Having a clear brand personality creates an identity which can be memorable, growing customer loyalty and making a brand people are passionate about.

We can create a personality without even meaning to, for example, through the tone of voice and language you use across your brand’s channels. When the personality of a brand is taken into consideration, you can present how you would like it to. However, if it is not well thought, you can be seen undesirably, or even have others influence your brand’s personality. It’s all about understanding who you want to be, and how you want people to see your brand.

What is a brand personality?

It is the way you come across to consumers, customers, or those who see your messaging. It influences the way people think about your company, and often a brand personality captures the target market’s attention. Every brand has a personality, if they mean to. This applies across the board, with companies of all sizes, whether it is online or in person. For some, a personality may be fun and represent a quirky side to the company. Also, for others, it may be trustworthy and more serious. Creating, improving and carrying a brand personality throughout all channels can take businesses to new levels of success.

When brand personalities are not consistent that can confuse and deter customers. (For example, if they are fun and interactive on social media, but serious and unhelpful in person) It’s vital to manage it across channels, regardless of the number of platforms, writers or members of staff.

Deciding your brand personality

Before deciding, research and make sure it will help you meet your objectives.
The first step is to map out your customer base and aligning this with what you are selling or trying to promote. From here, you can decide what kind of voice you should use to capture this audience’s attention. Furthermore, you need to work out how you can implement this across channels to present a unified brand image.

Think about your company and its story. How would you describe your brand to somebody who had never heard of you?

There are many types of personality, with conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and experience being the five main ones. For your brand, you can amend it slightly to become an excitement, competence, sophistication, hardiness and honesty. These are all desirable traits, which you can need to implement into your content.  If it does not communicate them, customers, or potential customers, may believe you do not have these personality traits.

Personality v Identity

Brand identity and personality are very different. Personality is the emotional association people create with a brand, while identity is created by a business to relate to their target audience. While they work together and interlink, a brand identity also includes brand fonts, logos and website design.

Acting on brand personality

Once you have selected the right personality, you can shape your brand around this. Here are just a few areas you can implement into your project:

• Brand font
• Colour schemes
• Imagery
• Content alignment and use of space
• Brand content and messaging

Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash

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