Sleeping Barber - A Marketing Podcast

SBP 040: Making a Promise to the Customer. With Roger Martin.

Oct 12, 2023

Roger Martin, a renowned business and marketing expert, discusses the importance of making promises to customers in this podcast. They explore the relationship between branding and customer promises, the effectiveness of promise-based advertising campaigns, and the significance of delivering on promises. They also share examples from companies like Amazon Prime and Snickers to illustrate the impact of promises on business success and differentiation. Overall, this episode provides valuable insights into creating valuable promises and unifying organizations around customer-centric strategies.

01:33:20

Creator website

Episode guests

Roger Martin

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Making a clear and customer-centric promise can have a significant impact on business outcomes.

Delivering on the promise requires aligning systems and processes to fulfill customer expectations.

Meaningful promises may not generate immediate social media buzz, but they outperform non-promise campaigns in important metrics like sales and brand building.

Deep dives

The Impact of Making a Promise to the Customer on Business

Making a promise to the customer can have an incredible impact on a business. A brand promise and its relation to the customer promise are discussed in the podcast episode. The importance of a memorable, valuable, and deliverable promise to the customer is emphasized. Examples like Snickers satisfies and 15 minutes could save you 15% highlight the effectiveness of clear and customer-centric promises. The significance of aligning systems and processes to fulfill the promise and the potential for long-term market share growth are also explored.

Introduction

2min

The Impact of Making Promises in Advertising Campaigns

28min

A Study on Merchandising Strategies and the Shift to EDLP

4min

Making a Promise to the Customer

25min

Delivering on the Promise to the Customer

24min

Differentiating Through Promises to the Customer

2min

The Convenience of Amazon Prime

4min

Making a Consumer Promise and the Importance of Unifying the Organization

3min

Roger Martin returns to our show for a candid conversation on his recent research collaboration with WARC and the B2B Institute, "Making a Promise to the Customer." We delve into the implications of this research for advertisers, explore the relationship between branding and consumer promises, and much more.

This episode will not disappoint.

Enjoy the show.

Our Guest:

Roger’s Website: https://rogerlmartin.com/

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-martin-9916911a9/

Medium Blog: https://rogermartin.medium.com/

Thinkers 50: https://thinkers50.com/biographies/roger-martin/

HBR Articles: https://hbr.org/search?search_type=subscriber-search&term=Roger+L.+Martin&sort=publication_date#browse-reports-filter

Our Hosts:

Follow our updates here: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/sleeping-barber/⁠⁠

Get in touch with our hosts:

Marc Binkley: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/

Vassilis Douros: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassilisdouros/⁠

Podcast Literature:

HBR Articles

https://hbr.org/search?search_type=subscriber-search&term=Roger+L.+Martin&sort=publication_date#browse-reports-filter

LinkedIn Making a Promise to the Customer https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/b2b-institute/making-a-promise-to-the-customer

Customer Loyalty is Overrated: https://hbr.org/2017/01/customer-loyalty-is-overrated

Marketing & Strategy Are the Same Discipline: https://rogermartin.medium.com/its-time-to-accept-that-marketing-and-strategy-are-one-discipline-17f0140521c9

Timestamps

0:44 - Intro

5:01 - Results from the Promise to the Customer (PTTC) report

6:59 - The difference between a brand promise and a PTTC

9:01 - Only 40% of campaigns include a PTTC

9:45 - A brand promise isn’t as powerful

11:48 - Small brands can also benefit from PTTC

13:19 - Why AVIS “We Try Harder” isn’t a PTTC and why Sixt “Pick THE car” is

16:45 - Eliminating bias in the WARC database and research methodology

19:06 - The hypothesis of what makes a brand. ie. FedEx

24:40 - The risk of rebranding, refreshing logos and revitalizing campaigns

26:12 - Snickers: How to correctly build on a PTTC

28:45 - Why this is the most striking research result in Roger’s career

30:02 - Pricing research at P&G - the second most dramatic finding in Roger’s career

34:33 - Walmart’s Everyday low prices is a PTTC

35:40 - The 3 features of a good PTTC: Memorable, Valuable, Deliverable ie. adidas, Geico

40:22 - The difference between a USP and PTTC ie. IBM Building a Smarter Planet

43:27 - How P&G used the PTTC framework to evaluate their ad creative

49:44 - Why a PTTC can organize and align an entire company

52:38 - PTTC + PTW Case Study: Formica vs. Wilsonart high pressure laminate

57:45 - Customer loyalty is overrated, focus on habit instead

1:00:02 - Social media buzz is NOT a good indicator of PTTC success

1:04:04 - The first thing a CMO can do to benefit from the PTTC findings

1:06:15 - What’s coming with the PTTC framework

1:08:40 - Find out more about Roger (use the L.)

1:10:55 - Our best compliment ever

Where to listen

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-sleeping-barber-a-business-and-marketing-podcast/id1609811324

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4v0kaM350zEY7X2VBuyfrF?si=7083317d5afd488b ⁠⁠

Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84MWVjYWJhNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwji_oSOopP-AhXnlo4IHTZKBgYQ9sEGegQIARAC

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sleepingbarberpodcast

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Sleeping Barber - A Marketing Podcast

SBP 040: Making a Promise to the Customer. With Roger Martin.

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The Impact of Making a Promise to the Customer on Business

The Distinction Between Brand Promise and Customer Promise

The Importance of Fulfilling the Promise to the Customer

Beware of the Social Media Buzz Trap

The Importance of Making a Valuable Promise to the Customer

The Power of a Consumer-Focused Promise in Unifying an Organization

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts