How to build a brand promise using the Attribute Map

Executive overview

Most brand promises are generic filler — words like "integrity" or "teamwork" that no one would disagree with. The Attribute Map is a practical tool for identifying which service attributes your core customer actually needs, so you can invest in those and stop wasting resources on what they don't.

Start with your core customer. Use the Attribute Map to rank what matters to them. Build a brand promise from the top attributes — one that is unique, measurable, and fills a real need.

The core insight: stop delivering what customers want; deliver what they need — and stop paying for what they don't care about.

Identifying your core customer

• A core customer is not a demographic segment — it is the single ideal customer you would most want to replicate.
• Rick Cash's research: in every market, 7% of customers account for the majority of profit.
• Give the core customer a name (e.g. "Maria") and a rich profile — hobbies, media habits, values — not just age and income.
• Compress the description to 25 words or fewer; return to it at every quarterly planning session.
• Visit customers in their offices or homes to observe context, not just ask questions.
• The discipline of defining a core customer lets you say no to the wrong clients — and build a business you actually want to run.

Building the Attribute Map

• List the top 10 service attributes your core customer needs (not wants).
• Start with the leadership team's knowledge; customer validation comes later.
• Plot attributes on an X-Y axis: attributes down the side, performance score (1–5) on the other axis.
• Score your own business against each attribute, then score your two main competitors.
• The goal is to identify where you are differentiated at the top — and where you are over-investing at the bottom.
• Table stakes (e.g. basic knowledge or competence) should be excluded — they are not differentiators.

Reading the map: invest and disinvest

• Attributes at the top where you score high and competitors score low are your differentiators — invest here.
• Attributes at the bottom where you score high but the customer doesn't care are waste — reduce spend here.
• The savings from disinvesting at the bottom fund the operational improvements at the top.
• Southwest Airlines example: scored 4/5 on low prices (vs. full-service airlines at 1/5), and matched the bus on onboard amenities — deliberately low. That trade-off is the strategy.

Validating with customers: the and/or method

• Simple "what do you need most?" questions are unreliable — customers will say "lowest price" even when that isn't their real priority.
• The and/or technique forces trade-offs: "Would you rather we focus on being on time, or on lower cost?"
• Cross-referencing all attributes against each other reveals genuine priorities.
• The Shouldice Hospital example: patients say they don't want to be awake during surgery, but staying awake reduces recurrence from 6% to 0.5% — what they need overrides what they want.
• Customer validation is a later step; the leadership team's judgment is sufficient to build the initial map.

Translating the map into a brand promise

• A brand promise must pass three tests: it is unique, measurable, and fills the core customer's need.
• The Attribute Map provides evidence for all three: top attributes show the need, competitor comparison confirms uniqueness.
• Civil contracting example: core frustration was projects never being completed on time. Brand promise built from the map: "On time, first time, every time" — specific, measurable, differentiated.
• A brand promise built this way eliminates the need to over-invest in promotional marketing; the promise itself drives referrals.
• Leave a box empty on the one-page plan rather than fill it with generic words that mean nothing.

Common failure modes

• Generic values ("integrity," "communication," "teamwork") are table stakes — no one would say they don't have them.
• "Bubble wrap business plans" fill each box with thin-air phrases that sound right but carry no strategic weight.
• Over-investing in things customers don't care about (e.g. expensive print catalogs) while under-investing in what drives loyalty.
• Trying to serve all customer segments equally results in being nothing to no one.