A brand personality defined by Investopedia is a set of human characteristics attributed to a brand name.
While this is true, your brand’s personality is so much more. Image and video, engagement, type and style of content, what you say and how you say it. These all play an important role in how people perceive the identity of your brand.
The way your brand is perceived and how it makes your audience feel is important. Just like any relationship, consistency in your brand’s presence is key to building a long-term relationship.
Table of Contents
- Why brand personality is important
- Defining your brand personality
- Practices to develop a brand personality
- Communicating your brand personality
- Brand personality examples
Why brand personality is important
By gaining a deeper understanding of your brand characteristics, you can increase your connection with your target audiences. Creating content and messaging becomes easier as it is more in alignment with your brand persona.
Becoming clear on your brand personality increases the value of your service for your ideal customers.
Defining your brand personality
Now, that all sounds great but you can’t force a personality on your brand. It takes time, effort and published content to build a reputation for your brand. It tells people what to expect from your brand.
A great place to start in defining your brand is with basic human characteristics, questions you might ask a friend.
Practices to develop a brand personality
Ask yourself or your team these questions to gain insight on what makes up the identity of your brand. Create a mood board to capture the essence of your brand!
What is the age of your brand? Is it more youthful or wise?
- Is your brand a man or woman?
- Does your brand have any pets?
- What is your brand’s favorite color?
- Where does your brand live?
- If your brand could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?
- What would the home of your brand look like?
- How does your brand communicate? Is it an introvert or extrovert?
- What does your brand do on the weekend?
- What is your brand’s favorite flavor of ice cream?
Communicating your brand personality
Now that you have some characteristics that make up your brand personality, what are some ways you can implement?
Creating content tells the story of your brand. That’s what we do here at Beachwood Creative.
You can create fun social media posts that share aspects of your brand personality and promote engagement from your audience to share things about themselves too.
Your brand personality should be woven into your brand style guide, website, social media, blog topics. Make sure your brand leaves it’s unique mark for audiences to remember.
Brand personality framework
Jennifer Aaker, a Stanford researcher wrote the Dimensions of Brand Personality that defines specific traits as a starting framework for defining your brand personality.
Consider the following categories and dimensions in relation to your brand.
Excitable
The feeling of joy and magic as the disney castle appears on the screen. Excited brands are trendy, cool and energetic. They are often independently creative and imaginative.
Sincere
When Amazon tells you a date that your package is going to be delivered – you expect it to be delivered on that day. Sincere brands strive to be genuine, honest and helpful.
Competent
If you’re looking for a doctor, lawyer or plumber, you expect that person to be well-versed in what they do. A competent brand is hardworking and intelligent.
Sophisticated
The feeling of prestige comes from sophisticated brand personalities. They give the feeling of being high-class and an elegant aesthetic. Tiffany & Co position themselves in the top market of luxury.
Rugged
Ruggedness can be found in brands like Timberland & Jeep. They are outdoorsy, tough and straightforward about what they do.
