The Importance of Brand Personality

In case you haven’t heard, we are operating in a relationship marketplace these days. You know the mantra: people want to do business with someone they know, like and can trust. Do you offer a product or service that is so over the top wonderful, or just isn’t available from anyone else? Are you just the best darned whiz-bang (fill in the blank _____) on the planet? If your answer to either of these questions is ‘No’ you may have a serious problem on your hands related to converting web site visitors to actual paying customers.

With the advent of the Internet, consumers have unlimited choices when it comes to deciding who to do business with. Why should they do business with you? Advances in technology let consumers shop at any time, from anywhere with Internet access on a variety of tech tools. Your web site is often your only channel for introducing your company to customers. Having a good web site that presents you and your company in the best light is critical to your success.

Most people tend to move in the direction of a company or person they know something about. We are far more likely to flip the ‘Buy’ switch in favor of someone we like and trust. It’s just plain common sense. Do you shop where you are uncomfortable or people are rude to you? Do you buy from a company that makes you feel that you are being cheated or taken advantage of? I don’t.

Years ago – too many to mention – I’d come home from school, dump my books on the kitchen table, grab a snack, flip on the TV set (black and white TV, I might add), then plop down in a chair to watch ‘American Bandstand’. The show was hosted by a young, hip and very cool Dick Clark. ‘Bandstand’ introduced all of the top bands and singers of the day, while creating teenaged dancing superstars. The show even had a significant influence on dance styles, hair and clothing styles; the Baby Boomer teen version of reality TV.

One of those oldie-but-goodie tunes introduced to the teen world was Lloyd Price’s “(You’ve got) Personality”.

Price’s lyrics were simple and clear. He was professing his love for a girl based on her excellent personality:

You’ve got personality.
You walk with personality.
Talk with personality.
Smile with personality.
Charm with personality….

You get the idea. Everybody’s got one – a personality, that is. Some are clearly more pleasing than others, at least in the opinion of the beholder. In the private world, our personality defines who we are and how we appear to others. In the business world, your brand is defined by either your own, or your company’s personality.

Your brand ‘personality’ sets you apart from everyone else as a memorable individual. It is unique to you. It makes you different from everyone else by highlighting what makes you different, and better, than your competitors for a unique group of customers. Your company culture expresses your company values and how you do business. All of this contributes to your company brand.

Expressing Your Brand Personality

Individual personalities and company cultures can be gold mines when it comes to your brand and marketing efforts. Personality goes a long way toward gaining those ‘like’ and ‘trust’ elements from potential customers. Are you taking advantage of this free, important tool at your disposal when it comes to marketing – especially when developing your website?

Does your website or blog express your personality, or your company’s culture? If someone actually met you in person, would they ‘recognize’ you by how your website portrayed you and your way of doing business? Does your personality shine through? If not, it’s time to make some changes. If you are not a stiff, unfriendly person, does your head shot say anything different? The same goes for your staff. Remember that you are attempting to show someone that appears likable and trustworthy through your blog.

Help Customers Get to Know You and Your Company

Customers are looking for someone they feel comfortable working with or buying from. They want to see pictures of you and your staff, not stock images of people they will never do business with. Stock photos can appear all over the Internet on other web sites. Portray your company, your staff and your company culture and personality. Let people see what they will be getting if they decide to work with your firm and not the similar one down the street or across town. Will they find that serious, buttoned up, person portrayed by an industry standard professional photograph, or some casual, caring, funny gal in designer jeans, a silk shirt, dripping in fashion jewelry instead? Show visitors who you are. That’s who they want to do business with.

I’m not suggesting that if you have a mouth like a dock worker, you splatter your website or blog with profanity and F-bombs. Unless, of course, that is exactly the kind of customer you want to attract. What I am suggesting is that if you are a casual, laid back kind of person, you should insert that into your content – written text as well as images. If you like fun, don’t be afraid to show some humor. Or, if you are a more serious, analytic, detail-type person, don’t be afraid to share that side of your personality. There are customers of all types out there who can appreciate what it is about you and your company they are quite comfortable with. Help strangers get to know you and what you are all about. If you are the guy who makes finance and accounting fun, relate that to your site’s visitors. Admit it, you would like to find that kind of accountant yourself.

Give Customers Reason to Like You

If you’re an avid bird watcher, collector of a specific kind of art or a wine connoisseur, don’t be afraid to incorporate that into your blog posts in ways customers can relate to. Good marketing is all about storytelling to attract new customers. Telling someone a story that reveals something about you or the company instead of a lot of industry jargon they don’t really understand will bring better results every time. Letting people know who they would be dealing with goes a long way in developing a business relationship.

If your team is made up of big-time tree huggers who support a local environmental project, share it. Devote some web site space to images of your team working on a local project. If they planted trees, post some pictures of them, dirt and all. If they participated in raising funds for it, share that too. Share your community involvement and how your company gives back. Make your company and yourself likable.

Build Credibility and Trust

If what you do for customers excites you, sound excited and make potential customers excited too. If you are proud of what your product has done for previous customers, share that through case studies or testimonials. Taking a WYSIWYG approach helps consumers comfortable that you truly are what is represented on your web site.

Try this strategic approach: ask a few friends, colleagues and some of your best customers what they think are the most impressive elements about you or your company. What was it you did for them or do regularly that makes them want to work with you? Why do they buy what you are selling? Look for commonalities in their responses. Narrow the responses to two or three things mentioned repeatedly and that sound the most like you see yourself and your company. Now, take that Personality and make it a part of your website, blog and other marketing materials. You have a specific personality, why keep it a secret? Stop being generic and let your true colors show through.

Reveal your brand personality in two dimensions on your site. When a potential customer picks up the phone and calls you, they will know they’ve reached the three dimensional version of that personality they ‘met’ via the Internet.