Figuring Out Your Brand Personality

If you talk to anyone in the marketing industry they will agree that
the major factor in every successful marketing campaign is branding.
In order to attract attention to your business and retain consumer
loyalty you must create a brand personality. Whether you want to print
your brand on promotional gifts or put it in an advertisement, you
need to know and understand your brand personality.Creating your
company's brand personality is a multi-layered process. It involves
first establishing the brand name, then defining the brand and finally
promoting the brand.DefinitionEvery company has a name. Creating a
brand for your company might be as simple as using the name or it
might involve designing a logo. Either way it involves giving your
business a visual image by choosing a font, colours and images and
sticking to it. Corporate brands like banks and insurance are often in
blue or red utilising traditional, conservative fonts. Food brands
often involve black, reds and yellows and appear in fun and friendly
fonts. The visual branding will go a long way to define your brand
personality.This visual representation of your business will appear on
stationary, websites, promotional items and signs. It is the first
step in communicating the simple idea that you are serious,
professional and here to stay.DifferentiateThe next step is to find
out what differentiates your brand from others. Why is Pizza Hut
different to Dominos? Why choose Westpac over ANZ?Communicating what
makes your brand different takes more than a name and logo. Expressing
your brand's personality needs to be done using more complex methods.
You might choose an ad for an online or printed publication to get
your message across. You might prefer a press release that links local
and community needs to the solutions your business can provide. A
website is another effective way to communicate your brand personality
sufficiently. Either way, these documents need to support the reasons
that your brand is best. If you don't know what your business's brand
personality is, then how can your customer?If you run an industrial
business, you would need to point out the qualities that are important
to the people buying your product. Is it safety, reliability, price or
support? What can you offer that your competitor can't? Point out and
capitalise on these differences where possible to reinforce your brand
personality.Make Your ChoicePerhaps you are having trouble deciding on
your brand personality. You can't decide what type of consumer you
want to appeal to. Don't make the mistake of thinking you can appeal
to one and all.Pick one persona and stick to it. Many brands have
tried to have a multi faceted brand appeal and statistics have shown
that this is not an effective strategy. Having more than one brand
personality results in brand confusion. While it does make the
decision process a little more daunting, it will benefit your business
in the end. Having a strong brand persona will lead to strong,
effective marketing campaigns and successful brand awareness. It will
make every aspect of your marketing strategy easier from choosing
which promotional items to put your name to down to what magazines to
advertise in.