Second-guessing your brand personality? Take the 60-second Brand Quiz
Strong brand is something all business owners wants to have. Brand that’s recognisable, memorable and irresistible for their clients. Some brands however, even if they are beautiful, don’t have a certain “oomph”, wouldn’t you agree?
They don’t really make you feel connected, don’t build your trust and don’t help you relate to their stories, or don’t have a story in the first place.
Secret ingredient is what all those brands are missing. Ingredient called personality.
As you probably know, people buy from people. We connect with others only if their personality is compelling enough for us. If we share the same values, if we relate to their story.
Injecting personality into a brand can be difficult, but it can be done even for big brands that are not represented only by one person. What you need to do to achieve it? A couple of things:
Be relatable
People want to relate to your brand’s story and personality. They want to see people they buy from or work with.
- Show the behind the scenes on your Instagram Stories, place photos of you (or your team) on your website, show them how business operates and that there are people involved in the process.
- Use your About page’s full potential. It’s the perfect place to use the relatability factor on: talk to your clients and customers in a way they resonate with, tell them you’re exactly what they’ve been looking for!
- Write a copy that’s personal. Don’t try to be too eloquent when you know your brand is young and funky, but don’t try to be very direct and open when your brand sells premium services or classic products.
Have your quirks
Don’t try to be perfect! Otherwise, people will have trouble trusting you, because they will instinctively feel you’re hiding something. After all, none of us are perfect!
It doesn’t mean you have to tell your audience personal things about yourself or share your failures if you’re not comfortable with it – I think there’s a fine line here that can easily be crossed.
Write to your audience in a way you speak, laugh at your mistakes during the Facebook LIVE and don’t be afraid to show your messy desk on Instagram Stories during a big project.
Be consistent
Our personality doesn’t change every season. Our branding shouldn’t either! It’s possible to update your branding every now and then (like when you’re scaling your business up or launching a new product or service), but don’t overdo it and always stay consistent to your values and mission.
Refreshing your brand doesn’t always have to mean changing everything! Sometimes it’s enough to refine the shape of your logo (or change the font to a similar but more suitable), or update the hues on your color palette a little bit. Just think of Pepsi or Coca Cola and how their logo kept changing over the years, without us ever being confused about their branding.
Your brand’s personality will evolve over time, but by staying true to your mission and vision, you’ll stay consistent enough for people not to become confused and put off.
Consistency is really important when it comes to trust – if you change your branding often, people will feel you’re either not professional enough to have your business figured out or not reliable because you’re business won’t feel steady.
Show yourself or your team
Don’t be afraid to show yourself or your team on your website, social media and your brand stationery. I use pictures of myself even in my proposals! This makes my clients feel like I’m talking directly to them (because I am!), rather than like they’re reading boring list of items they’re going to get when they book my services.
Since I launched my brand video this October (by wonderful Jessica Charuk), I often hear my prospective clients say they felt like they already knew me and they felt they will connect with me after watching the video. It makes it easier for them to reach out to me with their project, especially that new website is such a big deal and big investment, they want to make sure they book someone they can trust and will be able to collaborate easily with.
Personality is something that will always set you apart and make your ideal clients fall in love with your brand.
Will there be people that will be put off by your quirks? Yes they will. But the ones that won’t, become your brand’s raving fans, waiting anxiously for your new programs, courses, products or services.
Don’t be afraid to inject personality into your branding and watch how your business transforms.
Greetings! Very helpful advice within this article! It is the little changes which will make the most significant changes.
Many thanks for sharing!