4 tips to create a compelling brand personality
This is by far one of the most fun elements of defining your brand and can have the most benefit. By definition,
Brand Personality is a set of human characteristics associated with a brand, product or service.
Typically they consist of 4-5 ranked words with a subset of supporting words to further define them. The brand personality supports the overall positioning of your brand in the market. You can think of it as if your brand was a person what type of human traits would it have? Having a strong brand personality can set you apart in your industry, give you a competitive advantage.
Have you defined your brand personality? It could also be the source of connection between the brand and consumers if done correctly. However, it is not always easy to create a strong and clear brand personality. I would like to share a few tips that you need to observe when it comes to defining your brand personality.
Your brand’s personality needs to be Credible – it has to be crafted in an authentic way based on your capabilities, competencies and current voice/tone of the employees and leadership. This isn’t something that is defined outside of the brand, it’s like all the other elements of your brand, it’s discovered from within, it’s uncovered by interviewing and research.
Your brand’s personality needs to be Relevant – You must take into account how your target audiences will perceive your brand. For example, if you’re a high-end luxury brand like Gucci you probably won’t have the same personality as Walmart or Target because that is not what the brand is known for. Pick the best personality that connects to your brand and audiences!
Your brand’s personality needs to be consistent. Without consistency, your personality will simply be diluted over time, and again, your customers will start to doubt you. Consistency creates trust – trust creates credibility which leads to developing deeper connections with your customers and employees alike. Based on your brand’s personality – you can give your brand an authentic voice and tone. For example, A glassware company and client of mine focus on selling drinkware to breweries. The company conveys a casual and down to earth personality. The brand personality is not only authentic to who they are but also reflects the type of communication style their audience prefers.
Your brand’s personality needs to stand out. Finding a niche personality that creates a uniqueness helps you be seen as different – people are looking for different. If you own a private medical practice perhaps instead of being serious, you throw in a little fun into the office for your employees and patients. For example, your team dresses up on Halloween and Fridays are for fun kind of mantra. Another example I’d like to share is when I worked with a homecare company. We discovered that the personality of the brand was compassionate, caring like most others in its industry, but it also had a little bit of rebel embedded, enough to make the consumers feel comfortable and at ease, alleviating the seriousness of the situation actually made them more likable as a brand. So this was a win-win, not only does the personality connect to their audience but it also helps them stand out against their competition and be authentic.
Comment below with one of your brand personality words. let me know if there is something that you’d like to learn more about.
About Michelle Roberts
President of Novus - Be Known, Inc.
