Branding is a constant, regardless of if you are a mom-and-pop shop or a corporation. A brand personality is what distinguishes your company from the competition by building an emotional connection between your customers and your business.
It injects character into your business and encourages customers to not only visit or make a purchase, but also remember it. As Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, has said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.”
If you’re a seasoned business owner or looking to rebrand, consider the benefits of cultivating a brand personality. If you’re stuck on how to establish a personality for your business, jump to our flowchart to narrow it down.
What is a Brand Personality?
A brand personality is how you would describe your business if it were a person. It’s how you want your customers to feel when they think of your product, service, employees and business as a whole. The personality you cultivate for your business is often what elicits an emotional response. Some brand personality traits include:
- Honest
- Daring
- Reliable
- Outdoorsy
- Sophisticated
- Charming
What words best describe your business? Just as a human personality isn’t single-faceted, a brand personality doesn’t have to be either. You should; however, create a consistent set of characteristics to cultivate a memorable archetype for your brand personality. Since customers come to your business to help solve a problem, use their pain points as a foundation for building out your brand personality.
The companies we all know and love lead their industries for a reason. They’ve carved out a niche through their memorable brand personalities and identities. Brands like North Face or Patagonia represent an outdoorsy adventurer, while Nike represents a strong athlete. Companies like Hallmark and Kodak represent a warm and sentimental, family-oriented personality type. Wall Street Journal, on the other hand, targets affluent and influential business leaders.
If you’re looking to rebrand your business, start anew, or you’re just beginning to build your business, consider the benefits of a brand personality.
The Benefits of a Brand Personality
It enables self-expression
A brand personality celebrates your value and differentiates your business from the rest, especially competitors that may offer a similar service or product. It helps build visibility for your business by giving your customers and the general public a way to recognize you.
It builds relationships
If you have shared values with your customers, it lays the foundation for a relationship with them, which in turn develops brand loyalty. If customers can attribute your brand to specific and consistent characteristics, they are more likely to connect with you.
It convinces people
A memorable brand personality will capture attention and make your company easy to remember or identify. Whether it’s through humor, reliability or innovation, tapping into an emotional connection is key. You can turn an otherwise impersonal business into something people can relate to. What is the heart of your business and how can you make this apparent to your audience?
It brings your business to life
If customers relate and connect with the personality behind your business, they will be more likely to engage and interact. Customers will buy into the culture and want to associate or even mimic the brand personality you’ve created through your products or services. They will also be more loyal to you, so if you start to introduce new products or services, your loyal brand followers will be more interested and help create buzz around the announcement. This gives you a competitive edge in the market and industry.
If you’re looking to narrow down your brand personality, follow our flowchart below for some guidance.
While some businesses use humor and delight to captivate an audience, others seek to innovate and push the boundaries through new ideas. Some simply aim to provide honest, friendly and reliable service to every customer. Whichever brand personality you form for your business, create an emotional connection and build a set of shared values with your customers. You will form long-lasting relationships, create loyal brand followers and carve out a name that people will always remember.
