Your Product Will Change, But Your Promise Should Not

Falling in love can cause you to make poor choices. That goes for business, too.

Many businesses become so enamored with their product (or service) features that they lose sight of why customers buy in the first place. In their quest to churn out new iterations and upgrades, they overlook the promise made to their buyers.

This product-centered approach is short-sighted, and we’re going to go over why (and what to do). Read on to see why you must shift to a promise-driven approach to strengthen your bond with consumers and secure their allegiance for a lifetime.

Make a Promise, Not Just a Product

Savvy businesses build their brand around a promise—a pledge of value they make to customers. This promise transcends any individual product.

Let’s look at some examples:

Southwest Airlines promises friendly, reliable, and affordable air travel. They don’t define themselves by the specific planes they fly.

Apple promises convenience, style, and thinking differently. Their brand retains its cachet even as they roll out products that might not always be on the bleeding-edge specifications-wise.

Starbucks promises a welcoming “third place” between work and home. Their brand retains its allure whether they’re selling coffee, tea, food, or merchandise.

In each case, the company makes a pledge to customers that goes beyond products. When you think Starbucks you do think coffee, but you think more than that. You think about the experience of Starbucks. That’s brand. And that’s built through a promise.

This promise becomes a competitive advantage.

The Product is Transient—The Promise is Forever

No matter how much they’re loved, products have a finite lifespan. I loved my 1st gen iPod, but it’s a brick.

Look at Kodak—once a titan of photography brought low by digital disruption.

Or Blockbuster, which thought its brick-and-mortar stores would always bring in customers.

But a company’s promise need never expire or go obsolete. Southwest still delivers a great flight experience, even though air travel has been transformed since the 1970s. If they keep their promise, they’ll be doing it in an era of space travel.

Apple and Starbucks still embody their core promises, even as they’ve rolled out thousands of new products.

Their promises give them flexibility to adapt with the times. They’re not tied to a bright blue candy-looking iMac or a Chocolate Black Tea Frappuccino with Earl Grey Jelly (I have no idea what that is but Starbucks used to offer it).

As long as they continue to fulfill their pledge to customers, they have permission to retire old products and try new ones.

Fulfilling the Promise Builds Real Loyalty

Promises create an emotional bond that products alone cannot achieve. And that bond begets loyalty.

Consider Peloton—they struggled to fulfill demand for their bikes and treadmills during the pandemic. Shortages forced people to wait months for their pricey equipment.

Yet few customers jumped to competitors. They were bought into the Peloton promise of an engaging, community-oriented fitness experience. Owning the gear was secondary. Peloton’s promise earned loyalty beyond any one product.

Companies earn this loyalty when the promise guides all their actions:

• Product design considers how to best fulfill the promise
• Marketing communicates the promise
• Support is ready to assist if the promise falls short
• Staff embrace their role in keeping the promise

The promise acts as True North for every customer touchpoint. Every decision made through the lens of that promise, because today’s product is just a means to an and.

If you’re a services business, it’s the same thing. Stop thinking in terms of “what I do for the customer” but “what is the bigger reason for customers to come to my business for their entire lives”?

Lead With Outcomes, Not Outputs

An old saying goes: “People don’t buy drills, they buy holes.” Customers are not moved by technical specs and features. They buy solutions to problems and desires.

The promise articulates the outcome a customer seeks. Features and technical details are outputs in service of that outcome.

Peloton shoppers don’t analyze metrics like resistance levels and video quality. They want the outcome of an engaging fitness experience. So Peloton emphasizes the promise in its marketing, not the specs.

Outcome-focused promises are also agile. The outputs can change with the times while the promise remains constant.

Southwest doesn’t define its brand by legroom inches and 737 models. The promise of friendly, reliable, and affordable air travel accommodates new planes and configurations.

Pinpoint the Desire, Then Build the Solution

Many entrepreneurs are so passionate about their product or service they put the cart before the horse. They start with the output then seek a market.

But when the product is the focus, it’s too easy to get lost in the weeds of features. You geek out with the tiny fraction of the customer base who cares about the stats rather than the purpose.

The promise-driven approach brings discipline. First pinpoint an unmet customer desire. Dig deep into the jobs they want done and the outcomes they seek.

Only then develop products purpose-built to fulfill that promise. Your passion should be for the customer, not the output. Build what they need, not just what you want to make.

The promise-driven approach is built around continuity. While products come and go, the pledge to customers remains steady. This is True North.

Fulfilling a promise earns loyalty beyond individual products. And focusing first on customer desires, not outputs, ensures your solutions are necessary and useful.

Though it requires discipline, this approach is well worth the effort. A lasting promise turns customers into lifelong fans who follow wherever your business leads. Is it time to shift your focus? If so, I’ve created a worksheet for you to get this solved fast. It’s available for free on the CEO Workbench.

I was completely failing at my first business.

I was yet another small firm saying “big firm quality at small firm prices” … and prospects weren’t biting. Why?

It was BORING.

Here’s how I fixed it:

Brands walk a fine line between communicating key information and fading into the background with boredom.

You need prospects to remember. Building a unique voice with a unique message makes your brand pop.

So how do you give your brand a voice that’s bold, memorable, and distinct? It’s not enough to just say you’re “different” or “innovative”. Or worst of all “just like the big guys but better prices” (ask me how I know).

You need a systematic process to uncover what makes you truly one-of-a-kind.

Think of your brand as an eccentric celebrity or superhero.

What makes someone like Lady Gaga stand out isn’t just her music – it’s her entire persona. From her wardrobe to her opinions, she’s unlike anyone else. Your brand needs that same X-factor.

Here’s a four-step process to build your brand’s captivating voice:

Step 1: Discover Your Brand’s True Personality

Start by asking: if my brand was an actual person, what would they be like?

Forget what you want people to think – what do they actually think after interacting with you?

Make a list of adjectives that describe your brand’s personality. Be brutally honest. Don’t hold back – really get to the core of how your brand makes people feel. Eclectic? Serious? Down-to-earth? Elitist? Trusted? Quirky? Professional?

The answer could be “nothing special” – which isn’t good, but at least now you know so we can fix it.

Step 2: Pick Your Celebrity Brand Doppelgänger

Now comes the fun part – which celebrity or superhero is most like your brand? Finding your brand’s celebrity doppelgänger (alter ego) creates a shorthand for what your brand embodies.

For example, if your brand is authoritative yet playful, you’re more Tony Stark than Captain America. If you’re an innovative pioneer in your industry, think Nikola Tesla, not Thomas Edison. If you’re aiming for bold yet glamorous, go for Lady Gaga over Celine Dion.

Making these connections crystallizes what your brand’s persona should be.

It also serves as a North Star when you’re creating content or making business decisions – “what would [my celebrity doppelgänger] do in this situation?”

Step 3: Establish Your Brand’s Core Contrarian Beliefs

Great brands all have something in common: a point of view that challenges the status quo. What common industry beliefs does your brand reject? How does your brand see the world differently than competitors?

For example, my marketing agency worked with law firms – and we believed that lawyer marketing should be based on bringing out the real people behind the stuffy suits. Don’t look fancy, look like a real person – which is the opposite of most legal marketing (and works better).

My eCommerce company is also doing it differently – our purpose is helping rescue animals before taking any profit. Who do you think customers are going to buy from – the company that’s making a difference, or the one hell bent on lining their pockets?

Clearly establishing your contrarian point of view is crucial. It’s not enough to say you “think differently,” are on the cutting edge, or have expertise – you need to specifically call out what you’re rebelling against and why.

For example, Tony Stark believes superheroes shouldn’t be anonymous vigilantes. Tesla believes gasoline-powered cars are primitive dinosaurs awaiting extinction. Lady Gaga believes artists must push boundaries through relentless reinvention.

Make a list of 3-5 core contrarian beliefs that will form your brand’s manifesto. What change does your brand want to inspire in the world?

Step 4: Tell Your Brand’s Captivating Origin Story

Every superhero has an origin story explaining their powers and motivations (e.g. Batman sees his parents murdered). Your brand’s origin story is a key touchpoint to connect with customers emotionally.

Does your brand fill an unmet need the founders once experienced? Were you an underdog disrupting a stagnant industry? Did you oversecome unique challenges to get where you are?

Craft your brand origin story to highlight what makes you singularly passionate about your mission.

And remember – origins can evolve over time. Tesla’s origin today is about accelerating sustainable energy, even though they started just aiming to build an electric sports car.

Bringing It All Together

With these four steps, you’ve uncovered your brand’s true persona, celebrity alter ego, central beliefs, and backstory.

Now it’s time to translate these insights into your brand voice. Here are some ways to do that:

• Content style: Embrace your brand’s personality in your content – be playful, authoritative, or outrageous as fits your persona.
• Messaging: Put your contrarian beliefs front and center in messaging to show you’re unlike competitors
• Visuals: Bring your brand persona to life with imagery that conjures your celebrity doppelgänger.
• Storytelling: Share your origin when introducing your brand – it’s part of what makes you exceptional.
• Values: Let your brand beliefs shape your culture and how you make business decisions.

Remember when my first business was failing? This is exactly what I did. And that took it from $70k/year to seven figures.

With this formula, your brand can develop a captivating voice that wows customers and sticks in their minds. The more you share what makes you genuinely one-of-a-kind, the more that authenticity will come through.

Embrace your brand’s kooky inner self. The success you’ll have will be anything but boring.

Want a shortcut do doing this? I’ve got a free worksheet for you at the CEO Workbench.

In my eCommerce business, we lose money acquiring every customer. I did the same thing at my agency. And even today, I’m looking for ways to lose more money.

Insanity? No, an understanding of how marketing REALLY works.

Marketing Drives Results, Everything Else is a Cost

“The purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two — and only two — basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.” – Peter Drucker

Peter Drucker perfectly encapsulated why sales and marketing are the lifeblood of any business. Too many businesses view sales and marketing spend as an expense. The reality is that customer acquisition is the one area where you can take $1 and make it $2.

Marketing Creates Customers – Who Create Revenue

I’m going to say the obvious because it bears repeating. Without customers, you have no revenue. And without marketing, you have no customers. Marketing brings in customers, who bring in revenue. That revenue is the fuel of the business.

Think of marketing as the seed that allows the rest of the business to grow. No seed, no growth.

Customers aren’t just a one-time revenue event. They have significant lifetime value if retained and nurtured properly.

The lifetime value of a retained customer will likely be a multiple of what that customer originally spent. This makes acquiring customers one of the best investments a business can make.

That’s part 1 of why I’m losing money acquiring customers in my business … More on this as I explain:

Building the Marketing Machine

As you refine your sales and marketing machine, customer acquisition costs can decrease. Yes, even if the cost of ads are going up (if you’re not sure how, visit CEOworkbench.com for free trainings). Conversion get more efficient. Messaging improves. Targeting gets sharper.

This means that over time, the same marketing investment yields an increasing number of customers. The return on investment goes up.

Marketing is leverage.

If you’ve rigged your ratios right a small increase in marketing budget can result in a disproportional increase in customers acquired.

Cutting Marketing Cripples Growth

When times get tough, weak leaders look to cut expenses. Marketing budgets are frequently first on the chopping block. This is, simply put, stupid.

Cutting your marketing efforts during downturns means fewer customers coming in. This reduces revenue. Which then requires more cuts. Puts you into a dangerous death spiral.

When others are fearful, get greedy.

It’s the best time to acquire customers.

Right now, my ad costs are up. I’m paying 2.5x my average order value to acquire customers. But I’m doubling down – because I understand that cutting marketing is long term suicide, and I understand long term math.

Marketing Pays Compound Interest

Think of marketing as a flywheel. At first it takes a lot of effort just to get it moving. But as customers beget more customers (through upsells, referrals and repeat business) it starts spinning faster.

Suddenly that initial push pays compound interest. The momentum takes over. But it never would have happened without investing up front.

Many businesses want to pull profits out of the company as soon as possible. But the fastest growth comes from reinvesting profits back into marketing to drive growth.

This virtuous cycle compounds over time. Taking money out too early cripples the company’s potential.

Marketing at a Loss Isn’t Always a Loss

Marketing allows you to acquire customers now in order to profit from them later. This is the idea behind loss leaders (and many subscription sales) – selling something below cost in order to land a customer who will be worth more over years.

Loss leaders don’t make money on the first sale. But the lifetime value of the customer makes up for it many times over.

But loss leaders are one of the reasons business owners get afraid. They calculate on the short term, get afraid, cut marketing budget … and lose in the long term.

As long as the lifetime value of a customer exceeds the cost to acquire them, marketing works.

That’s where I usually live. I’m fine losing money on the front end, because I know what the customer is worth.

The only question I need to answer is “how can I float the period while I’m underwater on customer acquisition?” Your answer may be different from mine: it could be cash from operations, debt, investors, factoring … But the point remains:

Do NOT stop marketing just because you lose money on the front end. It’s more nuanced than that.

Market or Die

Marketing is the thing that will determine whether your business has cashflow in the future.

You can make the decision now to invest in it, or to call it a cost and deny the reality of how business works.

Cash is oxygen for a business.

And marketing generates the cash.

Want a worksheet to calculate your marketing effectiveness? It’s available for free at CEOworkbench.com

What if finding new customers wasn’t so hard. What if it was just a matter of looking in different places?

Here are seven ways that we expand the customer bases for our portfolio companies:

1. ONLINE/OFFLINE:

Are you an online business? Look to move offline. On the other hand, if you’re an offline business, focus on building an online presence to reach new customers.

It might seem daunting – but that’s the reason why it works. Your competition won’t be doing it.

If you’re not familiar with the other half, we look to partnering with (or buying) an existing business to be up and running fast.

2. DEMOGRAPHIC:

Another way to expand your customer base is to appeal to different demographics. Could your product appeal to people who aren’t currently buying?

We ask: could this appeal to people who aren’t currently buying? Older/younger, male/female, married/unmarried, etc. Could we make a low-cost tweak to the product or offer and open up a new market?

The goal is to find new markets and reach customers who are not currently part of our target audience.

3. PSYCHOGRAPHIC:

“Psychographics” are appealing to different beliefs, values, lifestyles, social status, opinions, or activities. Different customers have different motivations for buying, and by understanding these motivations we can access new markets. For example, the “healthy living” buyer is not the same as the “status buyer,” but they might both be interested in your product if it’s presented correctly.

4. GEOGRAPHIC:

Operating in just one geography? Sometimes geographical expansion is the easiest because you can leverage your systems and processes quickly.

We look at whether we can buy an established player in a new geography and apply superior operations. You don’t need a pile of cash to do it; if you structure your business creatively, you can expand your reach and reach new customers.

5. CHANNEL PARTNERS:

Instead of selling directly to customers, we look to selling indirectly through channel partners. Many entrepreneurs focus on selling directly, because that’s how they started the business. However, there’s a huge world of resellers and distributors out there who can help you reach new customers.

6. JOINT PACKAGING:

Another way to reach new customers is to find other companies and partner to sell bundled products. We ask if there are companies that also sell to our customers but aren’t direct competitors. Then, we think about what kind of promotions could to create where both companies win.

7. CANNIBALIZE YOURSELF:

Finally, we look at cannibalizing our own offerings by making slight modifications and selling it under a different brand. For example, Procter & Gamble has more than six different dishwashing detergents. By disrupting ourselves before your competition does, we can reach new customers over the long term.

These are just a few of the ways you can expand your customer base and reach new markets. If you’re interested in learning more, I’ve added 45+ trainings for entrepreneurs on my site, CEOworkbench.com. All of these trainings are 100% free.