Ask the CEO, the sales team, and the product team at a B2B software company to describe, in one sentence, what the company does. You’ll most likely get three different answers. Not because no one knows what the company does, but because no one has ever sat down to distill that into a single, simple promise.
In the Brazilian B2B technology market, this problem arises very frequently in two opposite extremes:
- Companies are too technical in their communication. The website talks about architecture, integrations, and features, but never explains, in a single sentence, why this matters to potential buyers.
- Companies that are way too generic. “We’re an innovative company that transforms the way you manage your business through technology”—a phrase that could appear on any competitor’s website without saying anything specific about anyone.
Both extremes stem from the same root cause: there is no clear brand promise to serve as a compass for everything else (website, ads, sales pitch, content).
What, in practice, is a “brand promise”?
It’s not a slogan. It’s not a catchy tagline for the bottom of your website. It’s the most honest and specific answer possible to a simple question: Why should anyone care about your company, rather than the next tab open in their browser?
A strong brand promise acts as a filter for every communication decision that follows it. If a piece of content, an ad, or a sales pitch does not reinforce that promise, it is likely misaligned, even if it is technically correct.
The exercise: 3 steps
This exercise doesn't require a full-day workshop or expensive consulting. You can do it in a 90-minute meeting with the right people in the room (ideally the founder, someone from sales, and someone from product).
Step 1: Look within, without a filter
Before thinking about how to communicate, you need to understand what is already true about the company. Here are some questions to help with this step:
- What specific problem does the company solve—not in terms of features, but in terms of how it changes the lives of those who buy it?
- Who are the customers who love the product the most, and what do they say when they explain to someone else why they use it?
- What does the company do that’s genuinely different from the competition—not “better,” but different?
- What objection or question comes up all the time in sales pitches that today's communication fails to address?
The goal here isn't to come up with fancy phrases just yet; it's to generate honest raw material. It's worth writing everything down on Post-it notes or in a simple list, without worrying about style.
Step 2: Distill it down until only one sentence remains
With the raw material from Step 1 on the table, the task now is to pare it down. The natural temptation is to try to fit everything in (all the unique selling points, all the target audiences, all the important features). That’s exactly the opposite of what works.
A strong brand promise typically sacrifices technical precision in exchange for emotional clarity. It answers just one question: What is the emotional core that makes the ideal customer say, “This is exactly what I need”?
A practical test: write five different versions of the promise, each in a single sentence. Then, read each one aloud to someone outside the team and ask what they understood the company does. The version that elicits the response most similar to what you intended is the one that’s closest to the mark.
Step 3: Write without jargon
Once the promise has been refined, the final step is to translate it into language that anyone outside the company can understand—including someone who has never worked with technology.
Here are some signs that you're still using too much jargon:
- The phrase only makes sense to those who are already familiar with the product.
- It could be copied and pasted onto a competitor's website without sounding out of place.
- It describes what the product is, rather than how it changes the lives of those who use it.
A good way to test this: if the sentence needs an explanation after it to make sense, it's not ready yet.
Where does this promise apply afterward?
Once defined, the brand promise isn’t just limited to the “About Us” section of the website. It should appear consistently in:
- The first sentence on the homepage, before any features
- The opening remarks for a sales pitch
- The briefing for any advertisement or piece of content
- The standard answer to “What do you do?” in any context: an event, LinkedIn, or an interview
When these four things don't all say the same thing, it's a sign that the company hasn't actually adopted the promise yet—it was just written down once and then forgotten.
Why It's Worth the Effort
B2B technology companies are increasingly competing in a market where buyers do their own research before speaking with any salesperson, often using AI tools to compare options. In this scenario, a clear and consistent brand promise is not just an aesthetic issue: it determines whether the company is remembered and recommended, or whether it becomes just another name among ten others on the list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this exercise replace a full branding process?
No. It addresses the most pressing issue—the lack of a clear tagline—but it does not replace a more comprehensive process involving visual identity, naming, tone of voice across all channels, and brand architecture.
Who should attend this 90-minute meeting?
Ideally, you want someone who embodies the strategic vision, someone who hears real customer objections every day, and someone who has a deep understanding of the product. These three different perspectives ensure that the promise doesn’t just look good on paper.
How often should this promise be reviewed?
It's not something you need to review every week, but it's worth reassessing whenever the company changes its target audience, launches a very different product line, or realizes that its sales message and marketing message have begun to diverge.
This exercise serves as the starting point for a more comprehensive process of positioning and go-to-market analysis, which aligns the brand promise with real-world data from the website, the market, and the competition.
