we have the inclination to try and sneak one more thing into our brand promise. And since we’re adding that one more thing, we go ahead and add one last thing. And maybe one more last thing. Before you know it, we have a brand promise that is a rambling statement that has a hard time helping prospects understand why they should care.

I was working with a group that was struggling with this challenge. Their brand had a more robust offering than the competition. Because of that, they wanted to make sure everyone knew all the things that made their offering superior. But the more they packed into their brand promise, the more complicated it got. And the less compelling it became.

Although it had an inferior offering, the competitor brand had a simple and concise brand promise which made it compelling. As a result, the competitor was able to capture an outsized percentage of share of mind.

Ultimately, the challenge for my client was to roll up all those things that they did (and wanted to talk about) into a compelling brand promise. This meant changing the way they thought about the promise. It had to become less about what they wanted to say about their brand and more about what would be most relevant and compelling to those they hoped to serve.

That involved eliminating details in the brand promise in order to focus on the larger impact the brand could have in the lives of prospects. It didn’t mean we had to give up talking about those details completely. It just meant that those details took on a secondary role, becoming part of the messages that would support the brand promise.

The power of subtracting

When we think about improving something, we all have a tendency to search for what we can add to make it better. But in many cases (especially with a brand promise), your best opportunity to strengthen your outcome lies in understanding how to strategically subtract. Subtract the elements that complicate. Subtract the language that confuses. 

Resist the urge to add and embrace the challenge to explore what you can subtract. I promise you that the effort will multiply your impact.