Not quite Christmas...
It’s been an exciting fortnight, with lots of deliverables met. I’ve been working with a small start-up for the most part of last Friday. We are working on a content mission statement, underpinned by their marketing objectives. It’s fun to be creative, and to start a journey like this.
I’ve recommended that the start-up completes our short course, “How to Create a Distinctive Brand Personality.” That’s because there's still discussion about defining brand essence and personality. The course (only two hours to go through) goes through the process of identifying these and how they relate to content, tone and messaging.
So, your brand personality should not be a sentence in a business plan, it needs to be brought to life in all that you do,at each customer touchpoint. Brands, much like humans, have certain personality traits. The personification of a brand that evokes certain emotions in customers is what builds brand equity. That is, a well-known brand name can generate more revenue than less well-known brands, simply from brand recognition. Brand personality humanises products and services and it helps to increase relatability through a deeper emotional connectivity.
So, here’s two questions to ask yourself:
“How do you want your brand to make people feel?”
“How do you want your brand to behave?”
Just a thought about that. If you don’t have clarity about those questions,how can you create the content strategy to fulfil the needs of your business?
Big Brands Have It!
I’ve worked with some pretty big brands: Pataks, Reggae Reggae (Levi Roots), Kellogg, Golden Wonder, Intercontinental Group, Barclys Bank, United Utilities, and O2, as examples. These brands have strong personalities that attract the customers they have targeted. And, that’s your aim too, increasing your reach and building awareness of your brand.
The Five Dimensions of Brand Personality by Jennifer Aaker is a framework to describe and measure the “personality” of a brand in five core dimensions, each divided into a set of facets.
The core dimensions and facets are:
1. Sincerity (down-to-earth, honest, genuine, cheerful, thoughtful)
2. Excitement (daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date, carefree)
3. Competence (reliable, intelligent, successful, responsible, efficient, dependable)
4. Sophistication (prestige, charming, romantic, elegance)
5. Ruggedness (outdoorsy, rugged, strong, tough)
Use this framework, or try out our course, which is a variation on the theme, with step-by-step exercises and videos. Don’t forget to answer the two questions posed above to help with clarification. Brainstorm feelings first, and then describe desired consumer behaviour.
Good luck!