How to identify three brand promises for your business

Executive overview

Most brand promises feel generic because they're invented internally rather than discovered externally. Ask your best customers — not all customers — what they reliably count on from you. Their words, distilled, become your three brand promises.

The insight: your most distinctive promise is often something you don't realise you're especially good at.

Finding your brand promises from customers

• Target only your best-fit customers — the ones you'd love more of and who genuinely love you.
• Ask: "Who are we really? What are you reliable for? What's different or even a little weird about us?"
• Distil their answers into three promises; identify which one is primary.
• The leading promise is usually table-stakes differentiation — what they count on above all else.
• The other two reinforce or complement it without repeating it.

Southwest Airlines as an example

• Three brand promises built around low fares, frequent flights, and a fun experience — their "three LFs."
• The framework applies at any company stage, not just at scale.