Content and Congruence: Getting your story straight

I was on hold the other day. You know the story: “Your call is important to us.” Seriously? If it’s so important why am I on hold for 20 minutes?

This is a prime example of the brand experience not aligned with the brand story.

If someone is touting Concierge Service, I better feel pretty darned special. Most-important-person-in-your-day special. Don’t just put the words there; make sure your brand delivers on that promise at every instance where it interacts with your client.

Why?

• Disappointment is brand killer: When you promise and don’t deliver, you aren’t just creating one bad experience. You have put a bitter memory that will take extra effort to overcome. Bad experiences create a strong and lasting memory. You’ve set an expectation of future negative experiences.


• Congruence reinforces memory: A brand experience that is exactly as you promised—and maybe more—stamps your brand promise into a customer’s memory. It proves what you said. You are building trust and strong relationships with your brand.


• Confused customers don’t buy. When the content about your product or service doesn’t align with your brand personality, you build the wrong expectation. For example, if your content includes words like “bespoke” and, well, you’re really just not that fancy, you’ve built anticipation for a concierge experience you don’t deliver.

So, make sure when you build your brand, you are very clear about what your brand represents, what its personality is, who your ideal client is and the experience you want those clients to have. Keep your message aligned and in agreement those precepts. When you get your story straight, it’s clear to prospects and customers what you represent. They let you own that position in their mind. And that important real estate is essential to your brand.

Do you need to clarify your brand message? Contact ALLE.