Not every garden centre has a brand promise or tagline but for those that do, hand on heart does your business live up to it?
Taglines and brand promises are marketing messages that support your brand and used consistently with your organisations name and logo.
Marketing gurus often say a tagline is an external message that inspires customers to support you, whereas a brand promise is an internal rallying cry.
These days this may be so for manufacturers but surely more important for retailers is the external perception you convey about your business and the experience you will deliver - that is your brand and it sets you apart from others.
Not every garden centre has a brand promise but for those that do, hand on heart, does your business live up to it?
Here’s some promises from brands common to us worldwide
BMW: the ultimate driving machine; Nike: to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world; H&M: more fashion choices that are good for people, the planet and your wallet; Starbucks: to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time; Marriott: Quiet luxury, crafted experiences, intuitive service; Walmart: Save money, live better; IKEA: To create a better everyday life for the many people; Spotify: Music for everyone; Levis: Quality never goes out of style; Target: Expect more, pay less.
Does your business need a brand promise?
Promises in the past often focussed on direct product-or service related benefits. These days it focusses more on the types of outcomes the customer may experience. Usually they are meaningful outcomes emotionally based, personal, societal and ecological outcomes the experience may create.
- A brand promise drives focus and direction for the business and staff.
- It differentiates you against competitors in meaningful ways.
- It drives a sense of purpose and strengthens healthy attitudes and behaviours across a workplace. Everything and everyone pulls together
- Customers see your ideals as something they can engage with or share.
- If you don’t deliver your brand promise to customers and your team, in time you and it, won’t matter to them.
How do you choose a brand promise?
Here are some garden centre tagline or brand promises we've come across:
The first name in good gardens Where ideas bloom
Outside thinking The complete garden centre
A world of gardening Growing inspiration
For garden pleasure Plant and life
Blooming great Growing your garden
The experience is growing The art of gardening
What do you feel about these? What are the comments and questions springing up in your mind?
We're often impressed by the creativity of peoples minds but for many, you are probably thinking “how can they possibly make that claim or live up to that promise” or saying to yourself “yeah right!” in disbelief.
Can our statement be measured? For your brand promise to be effective it must be measurable, therefore you must be able to define what it means. If you can’t measure it you can’t manage it, right?
Is it memorable? It must stick in people’s minds – because a brand exists in the minds of consumers, nowhere else
Is it meaningful? – a brand promise is nothing if it’s not followed through with action. If you make a promise to customers you must deliver. If you don’t you’ll lose them.
Garden centres can sometimes have a big barrier to consistently delivering on their promises – their employees! Yet they are the ones who daily make the strongest and most lasting impression on customers
Educate everyone who works in your garden centre about what your brand stands for and why it matters
What is the value of your brand promise?
The only way to be certain is to collect data regularly. You can’t hope to stay competitive without knowing the experience customers enjoy aligns with your brand promise