3 Easy Steps to Build Your Brand Promise [+ Examples]

A few months after starting a former job, I attended a workshop in which we discussed our brand promise.

It was a clarifying moment for me — despite having a solid mission and vision statement, it was the brand promise that really defined the heart of the company and what my role was.

A brand promise isn‘t just a tagline — it’s a way to show customers what your brand can offer that no one else can.

Like other kinds of promises, brand promises can get complicated. They set high expectations, offer ambitious commitments, and impact relationships.

Let’s talk about what a brand promise is, how to create a brand promise, and see examples from popular B2B and B2C brands. We’ll also share a brand promise template to help you draft your own.

Keep reading or jump ahead to the section you're looking for:

• What is a brand promise?
• Why Your Brand Promise Is Important
• How to Write a Brand Promise
• What makes a brand promise successful?
• Brand Promise Template
• Brand Promise Examples
• Examples of Brand Promises for B2B

Your brand promise should be central to your company, something that remains constant even as the company grows and evolves.

Not every brand promise is explicit — it could also be more of an internal mantra that's shared with employees, investors, and partners.

But if you’ve built a strong brand identity and clear messaging, your brand promise will be evident to your target audience. (And if you're still working on your brand identity and messaging, we've got a free guide to help.)

Brand Promise vs. Tagline

There‘s often some confusion between a brand promise and a tagline, so let’s break it down.

While it can be just as short as a tagline, a brand promise establishes and nurtures a relationship with consumers by telling them, "Hey, this is what you can expect every single time you interact with our brand."

A brand promise isn’t lofty — it’s grounded in the realities of your business. It can:

• Help internal and external stakeholders know what to expect from you.
• Gain consumer trust.
• Be the foundation for your company’s consumer interactions.

A Quick Brand Promise Definition

Brand promises are short statements. They make a commitment to your customer about what your brand will deliver.

It is a promise, after all. So if you break it, it can affect your reputation and your revenue.

For instance, let‘s say your brand promise is "Innovation at every turn," but your company hasn’t released a new product in five years. That can deter potential consumers who have been promised progress but instead get stagnation.

Here are the most common types of brand promises:

• Emotional: A promise appealing to emotion.
• Action-based: A promise tied to a specific action.
• Social: A promise based on ethical or social responsibility.

Why Your Brand Promise Is Important

This message can have a big impact on customer sentiment, brand reputation, and more. A brand promise is a social contract between your company and the customer or consumer.

You may not have a legally binding document swearing that your company will innovate at every turn, but it’s understood that consumers are giving you something (like their hard-earned money) in exchange for a product or service.

It’s the scaled, commercial version of a pinky promise, with your brand holding up one finger and your target audience holding up the other.

And if you’re not taking your brand promise as seriously as a legally binding document, you’re at risk of losing not just your customers, but your market valuation, employees, and other stakeholders.

Delivering on your brand promise can help your business grow by building trust with your target audiences and boosting sales.

But how can you pack all that power into a single message? Let's talk about how to create your brand promise.

How to Write a Brand Promise

1. Focus on your audience.

Your brand promise outlines your commitment to your audience. So, to figure out what your promise should be, your first step is determining what your audience wants from you.

It goes beyond a specific product or service, it‘s more specific to the experience you’re providing.

For instance, Planet Fitness's brand promise is based on people's reluctance to join the gym for fear of judgment and embarrassment. The Planet Fitness brand promises to create an environment that encourages people at all fitness levels to go to the gym and feel comfortable working out.

Another goal of your brand promise is to set you apart from your competitors. What makes you unique — your customer service, your product, your mission, your values? Build on that to make a promise that's distinctive.

In Planet Fitness' case, the brand did something no one else had done: Address the problem with the gym environment, not its users.

As you learn about what your audience wants, keep asking questions. How much do they know about your industry? What information do they need before making a purchase?

It‘s important to remember that your brand promise isn’t simply a slogan or commitment. It's the first step in building a community with shared values. The better you understand your audience, the more likely you are to engage them.

If you haven't already, develop buyer personas and workshop messages that could resonate with each persona.

Featured Resource: Make My Persona

2. Think about your customer touch points.

Your brand promise is your guarantee to customers.

Whether your customer is in-store, on social media, or buying online, place yourself in their shoes and envision how you want those interactions to go. Is there a specific feeling involved? What do they have to gain?

For example, say a customer spends a lot of time on your website but hasn‘t made a purchase. Do you know why they’re hesitating? If you were speaking to this customer in person, what would you say to help them move to the next step?

Once you put those feelings into words, you'll be able to craft a brand promise that reflects the experience you want to promote.

As an exercise, you may find it useful to draft three or more secondary promises for each touch point. They can help you home in on your main brand promise and narrow your focus to how different touch points impact customer experience.

Your ultimate brand promise should be consistent across every touch point. So, the more time you spend looking at it from every angle, the more likely you are to create a powerful brand promise.

Featured Resource: Customer Journey Map Template

3. Keep it simple, unique, and inspiring.

Your brand promise should be clear and to the point — something you can say in one sentence. It won't necessarily be as fun as a tagline, but it should definitely inspire trust and confidence.

Be thoughtful about which words you choose and who your audience is.

Does your brand promise need industry-specific terms? Is your brand promise about selling an offer or explaining your product? Answering these questions can help you find the right vocabulary for your promise.

Next, introduce some play into your writing. Think about your company culture, awakening the senses, and the details that can paint a picture for your audience.

This process will probably give you more copy than you need, but it can help you find an authentic and empathetic voice.

Then you can edit your brand promise into a single succinct statement that is useful, positive, and hopeful.

If you can‘t articulate your promise in this way, perhaps you haven’t fully fleshed out your brand's purpose.

If that's the case, start by asking yourself these questions:

• What should my customers expect from me?
• What does my company stand for?
• What makes us different from our competitors?

What makes a brand promise successful?

“A brand promise,” brand consultant Cornelis Jacobs tells me, “is basically your identity. If your brand didn’t exist, what would the world miss?”

That world doesn’t have to be at a global scale — the target market for a corner bakery might be a single neighborhood. Whether you’re selling cupcakes or iPads, your brand promise has to create and nurture a relationship.

“It’s creating trust,” says Jacobs. “I give money in exchange for a product or service. There’s trust that the brand will deliver on that promise.” Jacobs sees two components to that trust: reliability and delight.

An inability to deliver on your brand promise — “that’s game over,” says Jacobs.

The long-term effects on brand perception can be devastating if you lose credibility by breaking a promise.

Here are four key elements to consider as you craft your brand promise:

Credibility

Your brand promise should be something that your business or product is qualified to offer, and it should be something that you are able to deliver on with excellence, reliability, and delight.

Volvo’s brand promise, for example, hinges on safety. If it was unable to consistently engineer cars with high safety standards, it would lose all credibility.

This statement can also show your commitment to solving a specific problem for your customers.

Actionable

A brand promise is an offer that a business needs to keep. This means that the promise must be something your company can act on.

As you review your brand promise, ask yourself:

• Is your brand promise also a call-to-action?
• What do your customers get in return if they commit to your brand?
• How can your audience engage or get involved with your brand promise?
• What other questions might someone ask after seeing your brand promise?

To be effective, your brand promise needs to be something your stakeholders can act on or see you taking action on, plus why that action is valuable. If your promise is vague or static, you may need to keep working.

Memorable and Emotional

A brand promise “is emotive,” says Jacobs. “It’s not the mind; it’s the heart.”

To evoke strong emotions, ask yourself what emotions you want your customers or audience to feel when they solve a problem using your product or service.

This act of seeing from your customer's perspective can help you create a "sticky" brand promise.

Business Impact

“Brand strategy is ultimately business strategy,” Jacobs tells me. “In economic terms, your brand is probably the single most important asset of any company.”

Your brand promise doesn’t just support what matters most to your business, it is the business.

That means that your brand promise has to be evident in every single touch point: what vendors you choose, what your website looks like, and even how you answer the phone. Jacobs says your brand promise is to “all stakeholders, not just your consumer.”

And there’s really only two options: “You either deliver on the promise, or you don’t.”

It might convey product excellence, drive sales, or expand brand influence. And as people in your organization make decisions, they should do so as champions of the brand.

Brand Promise Template

There isn‘t an exact formula to create your brand promise. But we’ve mentioned that it’s a blend of a few things that make up your company. So here’s a formula you can use to create your promise:

Positioning + Vision + Value Proposition = Your Brand Promise

Write your answers down and start blending these concepts together into one succinct idea.

Crafting your brand promise should be a top priority when developing your identity. Without this core message, you will likely struggle to develop your brand identity and strong messaging to connect with your target audience.

A pro tip from Jacobs: “A brand isn’t what you, the company, says it is. It’s what your customers say it is.”

Your brand promise should be so strong that “there should be no divergence” — that is, your customers should be able to describe your brand promise exactly as you do.

It may take a few sessions to flesh it out — and that's okay. Because once you have it, it will become ingrained both internally and externally as your company grows.

Brand Promise Examples

Keep in mind that some of these examples of brand promises are assumed and some have been shared by the companies (and a couple are completely fictional). Use them as inspiration when crafting your own.

To help you think about your own brand promise from multiple angles, I’ve also included hypothetical situations of what it might look like if some of these brands failed to deliver on their brand promises.

Build the best products in the world and enrich people’s lives. (Apple)

In a 2022 interview with Popular Mechanics, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that he tries to “carry on the mission that [Steve Jobs] set in place, to build the best products in the world that enrich people‘s lives. And that hasn’t changed. Lots of things change with time. But the reason for our being is the same.”

Well established as a design and product innovator, Apple’s brand promise is centered around innovation, quality, reliability, and user-friendly design.

If it couldn’t deliver on its brand promise, we might see Apple shipping shoddily designed products that don’t solve any problems for its consumers, something that would do swift and irreparable damage to its brand.

To inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup, one neighborhood at a time. (Starbucks)

Starbucks might even add “one street at time,” so ubiquitous are its stores across America and most corners of the globe.

Starbucks’ core brand promise is customer-focused, establishing its reputation as a customer service company that happens to sell coffee.

Feel empowered and emboldened. (Anima Iris)

Image Source

Tennis accessories brand Anima Iris seeks an emotional connection with its target audience by promising that they will feel empowered and emboldened.

Those words also set it apart from competitors and establish some of the expectations its customers should have.

Redefine luxury as accessible and inclusive. (Telfar)

Telfar’s vegan leather shopping bags became a must-have accessory over the last decade or so, thanks to its positioning as an affordable luxury. That’s a tricky sweet spot to maintain, but it’s central to the brand promise.

If it failed to deliver on its brand promise, it could be reflected in prices shooting up beyond what its target consumers could afford, and/or a steep decline in quality.

Inclusion since inception. (Tru Colour)

Image Source

Rooted firmly in diversity and inclusion, Tru Colour “believes in the beauty of the individual and exists to provide skin-tone shade bandages and kinesiology tape for everyone.”

Its brand promise indicates that inclusion is a foundational principle, one that will continue to drive the brand as it grows.

Create a safe space for POC to travel and discover new adventures. (Noirbnb)

The stakes are high for Noirbnb, which promises “a safe space for people of color to travel and discover new adventures.”

As such, it’s also a memorable brand promise, particularly for its target audience of people of color who may have felt unsafe on previous travel adventures. This is also a highly actionable brand promise.

Safety for all. (Volvo)

Image Source

Volvo’s EVA initiative prioritizes Equal Vehicles for All, “regardless of gender, age, height, weight, or shape.”

If you’ve ever buckled up in a car to find the seat belt at throat height, Volvo’s promise will pique your interest.

This is another highly actionable brand promise, since the burden of proof — and literal life-or-death stakes — rests on Volvo.

Unparalleled luxury and personalized service. (Four Seasons)

Image Source

When your name is synonymous with luxury, you’d best be able to deliver on your brand promise.

Customers of Four Seasons properties expect a level of personalized service that sets the brand apart not only from other hotels and resorts, but from other luxury hotel brands. This brand promise is memorable and emotional, appealing to consumers’ desire to be treated like royalty.

Bring stories to life — safely. (Inkheart)

Pretend I’ve been handed the money and the magic needed to build an adventure tour company for fictional places.

My imaginary company is inspired by Cornelia Funke’s 2003 YA book Inkheart, in which a girl learns that her father can bring characters to life simply by reading from them.

Inkheart’s brand promise, “Bring stories to life — safely,” assures its imaginary audience that they can enjoy immersive experiences in their favorite fictional worlds without fear of ogres, vampires, or evil masterminds.

We scare because we care. (Monsters Inc.)

A real brand promise from a fictional brand, Disney Pixar animated classic Monsters Inc. features a company by the same name. Monsters Inc. employs monsters to scare children, whose screams produce clean energy.

Doing double duty as a tagline, “We scare because we care” evokes emotion and establishes the brand’s distinctiveness — while promising legitimate frights.

What‘s common across all these promises is that they never refer to a particular offering or numerical goal. Instead, they are statements that encompass the brand’s broader purpose.

Examples of Brand Promises for B2B

Business-to-business brand promises can be difficult to craft. This is because these relationships are often more about efficiency and ROI than meeting emotional needs.

Check out these B2B brand promise examples to spark your imagination.

Help millions of companies grow better. (HubSpot)

Image Source

Here at HubSpot, we offer a complete customer platform that helps businesses connect and grow better. (Psst, that customer platform includes Marketing Hub.)

Our brand promise has broad appeal — “millions of companies” — and demonstrates our commitment to and focus on growth.

See inside any stack, any app, at any scale, anywhere. (Datadog)

Image Source

The repeated “any” in Datadog’s brand promise indicates the product’s flexibility, an actionable claim that also differentiates it from its competitors.

Keep a good thing growing. (Recurly)

Recurly, a subscription management service, makes an emotional appeal in its brand promise with the word “growing.” That sense of nurturing is backed up by the actionable claim that it has “a good thing.”

Easy scheduling ahead. (Calendly)

I use Calendly regularly, and I appreciate that it’s simple to use. Calendly’s brand promise focuses on a positive user experience, which directly impact’s the brand’s bottom line.

Unlock the power of gifting at scale. (Reachdesk)

Image Source

Reachdesk uses AI to power personalized corporate gifting. Its brand promise hints at the “power” in store for companies that wow and delight their customers.

If it couldn’t deliver on its brand promise: Glitchy AI could lead to gifts that didn’t feel thoughtful or personal, or worse, be embarrassing.

Manage tomorrow’s surprises today. (LogicManager)

LogicManager uses the word “surprises” to indicate that it understands the realities of risk management. That establishes an emotional relationship with its customers — it’s that “hey, you get me” moment.

That emotional plea is backed up by a credible and actionable promise that the enterprise risk management company can predict future risks before they get out of control.

Smarter PR with powerful, easy-to-use software. (Muck Rack)

Muck Rack’s brand promise begins with a superlative, “smarter,” appealing to customers’ desires for growth and improvement. Coupled with “powerful” and “easy-to-use,” Muck Rack sets up an actionable brand promise.

Engineering the extraordinary to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. (Medtronic)

Medtronic, a healthcare tech company, has to persuade potential customers that it can improve (and even extend) quality of life with devices like high-tech pacemakers. That’s a high bar to clear, so it goes straight for an emotional appeal with a brand promise that uses strong verbs like “alleviate” and “restore.”

Empowering small businesses and entrepreneurs with financial tools and services that are accessible, innovative, and user-friendly. (Square)

If you’ve interacted with small businesses, like your neighborhood bookstore or a vendor at the local farmers’ market, you’ve likely used Square to make a payment. Square’s brand promise hinges on accessibility and user-friendliness above all — an inability to deliver would make it unusable by the audience it targets.

Build Your Brand Promise for Lasting Results

Some promises last a lifetime. To make sure that you're creating a brand promise for the long haul, don’t rush through the process.

Drafting a quick slogan is tempting when your team is up against a deadline — but this is a promise to your all your stakeholders, so consider it carefully.

Take a look at the tips, templates, and examples above, and let your creativity run wild. Your brand may already have a strong identity, but how are you committing to your customers? Tell them today, with your brand promise.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/brand-promise

A few months after starting a former job, I attended a workshop in which we discussed our brand promise.

It was a clarifying moment for me — despite having a solid mission and vision statement, it was the brand promise that really defined the heart of the company and what my role was.

A brand promise isn‘t just a tagline — it’s a way to show customers what your brand can offer that no one else can.

Like other kinds of promises, brand promises can get complicated. They set high expectations, offer ambitious commitments, and impact relationships.

Let’s talk about what a brand promise is, how to create a brand promise, and see examples from popular B2B and B2C brands. We’ll also share a brand promise template to help you draft your own.

Keep reading or jump ahead to the section you're looking for:

• What is a brand promise?
• Why Your Brand Promise Is Important
• How to Write a Brand Promise
• What makes a brand promise successful?
• Brand Promise Template
• Brand Promise Examples
• Examples of Brand Promises for B2B

Your brand promise should be central to your company, something that remains constant even as the company grows and evolves.

Not every brand promise is explicit — it could also be more of an internal mantra that's shared with employees, investors, and partners.

But if you’ve built a strong brand identity and clear messaging, your brand promise will be evident to your target audience. (And if you're still working on your brand identity and messaging, we've got a free guide to help.)

Brand Promise vs. Tagline

There‘s often some confusion between a brand promise and a tagline, so let’s break it down.

While it can be just as short as a tagline, a brand promise establishes and nurtures a relationship with consumers by telling them, "Hey, this is what you can expect every single time you interact with our brand."

A brand promise isn’t lofty — it’s grounded in the realities of your business. It can:

• Help internal and external stakeholders know what to expect from you.
• Gain consumer trust.
• Be the foundation for your company’s consumer interactions.

A Quick Brand Promise Definition

Brand promises are short statements. They make a commitment to your customer about what your brand will deliver.

It is a promise, after all. So if you break it, it can affect your reputation and your revenue.

For instance, let‘s say your brand promise is "Innovation at every turn," but your company hasn’t released a new product in five years. That can deter potential consumers who have been promised progress but instead get stagnation.

Here are the most common types of brand promises:

• Emotional: A promise appealing to emotion.
• Action-based: A promise tied to a specific action.
• Social: A promise based on ethical or social responsibility.

Why Your Brand Promise Is Important

This message can have a big impact on customer sentiment, brand reputation, and more. A brand promise is a social contract between your company and the customer or consumer.

You may not have a legally binding document swearing that your company will innovate at every turn, but it’s understood that consumers are giving you something (like their hard-earned money) in exchange for a product or service.

It’s the scaled, commercial version of a pinky promise, with your brand holding up one finger and your target audience holding up the other.

And if you’re not taking your brand promise as seriously as a legally binding document, you’re at risk of losing not just your customers, but your market valuation, employees, and other stakeholders.

Delivering on your brand promise can help your business grow by building trust with your target audiences and boosting sales.

But how can you pack all that power into a single message? Let's talk about how to create your brand promise.

How to Write a Brand Promise

1. Focus on your audience.

Your brand promise outlines your commitment to your audience. So, to figure out what your promise should be, your first step is determining what your audience wants from you.

It goes beyond a specific product or service, it‘s more specific to the experience you’re providing.

For instance, Planet Fitness's brand promise is based on people's reluctance to join the gym for fear of judgment and embarrassment. The Planet Fitness brand promises to create an environment that encourages people at all fitness levels to go to the gym and feel comfortable working out.

Another goal of your brand promise is to set you apart from your competitors. What makes you unique — your customer service, your product, your mission, your values? Build on that to make a promise that's distinctive.

In Planet Fitness' case, the brand did something no one else had done: Address the problem with the gym environment, not its users.

As you learn about what your audience wants, keep asking questions. How much do they know about your industry? What information do they need before making a purchase?

It‘s important to remember that your brand promise isn’t simply a slogan or commitment. It's the first step in building a community with shared values. The better you understand your audience, the more likely you are to engage them.

If you haven't already, develop buyer personas and workshop messages that could resonate with each persona.

Featured Resource: Make My Persona

2. Think about your customer touch points.

Your brand promise is your guarantee to customers.

Whether your customer is in-store, on social media, or buying online, place yourself in their shoes and envision how you want those interactions to go. Is there a specific feeling involved? What do they have to gain?

For example, say a customer spends a lot of time on your website but hasn‘t made a purchase. Do you know why they’re hesitating? If you were speaking to this customer in person, what would you say to help them move to the next step?

Once you put those feelings into words, you'll be able to craft a brand promise that reflects the experience you want to promote.

As an exercise, you may find it useful to draft three or more secondary promises for each touch point. They can help you home in on your main brand promise and narrow your focus to how different touch points impact customer experience.

Your ultimate brand promise should be consistent across every touch point. So, the more time you spend looking at it from every angle, the more likely you are to create a powerful brand promise.

Featured Resource: Customer Journey Map Template

3. Keep it simple, unique, and inspiring.

Your brand promise should be clear and to the point — something you can say in one sentence. It won't necessarily be as fun as a tagline, but it should definitely inspire trust and confidence.

Be thoughtful about which words you choose and who your audience is.

Does your brand promise need industry-specific terms? Is your brand promise about selling an offer or explaining your product? Answering these questions can help you find the right vocabulary for your promise.

Next, introduce some play into your writing. Think about your company culture, awakening the senses, and the details that can paint a picture for your audience.

This process will probably give you more copy than you need, but it can help you find an authentic and empathetic voice.

Then you can edit your brand promise into a single succinct statement that is useful, positive, and hopeful.

If you can‘t articulate your promise in this way, perhaps you haven’t fully fleshed out your brand's purpose.

If that's the case, start by asking yourself these questions:

• What should my customers expect from me?
• What does my company stand for?
• What makes us different from our competitors?

What makes a brand promise successful?

“A brand promise,” brand consultant Cornelis Jacobs tells me, “is basically your identity. If your brand didn’t exist, what would the world miss?”

That world doesn’t have to be at a global scale — the target market for a corner bakery might be a single neighborhood. Whether you’re selling cupcakes or iPads, your brand promise has to create and nurture a relationship.

“It’s creating trust,” says Jacobs. “I give money in exchange for a product or service. There’s trust that the brand will deliver on that promise.” Jacobs sees two components to that trust: reliability and delight.

An inability to deliver on your brand promise — “that’s game over,” says Jacobs.

The long-term effects on brand perception can be devastating if you lose credibility by breaking a promise.

Here are four key elements to consider as you craft your brand promise:

Credibility

Your brand promise should be something that your business or product is qualified to offer, and it should be something that you are able to deliver on with excellence, reliability, and delight.

Volvo’s brand promise, for example, hinges on safety. If it was unable to consistently engineer cars with high safety standards, it would lose all credibility.

This statement can also show your commitment to solving a specific problem for your customers.

Actionable

A brand promise is an offer that a business needs to keep. This means that the promise must be something your company can act on.

As you review your brand promise, ask yourself:

• Is your brand promise also a call-to-action?
• What do your customers get in return if they commit to your brand?
• How can your audience engage or get involved with your brand promise?
• What other questions might someone ask after seeing your brand promise?

To be effective, your brand promise needs to be something your stakeholders can act on or see you taking action on, plus why that action is valuable. If your promise is vague or static, you may need to keep working.

Memorable and Emotional

A brand promise “is emotive,” says Jacobs. “It’s not the mind; it’s the heart.”

To evoke strong emotions, ask yourself what emotions you want your customers or audience to feel when they solve a problem using your product or service.

This act of seeing from your customer's perspective can help you create a "sticky" brand promise.

Business Impact

“Brand strategy is ultimately business strategy,” Jacobs tells me. “In economic terms, your brand is probably the single most important asset of any company.”

Your brand promise doesn’t just support what matters most to your business, it is the business.

That means that your brand promise has to be evident in every single touch point: what vendors you choose, what your website looks like, and even how you answer the phone. Jacobs says your brand promise is to “all stakeholders, not just your consumer.”

And there’s really only two options: “You either deliver on the promise, or you don’t.”

It might convey product excellence, drive sales, or expand brand influence. And as people in your organization make decisions, they should do so as champions of the brand.

Brand Promise Template

There isn‘t an exact formula to create your brand promise. But we’ve mentioned that it’s a blend of a few things that make up your company. So here’s a formula you can use to create your promise:

Positioning + Vision + Value Proposition = Your Brand Promise

Write your answers down and start blending these concepts together into one succinct idea.

Crafting your brand promise should be a top priority when developing your identity. Without this core message, you will likely struggle to develop your brand identity and strong messaging to connect with your target audience.

A pro tip from Jacobs: “A brand isn’t what you, the company, says it is. It’s what your customers say it is.”

Your brand promise should be so strong that “there should be no divergence” — that is, your customers should be able to describe your brand promise exactly as you do.

It may take a few sessions to flesh it out — and that's okay. Because once you have it, it will become ingrained both internally and externally as your company grows.

Brand Promise Examples

Keep in mind that some of these examples of brand promises are assumed and some have been shared by the companies (and a couple are completely fictional). Use them as inspiration when crafting your own.

To help you think about your own brand promise from multiple angles, I’ve also included hypothetical situations of what it might look like if some of these brands failed to deliver on their brand promises.

Build the best products in the world and enrich people’s lives. (Apple)

In a 2022 interview with Popular Mechanics, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that he tries to “carry on the mission that [Steve Jobs] set in place, to build the best products in the world that enrich people‘s lives. And that hasn’t changed. Lots of things change with time. But the reason for our being is the same.”

Well established as a design and product innovator, Apple’s brand promise is centered around innovation, quality, reliability, and user-friendly design.

If it couldn’t deliver on its brand promise, we might see Apple shipping shoddily designed products that don’t solve any problems for its consumers, something that would do swift and irreparable damage to its brand.

To inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup, one neighborhood at a time. (Starbucks)

Starbucks might even add “one street at time,” so ubiquitous are its stores across America and most corners of the globe.

Starbucks’ core brand promise is customer-focused, establishing its reputation as a customer service company that happens to sell coffee.

Feel empowered and emboldened. (Anima Iris)

Image Source

Tennis accessories brand Anima Iris seeks an emotional connection with its target audience by promising that they will feel empowered and emboldened.

Those words also set it apart from competitors and establish some of the expectations its customers should have.

Redefine luxury as accessible and inclusive. (Telfar)

Telfar’s vegan leather shopping bags became a must-have accessory over the last decade or so, thanks to its positioning as an affordable luxury. That’s a tricky sweet spot to maintain, but it’s central to the brand promise.

If it failed to deliver on its brand promise, it could be reflected in prices shooting up beyond what its target consumers could afford, and/or a steep decline in quality.

Inclusion since inception. (Tru Colour)

Image Source

Rooted firmly in diversity and inclusion, Tru Colour “believes in the beauty of the individual and exists to provide skin-tone shade bandages and kinesiology tape for everyone.”

Its brand promise indicates that inclusion is a foundational principle, one that will continue to drive the brand as it grows.

Create a safe space for POC to travel and discover new adventures. (Noirbnb)

The stakes are high for Noirbnb, which promises “a safe space for people of color to travel and discover new adventures.”

As such, it’s also a memorable brand promise, particularly for its target audience of people of color who may have felt unsafe on previous travel adventures. This is also a highly actionable brand promise.

Safety for all. (Volvo)

Image Source

Volvo’s EVA initiative prioritizes Equal Vehicles for All, “regardless of gender, age, height, weight, or shape.”

If you’ve ever buckled up in a car to find the seat belt at throat height, Volvo’s promise will pique your interest.

This is another highly actionable brand promise, since the burden of proof — and literal life-or-death stakes — rests on Volvo.

Unparalleled luxury and personalized service. (Four Seasons)

Image Source

When your name is synonymous with luxury, you’d best be able to deliver on your brand promise.

Customers of Four Seasons properties expect a level of personalized service that sets the brand apart not only from other hotels and resorts, but from other luxury hotel brands. This brand promise is memorable and emotional, appealing to consumers’ desire to be treated like royalty.

Bring stories to life — safely. (Inkheart)

Pretend I’ve been handed the money and the magic needed to build an adventure tour company for fictional places.

My imaginary company is inspired by Cornelia Funke’s 2003 YA book Inkheart, in which a girl learns that her father can bring characters to life simply by reading from them.

Inkheart’s brand promise, “Bring stories to life — safely,” assures its imaginary audience that they can enjoy immersive experiences in their favorite fictional worlds without fear of ogres, vampires, or evil masterminds.

We scare because we care. (Monsters Inc.)

A real brand promise from a fictional brand, Disney Pixar animated classic Monsters Inc. features a company by the same name. Monsters Inc. employs monsters to scare children, whose screams produce clean energy.

Doing double duty as a tagline, “We scare because we care” evokes emotion and establishes the brand’s distinctiveness — while promising legitimate frights.

What‘s common across all these promises is that they never refer to a particular offering or numerical goal. Instead, they are statements that encompass the brand’s broader purpose.

Examples of Brand Promises for B2B

Business-to-business brand promises can be difficult to craft. This is because these relationships are often more about efficiency and ROI than meeting emotional needs.

Check out these B2B brand promise examples to spark your imagination.

Help millions of companies grow better. (HubSpot)

Image Source

Here at HubSpot, we offer a complete customer platform that helps businesses connect and grow better. (Psst, that customer platform includes Marketing Hub.)

Our brand promise has broad appeal — “millions of companies” — and demonstrates our commitment to and focus on growth.

See inside any stack, any app, at any scale, anywhere. (Datadog)

Image Source

The repeated “any” in Datadog’s brand promise indicates the product’s flexibility, an actionable claim that also differentiates it from its competitors.

Keep a good thing growing. (Recurly)

Recurly, a subscription management service, makes an emotional appeal in its brand promise with the word “growing.” That sense of nurturing is backed up by the actionable claim that it has “a good thing.”

Easy scheduling ahead. (Calendly)

I use Calendly regularly, and I appreciate that it’s simple to use. Calendly’s brand promise focuses on a positive user experience, which directly impact’s the brand’s bottom line.

Unlock the power of gifting at scale. (Reachdesk)

Image Source

Reachdesk uses AI to power personalized corporate gifting. Its brand promise hints at the “power” in store for companies that wow and delight their customers.

If it couldn’t deliver on its brand promise: Glitchy AI could lead to gifts that didn’t feel thoughtful or personal, or worse, be embarrassing.

Manage tomorrow’s surprises today. (LogicManager)

LogicManager uses the word “surprises” to indicate that it understands the realities of risk management. That establishes an emotional relationship with its customers — it’s that “hey, you get me” moment.

That emotional plea is backed up by a credible and actionable promise that the enterprise risk management company can predict future risks before they get out of control.

Smarter PR with powerful, easy-to-use software. (Muck Rack)

Muck Rack’s brand promise begins with a superlative, “smarter,” appealing to customers’ desires for growth and improvement. Coupled with “powerful” and “easy-to-use,” Muck Rack sets up an actionable brand promise.

Engineering the extraordinary to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. (Medtronic)

Medtronic, a healthcare tech company, has to persuade potential customers that it can improve (and even extend) quality of life with devices like high-tech pacemakers. That’s a high bar to clear, so it goes straight for an emotional appeal with a brand promise that uses strong verbs like “alleviate” and “restore.”

Empowering small businesses and entrepreneurs with financial tools and services that are accessible, innovative, and user-friendly. (Square)

If you’ve interacted with small businesses, like your neighborhood bookstore or a vendor at the local farmers’ market, you’ve likely used Square to make a payment. Square’s brand promise hinges on accessibility and user-friendliness above all — an inability to deliver would make it unusable by the audience it targets.

Build Your Brand Promise for Lasting Results

Some promises last a lifetime. To make sure that you're creating a brand promise for the long haul, don’t rush through the process.

Drafting a quick slogan is tempting when your team is up against a deadline — but this is a promise to your all your stakeholders, so consider it carefully.

Take a look at the tips, templates, and examples above, and let your creativity run wild. Your brand may already have a strong identity, but how are you committing to your customers? Tell them today, with your brand promise.

via Perfecte news Non connection

10 Challenges Marketers Face When Implementing AI in 2024 [New Data + Tips]

As someone who has experimented with different AI marketing tools, I can confidently say that embracing AI can benefit marketing teams looking to become more efficient in reaching their goals.

While it can automate tasks, save time and costs, and boost productivity, there are some AI challenges marketers should be aware of.

Our 2024 AI Trends report found that 74% of marketers predict most people will use AI in the workplace by 2030. So, I figured I should explore the challenges marketers could face when working with AI, so they're prepared as it becomes a bigger part of their workflow.

I’ll also highlight expert insight from industry leaders so you can learn how to tackle these challenges and harness the power of AI in marketing.

Table of Contents

• The 10 Biggest Challenges When Implementing AI
• 12 Tips for Implementing AI

The 10 Biggest Challenges When Implementing AI

Along with the benefits of using AI in marketing outlined in the image below, the challenges of implementing AI in marketing are vast.

Image Source

This includes challenges related to the AI systems, processes, team buy-in, and more. We‘re working through the most significant challenges and the data that justifies these day-to-day challenges. You’re not the only one feeling the struggle.

Here are 10 common challenges when it comes to AI in marketing.

1. Hampering Creativity

As brands like Coca-Cola and mega-celebrities like Nicki Minaj use generative AI in their marketing campaigns, many marketers worry that AI could stifle creativity.

Our marketing and AI survey found that 43% of marketers who use AI do so to create content.

With such a huge chunk of marketers using AI to create, it's understandable to have concerns that the marketing landscape could become oversaturated with AI and lose its creative spark.

However, there are several ways marketers can avoid this pitfall.

One key to overcoming the challenge is for marketers to use AI as an assistive tool that streamlines their process or gets the creative juices flowing.

2. Undermining Competency

If you‘re concerned that AI could undermine your competency as a marketer, you’re not alone.

According to our survey, 57% of marketers feel pressured to learn AI or risk becoming irrelevant. This translates to sentiments that AI could undermine a marketer's effort and competency at work.

Though AI is becoming increasingly ingrained in marketing, that doesn‘t mean marketers can’t remain competitive and shine in the workplace.

Marketers can overcome this challenge by learning more about AI's functionality, how different AI tools work, and finding ways AI can boost productivity or troubleshoot roadblocks.

3. Extra Time Commitments

If you want a sound output from AI, you need excellent input. That means you need to know what to ask for based on your goals.

Prompting AI for marketing is another thing to add to your swelling to-do list.

Like any new skill, prompting AI needs to be learned and practiced. The good news is that the time taken to prompt and use AI may be a case of short-term pain for long-term gain.

Based on our research, if you can prompt AI to deliver generative content that you're happy to publish, you could save as much as three hours and ten minutes when working on a single piece of marketing content from start to finish. Not bad.

In fact, our survey found that 75% of marketers use AI to reduce the time they spend on manual tasks.

4. Creating Working Processes

A contributing factor to the challenge of time constraints when implementing AI is creating processes. However, navigating the challenges of AI will be easier with a working process.

If you use AI, you want all team members to work with it similarly. An AI process is required to help eliminate bias and ensure everything is fact-checked, and it naturally provides best practice tips to use AI tools efficiently.

Image Source

5. Inaccurate Information

In our state of AI in marketing research, we found that one of the top challenges for marketers implementing AI is pushback regarding inaccurate information.

It's unsurprising, considering almost half of the marketers surveyed have received incorrect information from generative AI.

Producing inaccurate information is undoubtedly a valid concern for conscientious marketers, and it could damage brand reputation and brand/consumer relations.

6. Poor Quality Content

Similar to the challenge above, poor-quality content concerns conscientious marketers. But there's an argument that this does not need to be a challenge.

As I mentioned earlier, 43% of marketers in our survey use AI to create content.

With so many marketers leveraging AI in their creative processes, it‘s important to remember that AI isn’t always going to generate accurate results.

So, remember to fact-check AI outputs always.

7. Privacy and Data Analysis

There are broad concerns about privacy and data analysis regarding using AI.

When it comes to data analysis, marketers use AI to analyze customer data and understand user behavior. However, it has its own set of challenges. When implementing AI into your workflow or customer interactions, do the following:

• Consult with your supervisor and/or IT department before inputting sensitive data into AI.
• Be cautious of free trials, as they may retain your data after your trial is up.
• Choose trusted AI software with a proven track record of reliability and security.

8. Job Replacement

The worry about job replacement has been around for a while, and it’s understandable.

In 2017, a McKinsey report studied considerations around the workplace in 2030 and how AI might impact it.

The report estimated that “between 400 million and 800 million individuals could be displaced by automation and need to find new jobs by 2030.”

The good news is the findings are yet to come to fruition. In fact, our report finds the opposite to be true. According to our AI Trends Report, 68% of marketers surveyed say has helped grow their career.

But the fear is still there. You might find some pushback when implementing AI with your team if they’re worried about job security.

Now, the subject of job replacement and AI is much more positive. Mike Maynard, the CEO at Napier, published an article titled Will AI Lead To The End Of Marketing Jobs? in Forbes.

Maynard said, “AI will inevitably replace certain aspects of traditional marketing, but by and large, it will probably be the tedious, mundane tasks, like analytics, that most of us aren’t enthusiastic about anyway."

He explained, “The truth is that although AI can potentially automate certain tasks and improve efficiency, it is unlikely to replace marketing teams for the foreseeable future completely.”

There are reasons to believe that AI is here to solve tasks and will never replace human teams in marketing. Naturally, marketing leaders must convince teams that their jobs are safe.

9. AI Bias

AI bias is a challenge that most marketers should be aware of.

Ultimately, AI will always be biased because humans are biased. Marketing leaders need a plan to meet the challenge of teams inputting bias into a system.

Bias is a serious consideration and challenge for businesses, and its impact can be serious. DataRobot’s 2022 survey found that the impact of data bias can result in as much as 62% lost revenue.

Image Source

10. Keeping Up with New Trends and Technologies

The field of AI is constantly evolving, and it’s growing fast. Marketers can feel overwhelmed keeping up with the latest trends and technologies.

It’s hard to know what to try, prioritize, and invest your time into. This challenge is particularly overwhelming if you have business heads pushing your team for more.

12 Tips for Implementing AI

Okay, now we know what some of the biggest challenges are, let's find out how to overcome them in a way that helps you reach your marketing objectives while you reap all the AI benefits you’ve heard so much about.

Here are 12 tips to help you do just that.

1. Enforce AI policies.

Dan Robinson, Head of Marketing and e-Commerce at instantprint, recommends that businesses implement and enforce AI policies to aid smooth AI implementation.

The solutions he‘s integrated into instantprint’s AI implementations include:

“Employees must adhere to the guidelines we‘ve set out. We nurture an environment of trust but also provide our team with the rules and regulations they need to be aware of to use these tools effectively and safely. Our ‘AI Code of Conduct’ is set out by each platform we use, with do’s and don't for each tool.

“We want to make our AI policy a collaborative space. Those using AI and other models will get to know the platforms in great detail. Making policies a shared effort means that we're more likely to have rules that will work for our team, developed by our team, with the exception of legal and ethical frameworks as a standard.”

What we like: Robinson doesn‘t deny the importance of AI policies that are legal and ethical but doesn’t stop the team from adding their thoughts. With a collaborative effort to develop policies, you’re more likely to get buy-in from team members.

2. Start with low-risk AI implementations.

Rosella Dello Ioio, Head of Content at Enate, says, “Businesses should be clearly defining the data they can and can't share with public and private AI models. Consider hiring a Chief AI Officer to take the lead on security and governance within the business.

“Once the rules around these challenges have been clearly established, begin rolling out GenAI in your marketing department by identifying all the people whose job involves creating (writing, designing, and building) and let them find the best AI co-pilot for their tasks.

Creative roles such as Copywriting and Graphic Design are relatively low-risk in terms of sensitive data as opposed to a CRM Manager who wants to use GenAI to analyze customer feedback and complaints.

Test and procure low-risk tools to support these creative individuals in boosting productivity and slashing the time spent on mundane tasks while ensuring governance protocols are adhered to."

What we like: It's justified for marketers to be concerned about data and analysis by AI tools, but Dello Ioio has found a solution that allows marketing leaders to start implementing AI in a way that feels manageable and safe.

Sometimes, the first step is the most challenging, and once leaders get rolling with AI, they may be inspired to try more.

Look at HubSpot’s AI content assistant for low-risk AI experimentation. It’s free to demo, and you can write content, create emails, landing pages, and more.

3. Leverage AI alongside your existing tech stack.

Cassey Bowden, Director of Marketing at Promet Source, recommends that marketing leaders consider new AI tools with existing tech and your talented team.

She says, “When used effectively in combination with other tools and skills of our respective teams, the door is wide open for possibilities. I would encourage folks to look at AI as an assistive tool in their digital toolbox.

Those who will see the best results and realize the most benefits of AI, in my opinion, will be those who view this tech through a Venn diagram lens.

Leveraging this tech along with your existing tech stack in addition to your skilled team, where these overlap, is where we will find success."

What we like: Bowden’s tip could help marketing leaders close the gap on challenges that hamper creativity. If AI is used in addition to your skilled team, then there's everything to gain through collaboration.

Consider taking the best of AI and the best of that all-important human touch and find the areas where they can best support each other.

4. Talk to your team.

Communication is, of course, everything! When it comes to AI, marketing leaders can eliminate a lot of AI challenges with team buy-in and communication.

Jessica Packard, Content Strategy Manager at ClockShark, found that some reassurance allowed her team to see AI for what it is; a marketing tool that can aid their workflow.

Packard says, “Initially, my team of copywriters was apprehensive about how AI could potentially replace their work in the organization."

She continues, "The fear was understandable, but it was important to reassure them that the AI tools are still underdeveloped and they cannot create copy that successfully engages readers on an emotional level as humans do.

It’s also important to show them how leveraging AI can be beneficial to their work, from brainstorming content ideas to help writing creative titles and meta descriptions."

Montse Cano, International SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant at Montserrat Cano, shared similar tips for overcoming AI challenges. She follows a set of questions and uses AI in a way that helps teams.

She shares her process, “We identify what needs we have in our team that we could meet by using AI. Is it code generation, text content ideas, or images? Then, assess current resources to test and validate outputs, i.e., do we need any training, hire someone else.”

Johannes Larsson, Founder and CEO at Johannes Larsson, adds to the importance of communication with an onus on regular comms and empowerment.

Larsson says, “We regularly communicate with our team about the benefits of AI and how it can empower them rather than threaten them. We also aim to provide training and resources to help them develop new skills and expand their knowledge in areas where AI is involved.”

What we like: It might seem simple to suggest communication, but it’s easily forgotten when you’re all busy at work. Cano, Packard, and Larsson have recognized the why behind team challenges and recommended how you can solve this challenge through communication, reassurance, and future training.

5. Test AI with your team.

In line with the importance of talking to your team, Kevin Miller, co-founder and CEO of GRO, encourages marketers to improve their workflow efficiency with AI.

He started with a solid goal, improving his team’s efficiency by 400%, and worked with his team to document AI success.

Miller shares his story, “We experimented with ChatGPT earlier this year to improve writing efficiency for long- and short-form content creation.

For our clients, we want to produce the highest-quality work possible to help them grow their domain authority and online traffic, so automation was a natural strategy to pursue that goal. That being said, it's not a one-stop-shop tool."

He continues, “Aiming to improve workflow efficiency by 400% by leveraging AI tools, we asked writers to adapt their workflows and give feedback on how well ChatGPT helped improve their writing and deliverability.

Although we did not hit those marks because of many natural obstacles and limitations of the software, we increased workflow efficiency by 200% through content templates and research assistance.

ChatGPT is fantastic for content generation and assessment, but can‘t do the work alone. It is still a part of many of our writers’ workflows to use as they see fit, and I am confident that it will continue to grow in capacity and use."

What we like: Miller and his team have experimented with ChatGPT and actively found that AI can improve team efficiency. We especially like the level of involvement Miller’s team had in AI experimentation.

With his team reporting back on their AI feedback, we feel Miller was more likely to get buy-in from team members.

6. Get your processes locked down.

Adam Smith, founder of The Content Machine, has mastered AI prompts. His test website was just 30 days old and boasted over 36,000 clicks and over 1 million impressions. All of his content was created using AI.

Image Source

Smith says, "I’m using totally un-edited AI content, straight from ChatGPT. There's a big misconception that AI content is rubbish or garbage.

However you can create helpful content if you get your ChatGPT processes locked down! You aren't going to be creating high-quality content with ‘write me a 1,500 word article on x topic’ type prompts."

According to Smith, there’s more you can do to improve the quality of content, he advises you, “Add unique images, add internal links to other contextually relevant blog posts, add as much schema as possible, and embed related YouTube videos.”

What we like: With a well-thought-out prompting process, Adam Smith has proved that AI content can be helpful, and it can rank. (And it’s even better when the data backs up the claims.)

7. Find the areas where AI is most effective.

Using AI doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing scenario. You can find the opportunities or tasks that AI is most capable of solving; then you can do the rest.

Sara Cooper, Director of Web Strategy at SimPRO, found that her team found AI most beneficial at generating headlines or sections of copy.

Copper says, "One of the biggest challenges has been feeding AI the right directives to get the output we are looking for and learning to not ask for too much from AI upfront.

For example, as the team has started to leverage AI to generate more content across our website, it‘s clear that it’s most effective when supporting the personalization of headlines or sections of copy rather than generating whole landing pages from scratch."

Jessica Ruane, Senior Content Manager at Beekeeper, echoes Cooper. Ruane says, “A big challenge that surrounds AI is effectively utilizing it in Content Marketing. Companies are definitely using AI to varying degrees during the content creation process.

Some may be fully writing content with the use of AI, while others are utilizing it for research and inspiration. The best way to implement AI in content is — slowly. Focus on the ‘voice’ that you’d like to use, and experiment with rewriting phrases to get started.”

What we like: Ruane and Cooper agree that there’s a place for AI in content writing. Equally, they’re both seeing the role of AI vary based on what marketers find more useful. Consider using AI for different tasks and find what works for you and your team. AI doesn’t have to write everything.

8. Experiment carefully.

Sofia Inga Tyson, SEO Content Editor at Juro, resolves the AI challenge of quality and brand with careful experimentation and full disclosure to key stakeholders.

Tyson says, “There are certainly concerns about the use of AI in content strategies diluting the quality and overall authority of the website.

Businesses are often keen to experiment with AI to scale their content production but content writers are naturally fearful that AI-generated content at scale will have a detrimental impact on the performance of existing, expertly crafted content.

I think it’s really important to manage stakeholder expectations in this regard and ensure that these risks are disclosed to other decision-makers in the business that might be encouraging this approach for aggressive growth.

I also think it’s important to be cautious about AI-generated content because the true impact won’t be felt immediately. It could be months or even years before the content is evaluated negatively based on the quality or use of AI.

Any experiments should be just that - careful, closely monitored and kept at a scale that means it can be reversed if needed. I think this approach will bring a lot of content writers comfort as it demonstrates that you’re approaching the use of AI with caution, not carelessly jeopardizing the online presence you have already."

What we like: Tyson’s holistic approach to AI covers brand reputation, the team, and stakeholders. She considers the desire to leverage AI with the needs of the team who use it. We love the reassurance for all involved when experimentation is monitored carefully.

9. Monitor quality and accuracy.

Once you’re set up and using AI, you don’t want to neglect the all-important quality check.

Annika Haataja, Head of SEO at Seeker, says, “As you expand your use of AI, don‘t forget to monitor quality and accuracy. We all know that AI can sometimes make mistakes, which may hurt adoption if teams don’t trust the results.

Have people review a sample of AI output to catch errors, and empower them to have faith in their own expertise in the process.”

What we like: Diligence around AI output could decline as teams become comfortable with AI usage. Haataja reminds us to stay mindful of quality and accuracy as AI adoption scales, an important reminder for all of us.

10. Refine your data sources.

Simon Brisk, Director at Click Intelligence Ltd., found AI bias a challenge. Interestingly, they found better data once his team refined the data sources.

He says, “One significant challenge we‘ve faced at Click Intelligence when integrating AI is ensuring data integrity. AI models are only as good as the data they’re trained on. Inaccurate or biased data can lead to misguided marketing decisions.

“For instance, while analyzing user behavior for an e-commerce client, skewed data initially suggested a preference for a specific product line. Only after refining data sources did we realize a more holistic preference trend, thereby recalibrating our marketing strategy.”

What we like: Brisk’s experience with AI bias shows the potential impact and the solution. By recalibrating data sources, Click Intelligence could recalibrate its marketing strategy based on reliable data.

11. Stay competitive.

The world of AI is developing fast. Chris Stott, Director at Seven Marketing, recommends staying ahead of AI developments.

He says, “Staying ahead of the competition is paramount. It's essential for us to consistently deliver exceptional value. This means rigorously testing all AI software to keep us on the cutting edge and guarantee that we provide top-tier results to our clients.”

What we like: Incorporating AI into your systems can be exciting and empowering. Testing AI from a place of experimentation is a great way to explore AI capabilities with your team. You’ll soon get a feel for what supports you and what you can live without.

12. Overcome data integrity and change management.

Jessica Shee, Senior Tech Editor and Marketing Content Manager at iBoysoft, shares the importance of overcoming data integrity and change management.

She says, “Change management and data integrity are two significant obstacles to implementing AI in marketing. For accurate AI-driven insights and decision-making, it is essential to ensure high-quality, pure data.

Misaligned data can cause inaccurate forecasts and ineffective marketing campaigns. Invest in data cleansing, validation, and data integration tools to address this issue.

Change management is an additional obstacle. Integrating AI can disrupt existing workflows and require team members to acquire new skills. Transparent communication about the benefits of AI and training team members to cultivate acceptance and proficiency are necessary for a smooth implementation.

Working with AI experts, integrating teams in decision-making, and starting with trial projects can help integrate AI while resolving difficulties. A systematic strategy, continual training, and clear communication ensure a smoother transition and optimize AI marketing benefits."

What we like: Shee recognizes that you don’t have to do everything alone. You can bring in experts and start with trial projects to help support your team through AI implementation challenges.

What's stopping you from implementing AI?

There's no harm in experimenting with AI automation so long as you follow the guidelines I laid out in this post.

In the worst case, you‘ve run an experiment (and isn’t that what marketing is all about?), and in the best case, you've got the data to support the success of your AI endeavors. Getting buy-in from your team or stakeholders will be easier when they know AI drives marketing objectives.

Plus, with the top tips from marketing leaders, you’ll start with the best possible insights to make AI and marketing an absolute success.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/ai-challenges

As someone who has experimented with different AI marketing tools, I can confidently say that embracing AI can benefit marketing teams looking to become more efficient in reaching their goals.

While it can automate tasks, save time and costs, and boost productivity, there are some AI challenges marketers should be aware of.

Our 2024 AI Trends report found that 74% of marketers predict most people will use AI in the workplace by 2030. So, I figured I should explore the challenges marketers could face when working with AI, so they're prepared as it becomes a bigger part of their workflow.

I’ll also highlight expert insight from industry leaders so you can learn how to tackle these challenges and harness the power of AI in marketing.

Table of Contents

• The 10 Biggest Challenges When Implementing AI
• 12 Tips for Implementing AI

The 10 Biggest Challenges When Implementing AI

Along with the benefits of using AI in marketing outlined in the image below, the challenges of implementing AI in marketing are vast.

Image Source

This includes challenges related to the AI systems, processes, team buy-in, and more. We‘re working through the most significant challenges and the data that justifies these day-to-day challenges. You’re not the only one feeling the struggle.

Here are 10 common challenges when it comes to AI in marketing.

1. Hampering Creativity

As brands like Coca-Cola and mega-celebrities like Nicki Minaj use generative AI in their marketing campaigns, many marketers worry that AI could stifle creativity.

Our marketing and AI survey found that 43% of marketers who use AI do so to create content.

With such a huge chunk of marketers using AI to create, it's understandable to have concerns that the marketing landscape could become oversaturated with AI and lose its creative spark.

However, there are several ways marketers can avoid this pitfall.

One key to overcoming the challenge is for marketers to use AI as an assistive tool that streamlines their process or gets the creative juices flowing.

2. Undermining Competency

If you‘re concerned that AI could undermine your competency as a marketer, you’re not alone.

According to our survey, 57% of marketers feel pressured to learn AI or risk becoming irrelevant. This translates to sentiments that AI could undermine a marketer's effort and competency at work.

Though AI is becoming increasingly ingrained in marketing, that doesn‘t mean marketers can’t remain competitive and shine in the workplace.

Marketers can overcome this challenge by learning more about AI's functionality, how different AI tools work, and finding ways AI can boost productivity or troubleshoot roadblocks.

3. Extra Time Commitments

If you want a sound output from AI, you need excellent input. That means you need to know what to ask for based on your goals.

Prompting AI for marketing is another thing to add to your swelling to-do list.

Like any new skill, prompting AI needs to be learned and practiced. The good news is that the time taken to prompt and use AI may be a case of short-term pain for long-term gain.

Based on our research, if you can prompt AI to deliver generative content that you're happy to publish, you could save as much as three hours and ten minutes when working on a single piece of marketing content from start to finish. Not bad.

In fact, our survey found that 75% of marketers use AI to reduce the time they spend on manual tasks.

4. Creating Working Processes

A contributing factor to the challenge of time constraints when implementing AI is creating processes. However, navigating the challenges of AI will be easier with a working process.

If you use AI, you want all team members to work with it similarly. An AI process is required to help eliminate bias and ensure everything is fact-checked, and it naturally provides best practice tips to use AI tools efficiently.

Image Source

5. Inaccurate Information

In our state of AI in marketing research, we found that one of the top challenges for marketers implementing AI is pushback regarding inaccurate information.

It's unsurprising, considering almost half of the marketers surveyed have received incorrect information from generative AI.

Producing inaccurate information is undoubtedly a valid concern for conscientious marketers, and it could damage brand reputation and brand/consumer relations.

6. Poor Quality Content

Similar to the challenge above, poor-quality content concerns conscientious marketers. But there's an argument that this does not need to be a challenge.

As I mentioned earlier, 43% of marketers in our survey use AI to create content.

With so many marketers leveraging AI in their creative processes, it‘s important to remember that AI isn’t always going to generate accurate results.

So, remember to fact-check AI outputs always.

7. Privacy and Data Analysis

There are broad concerns about privacy and data analysis regarding using AI.

When it comes to data analysis, marketers use AI to analyze customer data and understand user behavior. However, it has its own set of challenges. When implementing AI into your workflow or customer interactions, do the following:

• Consult with your supervisor and/or IT department before inputting sensitive data into AI.
• Be cautious of free trials, as they may retain your data after your trial is up.
• Choose trusted AI software with a proven track record of reliability and security.

8. Job Replacement

The worry about job replacement has been around for a while, and it’s understandable.

In 2017, a McKinsey report studied considerations around the workplace in 2030 and how AI might impact it.

The report estimated that “between 400 million and 800 million individuals could be displaced by automation and need to find new jobs by 2030.”

The good news is the findings are yet to come to fruition. In fact, our report finds the opposite to be true. According to our AI Trends Report, 68% of marketers surveyed say has helped grow their career.

But the fear is still there. You might find some pushback when implementing AI with your team if they’re worried about job security.

Now, the subject of job replacement and AI is much more positive. Mike Maynard, the CEO at Napier, published an article titled Will AI Lead To The End Of Marketing Jobs? in Forbes.

Maynard said, “AI will inevitably replace certain aspects of traditional marketing, but by and large, it will probably be the tedious, mundane tasks, like analytics, that most of us aren’t enthusiastic about anyway."

He explained, “The truth is that although AI can potentially automate certain tasks and improve efficiency, it is unlikely to replace marketing teams for the foreseeable future completely.”

There are reasons to believe that AI is here to solve tasks and will never replace human teams in marketing. Naturally, marketing leaders must convince teams that their jobs are safe.

9. AI Bias

AI bias is a challenge that most marketers should be aware of.

Ultimately, AI will always be biased because humans are biased. Marketing leaders need a plan to meet the challenge of teams inputting bias into a system.

Bias is a serious consideration and challenge for businesses, and its impact can be serious. DataRobot’s 2022 survey found that the impact of data bias can result in as much as 62% lost revenue.

Image Source

10. Keeping Up with New Trends and Technologies

The field of AI is constantly evolving, and it’s growing fast. Marketers can feel overwhelmed keeping up with the latest trends and technologies.

It’s hard to know what to try, prioritize, and invest your time into. This challenge is particularly overwhelming if you have business heads pushing your team for more.

12 Tips for Implementing AI

Okay, now we know what some of the biggest challenges are, let's find out how to overcome them in a way that helps you reach your marketing objectives while you reap all the AI benefits you’ve heard so much about.

Here are 12 tips to help you do just that.

1. Enforce AI policies.

Dan Robinson, Head of Marketing and e-Commerce at instantprint, recommends that businesses implement and enforce AI policies to aid smooth AI implementation.

The solutions he‘s integrated into instantprint’s AI implementations include:

“Employees must adhere to the guidelines we‘ve set out. We nurture an environment of trust but also provide our team with the rules and regulations they need to be aware of to use these tools effectively and safely. Our ‘AI Code of Conduct’ is set out by each platform we use, with do’s and don't for each tool.

“We want to make our AI policy a collaborative space. Those using AI and other models will get to know the platforms in great detail. Making policies a shared effort means that we're more likely to have rules that will work for our team, developed by our team, with the exception of legal and ethical frameworks as a standard.”

What we like: Robinson doesn‘t deny the importance of AI policies that are legal and ethical but doesn’t stop the team from adding their thoughts. With a collaborative effort to develop policies, you’re more likely to get buy-in from team members.

2. Start with low-risk AI implementations.

Rosella Dello Ioio, Head of Content at Enate, says, “Businesses should be clearly defining the data they can and can't share with public and private AI models. Consider hiring a Chief AI Officer to take the lead on security and governance within the business.

“Once the rules around these challenges have been clearly established, begin rolling out GenAI in your marketing department by identifying all the people whose job involves creating (writing, designing, and building) and let them find the best AI co-pilot for their tasks.

Creative roles such as Copywriting and Graphic Design are relatively low-risk in terms of sensitive data as opposed to a CRM Manager who wants to use GenAI to analyze customer feedback and complaints.

Test and procure low-risk tools to support these creative individuals in boosting productivity and slashing the time spent on mundane tasks while ensuring governance protocols are adhered to."

What we like: It's justified for marketers to be concerned about data and analysis by AI tools, but Dello Ioio has found a solution that allows marketing leaders to start implementing AI in a way that feels manageable and safe.

Sometimes, the first step is the most challenging, and once leaders get rolling with AI, they may be inspired to try more.

Look at HubSpot’s AI content assistant for low-risk AI experimentation. It’s free to demo, and you can write content, create emails, landing pages, and more.

3. Leverage AI alongside your existing tech stack.

Cassey Bowden, Director of Marketing at Promet Source, recommends that marketing leaders consider new AI tools with existing tech and your talented team.

She says, “When used effectively in combination with other tools and skills of our respective teams, the door is wide open for possibilities. I would encourage folks to look at AI as an assistive tool in their digital toolbox.

Those who will see the best results and realize the most benefits of AI, in my opinion, will be those who view this tech through a Venn diagram lens.

Leveraging this tech along with your existing tech stack in addition to your skilled team, where these overlap, is where we will find success."

What we like: Bowden’s tip could help marketing leaders close the gap on challenges that hamper creativity. If AI is used in addition to your skilled team, then there's everything to gain through collaboration.

Consider taking the best of AI and the best of that all-important human touch and find the areas where they can best support each other.

4. Talk to your team.

Communication is, of course, everything! When it comes to AI, marketing leaders can eliminate a lot of AI challenges with team buy-in and communication.

Jessica Packard, Content Strategy Manager at ClockShark, found that some reassurance allowed her team to see AI for what it is; a marketing tool that can aid their workflow.

Packard says, “Initially, my team of copywriters was apprehensive about how AI could potentially replace their work in the organization."

She continues, "The fear was understandable, but it was important to reassure them that the AI tools are still underdeveloped and they cannot create copy that successfully engages readers on an emotional level as humans do.

It’s also important to show them how leveraging AI can be beneficial to their work, from brainstorming content ideas to help writing creative titles and meta descriptions."

Montse Cano, International SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant at Montserrat Cano, shared similar tips for overcoming AI challenges. She follows a set of questions and uses AI in a way that helps teams.

She shares her process, “We identify what needs we have in our team that we could meet by using AI. Is it code generation, text content ideas, or images? Then, assess current resources to test and validate outputs, i.e., do we need any training, hire someone else.”

Johannes Larsson, Founder and CEO at Johannes Larsson, adds to the importance of communication with an onus on regular comms and empowerment.

Larsson says, “We regularly communicate with our team about the benefits of AI and how it can empower them rather than threaten them. We also aim to provide training and resources to help them develop new skills and expand their knowledge in areas where AI is involved.”

What we like: It might seem simple to suggest communication, but it’s easily forgotten when you’re all busy at work. Cano, Packard, and Larsson have recognized the why behind team challenges and recommended how you can solve this challenge through communication, reassurance, and future training.

5. Test AI with your team.

In line with the importance of talking to your team, Kevin Miller, co-founder and CEO of GRO, encourages marketers to improve their workflow efficiency with AI.

He started with a solid goal, improving his team’s efficiency by 400%, and worked with his team to document AI success.

Miller shares his story, “We experimented with ChatGPT earlier this year to improve writing efficiency for long- and short-form content creation.

For our clients, we want to produce the highest-quality work possible to help them grow their domain authority and online traffic, so automation was a natural strategy to pursue that goal. That being said, it's not a one-stop-shop tool."

He continues, “Aiming to improve workflow efficiency by 400% by leveraging AI tools, we asked writers to adapt their workflows and give feedback on how well ChatGPT helped improve their writing and deliverability.

Although we did not hit those marks because of many natural obstacles and limitations of the software, we increased workflow efficiency by 200% through content templates and research assistance.

ChatGPT is fantastic for content generation and assessment, but can‘t do the work alone. It is still a part of many of our writers’ workflows to use as they see fit, and I am confident that it will continue to grow in capacity and use."

What we like: Miller and his team have experimented with ChatGPT and actively found that AI can improve team efficiency. We especially like the level of involvement Miller’s team had in AI experimentation.

With his team reporting back on their AI feedback, we feel Miller was more likely to get buy-in from team members.

6. Get your processes locked down.

Adam Smith, founder of The Content Machine, has mastered AI prompts. His test website was just 30 days old and boasted over 36,000 clicks and over 1 million impressions. All of his content was created using AI.

Image Source

Smith says, "I’m using totally un-edited AI content, straight from ChatGPT. There's a big misconception that AI content is rubbish or garbage.

However you can create helpful content if you get your ChatGPT processes locked down! You aren't going to be creating high-quality content with ‘write me a 1,500 word article on x topic’ type prompts."

According to Smith, there’s more you can do to improve the quality of content, he advises you, “Add unique images, add internal links to other contextually relevant blog posts, add as much schema as possible, and embed related YouTube videos.”

What we like: With a well-thought-out prompting process, Adam Smith has proved that AI content can be helpful, and it can rank. (And it’s even better when the data backs up the claims.)

7. Find the areas where AI is most effective.

Using AI doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing scenario. You can find the opportunities or tasks that AI is most capable of solving; then you can do the rest.

Sara Cooper, Director of Web Strategy at SimPRO, found that her team found AI most beneficial at generating headlines or sections of copy.

Copper says, "One of the biggest challenges has been feeding AI the right directives to get the output we are looking for and learning to not ask for too much from AI upfront.

For example, as the team has started to leverage AI to generate more content across our website, it‘s clear that it’s most effective when supporting the personalization of headlines or sections of copy rather than generating whole landing pages from scratch."

Jessica Ruane, Senior Content Manager at Beekeeper, echoes Cooper. Ruane says, “A big challenge that surrounds AI is effectively utilizing it in Content Marketing. Companies are definitely using AI to varying degrees during the content creation process.

Some may be fully writing content with the use of AI, while others are utilizing it for research and inspiration. The best way to implement AI in content is — slowly. Focus on the ‘voice’ that you’d like to use, and experiment with rewriting phrases to get started.”

What we like: Ruane and Cooper agree that there’s a place for AI in content writing. Equally, they’re both seeing the role of AI vary based on what marketers find more useful. Consider using AI for different tasks and find what works for you and your team. AI doesn’t have to write everything.

8. Experiment carefully.

Sofia Inga Tyson, SEO Content Editor at Juro, resolves the AI challenge of quality and brand with careful experimentation and full disclosure to key stakeholders.

Tyson says, “There are certainly concerns about the use of AI in content strategies diluting the quality and overall authority of the website.

Businesses are often keen to experiment with AI to scale their content production but content writers are naturally fearful that AI-generated content at scale will have a detrimental impact on the performance of existing, expertly crafted content.

I think it’s really important to manage stakeholder expectations in this regard and ensure that these risks are disclosed to other decision-makers in the business that might be encouraging this approach for aggressive growth.

I also think it’s important to be cautious about AI-generated content because the true impact won’t be felt immediately. It could be months or even years before the content is evaluated negatively based on the quality or use of AI.

Any experiments should be just that - careful, closely monitored and kept at a scale that means it can be reversed if needed. I think this approach will bring a lot of content writers comfort as it demonstrates that you’re approaching the use of AI with caution, not carelessly jeopardizing the online presence you have already."

What we like: Tyson’s holistic approach to AI covers brand reputation, the team, and stakeholders. She considers the desire to leverage AI with the needs of the team who use it. We love the reassurance for all involved when experimentation is monitored carefully.

9. Monitor quality and accuracy.

Once you’re set up and using AI, you don’t want to neglect the all-important quality check.

Annika Haataja, Head of SEO at Seeker, says, “As you expand your use of AI, don‘t forget to monitor quality and accuracy. We all know that AI can sometimes make mistakes, which may hurt adoption if teams don’t trust the results.

Have people review a sample of AI output to catch errors, and empower them to have faith in their own expertise in the process.”

What we like: Diligence around AI output could decline as teams become comfortable with AI usage. Haataja reminds us to stay mindful of quality and accuracy as AI adoption scales, an important reminder for all of us.

10. Refine your data sources.

Simon Brisk, Director at Click Intelligence Ltd., found AI bias a challenge. Interestingly, they found better data once his team refined the data sources.

He says, “One significant challenge we‘ve faced at Click Intelligence when integrating AI is ensuring data integrity. AI models are only as good as the data they’re trained on. Inaccurate or biased data can lead to misguided marketing decisions.

“For instance, while analyzing user behavior for an e-commerce client, skewed data initially suggested a preference for a specific product line. Only after refining data sources did we realize a more holistic preference trend, thereby recalibrating our marketing strategy.”

What we like: Brisk’s experience with AI bias shows the potential impact and the solution. By recalibrating data sources, Click Intelligence could recalibrate its marketing strategy based on reliable data.

11. Stay competitive.

The world of AI is developing fast. Chris Stott, Director at Seven Marketing, recommends staying ahead of AI developments.

He says, “Staying ahead of the competition is paramount. It's essential for us to consistently deliver exceptional value. This means rigorously testing all AI software to keep us on the cutting edge and guarantee that we provide top-tier results to our clients.”

What we like: Incorporating AI into your systems can be exciting and empowering. Testing AI from a place of experimentation is a great way to explore AI capabilities with your team. You’ll soon get a feel for what supports you and what you can live without.

12. Overcome data integrity and change management.

Jessica Shee, Senior Tech Editor and Marketing Content Manager at iBoysoft, shares the importance of overcoming data integrity and change management.

She says, “Change management and data integrity are two significant obstacles to implementing AI in marketing. For accurate AI-driven insights and decision-making, it is essential to ensure high-quality, pure data.

Misaligned data can cause inaccurate forecasts and ineffective marketing campaigns. Invest in data cleansing, validation, and data integration tools to address this issue.

Change management is an additional obstacle. Integrating AI can disrupt existing workflows and require team members to acquire new skills. Transparent communication about the benefits of AI and training team members to cultivate acceptance and proficiency are necessary for a smooth implementation.

Working with AI experts, integrating teams in decision-making, and starting with trial projects can help integrate AI while resolving difficulties. A systematic strategy, continual training, and clear communication ensure a smoother transition and optimize AI marketing benefits."

What we like: Shee recognizes that you don’t have to do everything alone. You can bring in experts and start with trial projects to help support your team through AI implementation challenges.

What's stopping you from implementing AI?

There's no harm in experimenting with AI automation so long as you follow the guidelines I laid out in this post.

In the worst case, you‘ve run an experiment (and isn’t that what marketing is all about?), and in the best case, you've got the data to support the success of your AI endeavors. Getting buy-in from your team or stakeholders will be easier when they know AI drives marketing objectives.

Plus, with the top tips from marketing leaders, you’ll start with the best possible insights to make AI and marketing an absolute success.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

via Perfecte news Non connection