What is your brand promise?

[Diana Crites]

Do you have a brand promise? It's bad practice to have "accidental branding." Trust me.

A brand promise is a shortcut for your customer. Out of all the commerce clutter and confusion, how will they remember you? What makes you stand out? What do you deliver?

How you simply and effectively communicate your brand's message is vital. On Etsy, your forums, your banners, avatars, logo, communication. But what is primary to that is more key:what is your brand promise?

If you haven't mulled that over, now's a good time.

It should be concise, easily digestible, and resonate with your audience. It should be core to your process.

Let's try an exercise, if you're game! Tell me what you do and give me a brand promise or three.

What I do:
I consider myself a fine artist. I produce original art: mostly oils, but am branching out.

My brand promise: (I'm toying with a few)
"everyday dread"
"accessible surrealism"
or the short and sweet "creepy"

My goal in all of my marketing efforts is to revolve around this central brand promise. This is what I do, it's memorable, and people respond to it. And remember it. It's working for me.

How about you?

[Pam Hawk]

Yes. Very feminine. Delicate and beautiful, and nostalgic.

Please pardon my brutal honesty with this next question about your wire crochet cuffs:
When looking at your pictures and thinking about the fact that you were able to crochet wire, I always wonder: is it hard and itchy or soft? Will it feel like wearing a brillo pad? Or more like wearing lace?
Do other customers ask you about that, too?

Asking a focus group may find out what others think about your jewelry and help bring out more ideas to use in developing your brand promise - as well as ideas about how to introduce your lines.

[Kimberly Rogers]

*Numinosity*- "The emotional glow. or fascination an object instills, which is different from what we experience in ordinary life. a potent charm or awe-filled encounter"

This is a definition of numinous that I found. It's not my own quote. I hope to deliver this experience to the beholders of my art. So perhaps numinosity is my brand promise.
I started out as "Bingabeads" as very soon migrated to this name when my beads weren't coming out whimsical as I thought they would be taking with the glass medium.
I just happened to run into my Jungian dream teacher when I was trying to market my first earrings downtown and the word jumped into my head.

I just found this thread today. I hope you don't mind me reviving it. From what I can tell summer mode has taken over our lives. I'm in the throes of selling my house. gasp...
I'll try to chime in from time to time.

[Pam Hawk]

Numinosity.
What a brilliant word, and it so aptly describes your glass work and jewelry.
Especially the pins.

I just wonder, though. Do your customers and prospects know what that means? Or will they think you're referring to numerology or just not understand the word?

[Kimberly Rogers]

Oh yes, some people totally get it and some have no idea even how to pronounce it. Some people think I'm into numismatics (coins)
I have to say "Newwwman" like Jerry Seinfeld.
I have a definition at written out at my booth and on my website.
I actually migrated more to my own name under advisement of my favorite gallery owner. She thought it was important to get my name out there and that Numinosity is hard to remember and kind of esoteric. So now I primarily go under the banner of Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads