It all started with a spam call. At least I thought it was.

“I’m reaching out because as a part of our brand promise we mentioned that we would contact you anytime we saw an opportunity to further improve on your overall finances…”

That one line helped change my perspective. It wasn’t a spam call at all. I realized that I had an existing relationship with this company, and they were attempting to fulfill a “brand promise” they had made to me.

Key points:

• The relationship already existed. (They weren’t soliciting a new relationship)
• The brand promise already existed. It could be assumed. They were simply trying to fulfill it.

What is your station’s brand promise?

I’m not referring to a liner or a slogan. Those are a dime a dozen and easily ignored.

A liner or a slogan is about an attribute of the radio station. It is the stuff that most radio stations do most of the time (“25 minutes of non-stop music”, “we play more Motown than almost anyone else”).

But a promise is about a value, top of the brand value pyramid stuff. What does your listener value? What do they believe?

My brilliant friend Dean O’Neal, program director of Z883 in Orlando, one of the most successful Christian music stations of the last twenty years, talks about how Z88.3’s severe weather coverage isn’t about just sharing information but about making a promise that…

…if they do that for others you can TRUST them to do that for you.

One is about data. The other is about a relationship.

What brand promise have you made to your listeners?