Did you know that the average internet user is served 11,250 adverts a month – and that is just online! Then, of course, we need to take into account TV advertising, radio, ‘junk-mail’, billboards, packaging, signage and more, and that number escalates dramatically.
So with this amount of content bombarding the consumer every day, it really is harder than ever for brands to cut through the clutter, and make a significant connection to entice the customer to buy. But did you know that by strategically developing a brand with personality, there is a much higher chance of being able to connect and resonate with your customers?
Here are 3 reasons why you should be building a brand with personality
1. Brand Personality evokes emotion
Gone are the days when a catchy jingle, spruiking facts and benefits or displaying a pretty face could sell products. Today, only brands that truly engage with the consumer and evoke an emotion are remembered when it comes time to purchase. There are no two ways about it – emotions greatly influence and, in many cases, even determine our decisions.
By building a brand with personality where the brand has a particular persona; a way of communicating, engaging and making it’s customers feel it is more likely to evoke an emotion from the client. And when emotion is evoked often intuition or what we often call gut instinct comes into play when deciding what to purchase and from whom.
Take Qantas for example, all of their branding is based on nostalgia, positivity and trust with a strong emphasis on the emotion of connecting with loved ones or home. Qantas is what we would call The Innocent Brand Personality.
The reality is that the brain uses a combination of logic and emotion when making decisions of any kind. We possess the capacity to feel, and thereby the ability to know things without consciously reasoning. So by creating a brand with a personality, you are subconsciously getting your customers to connect with your brand through emotion.
2. Brand Personality creates a connection
Being able to communicate with customers on a personal level, where they feel as though they are being heard and understood helps create trust. And trust results in purchases, and repeat purchases. But how do brands do this? The simplest answer is that they need to have more personality.
Research reveals that consumers perceive the same type of personality characteristics in brands as they do in other people. And just like with people, they are attracted more to some personality types than others — attractions which are emotion-based, not rational.
Embedded in the philosophies of Carl Jung, are 12 personality archetypes that all humans fall under. These personalities are ones that we subconsciously know and can easily identify. When you hear the description of an innocent maiden, a heroic price or a wise old man, you immediately place personality traits on each character. The same goes for branding. When a brand is built with personality in mind, the consumer will naturally be more attracted to it than a brand without personality. This is due to it looking, sounding and feeling familiar to them. This personality determines what colours and fonts are used, the language and tone of the brand, even the type of customer experience they receive.
Apple is a great example. They realised that their customers wanted more. They wanted beautiful, innovation-driven technology that syncs their lives and makes them look and feel progressive and on trend. Their entire brand promises are based on their focus to Think Different, and this is at the core of everything that they do. When Apple opened their first store, it was nothing like a typical computer store. The design is clean, contemporary and almost futuristic with free-range assistants and a Genius Bar. Everything that they do, say and deliver focuses on the brand personality of The Creator.
3. Brand Personality directs perception
The general misperception that a logo is a brand, needs to be replaced with the realisation that it’s, in fact, the consumers who decide the brand of a company. They are the ones that place perceptions and value on a business by developing expectations for the brand. These expectations are based on the promises that the brand makes. Branding is all about your reputation.
If you want the reputation of being fun, entertaining and light-hearted such as Boost Juice, then everything to do with your business needs to reflect these values. On the other hand, a business that is motivating, encouraging and championing its customers to be the best that they can be such as Nike, will have an entirely different look, feel, sound and experience.
Companies enhance their reputation by ensuring that they deliver consistent brand experiences that are based on their personality type, and evoke a positive emotion for the consumer.
What’s your Brand Personality?
