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Is Your Brand Putting People to Sleep?

Guest post by: Jessica Swanson

Article Overview: Learn the importance of creating a unique brand promise.

Is Your Brand Putting People to Sleep?

Just for fun, I decided to take a few minutes to surf through the internet looking for interesting small business promises (better known as the small business tagline). In just under fifteen minutes, I was able to find the following five brand promises:

1) We’re #1 in customer service.

2) We’ll help you succeed.

3) We’re the best of the best.

4) We’re not happy unless you’re happy.

5) We deliver top-quality at bottom dollar prices.

Obviously, these are variations on the same types of brand promises that thousands upon thousands of small business owners are flaunting every day.

And, every single one of them is putting their customers to sleep.

Let’s face it, these brand promises are bland, boring and vague. There’s absolutely nothing about any of these promises that is exceptional or out of the ordinary.

But most problematic is that all of these vague promises are simply what customers expect nowadays.

Like it or not, today’s customer expects top-quality, stellar service and great value.

Why do so many small businesses use lackluster taglines that don’t do a thing for their prospects?

1) They don’t know any better.

Many small business owners don’t realize the importance of creating a truly unique brand promise to their customers.

Interestingly enough, your business is either going to stand apart or blend in with the crowd. You might as well take control of the situation and make your small business as unique and distinctive as humanly possible.

2) They imitate their successful competitors.

Many small business owners actually think that copying their more successful competitors is a smart move. Why reinvent the wheel?

Unfortunately, if there is no comparable difference between you and #1, who do you think your customers are going to do business with? It’s a no-brainer.

3) They don’t put in the effort to create a unique difference.

Creating a unique brand promise takes a good amount of time and effort. It’s definitely not something that you can throw together in a few minutes.

But, it is a task that is essential to the overall success of your small business. It gives you clarity on why you’re different and helps you effectively communicate that difference to your prospects.

So, now it’s time to be honest with yourself. Are you clinging to a boring, bland small business promise that is putting your customers to sleep? If you are, it’s time to shake things up and make a promise that will cause your prospects to finally sit up and take notice.

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Article Tags: brand, Jessica Swanson, shoestring marketing, small business marketing



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