Posted on Mar 18, 2013

The Value of Certainty in Marketing

The value of certainty means mental state of being without doubt; confident and assured.

Marketing Questions:

Do your customers speak with certainty about your brand?
Do your employees speak and act with confidence and assurance?
What needs to change to remove any and all doubt about your brand?
When a crisis hits, will your brand demonstrate the confidence and assurance to survive?
When under pressure to perform, does your brand give customers a sense of certainty?

The Commitment to Certainty

No one expects people to be perfect. But we do expect it from brands we buy.

Why?

A brand is a promise. It’s a symbol of trust. We expect brands to deliver on their promises, and we know exactly when they fail to deliver.

How do you feel when you visit a favorite restaurant chain and the food or service is not up to par?
What do you say to the dealer when you test-drive a new car from your preferred brand and it disappoints you?
How do you respond when you order from your trusted online supplier and the product arrives defective?

When a brand fails to deliver on its promise, is all hope lost? Thankfully, no. Just like people, a brand can get another chance – providing it embraces the value of certainty.

In marketing, certainty is about people and culture.

When the team of people behind a brand believe in it so strongly that they will do anything to defend it, that instills confidence. This includes:

Front line employees willing to make decisions without management approval to fulfill the brand promise.
Management proactively putting processes in place to identify and resolve potential issues before they become a problem.
Owners offering rewards for creative ways to improve on a brand’s promise.
Strategic partners protecting the brand by sharing useful insights, offering helpful solutions, and collaborating for mutual benefit.

Doubt disappears when everyone involved with a brand possesses a commitment to certainty. It’s the assurance that even if we live in an imperfect world, each person is trying to help the brand be perfect. That leads to confidence. And confidence can be felt by the customer.