Brand Persona: What It Is and Why You Should Care
A brand persona is an image a company wants to portray. This can include anything from a product or service to a person. By creating a persona, a company can effectively brand itself and differentiate itself from competitors.
Your brand persona is an amalgamation of everything you are, creating a coherent identity. It's your visual story, personality and voice, and it should be built for your target audience. If you know how to create your brand persona, you can create a product or service that's authentic to your audience and makes a solid first impression. A brand persona is a total of what you are as a company.
Most people know they need to brand themselves as a person, and many do it, but few understand what it means. That's why I'm going to show you what it is, why it's essential, and how to get started.
What Is a Brand Persona?
A brand persona is a personification of a company, organisation, or product created to serve as a vehicle to express the unique personality of its creator. It acts as a living, breathing representation of a company and is meant to communicate the company's goals and aspirations.
It's created as a creative extension of the company's identity. Brand personas are used in everything from logos to advertising to social media content and are usually developed in-house by marketing teams.
Brand personas have been gaining traction as more companies find ways to use them in marketing. These personas can take many forms, including visual, written, spoken, or even dance personas. The best brand personas tend to focus on human attributes that resonate with audiences, such as positive feelings and emotions.
Examples of brand personas include:
- A Facebook page for a company's pet charity
- An email subject line for a fundraising campaign
- A company logo
- A Twitter avatar for a company's account
Brand personas are a type of persona typically used for digital marketing. Here are some examples of brand personas that have been used in marketing:
- The Disney Parks brand persona focuses on the family-friendly aspects of Disney parks. It incorporates the “magic” of Disney parks while emphasising the fun and excitement of being there.
- The Nike brand persona emphasises the athletic lifestyle of Nike shoes, apparel, and accessories. It's designed to communicate the athletic nature of the company's products.
- The Ford brand persona highlights the durability of the company's products. It's a positive representation of the company's products while also being playful and friendly.
- The Google brand persona is a fun and playful character representing the search engine giant. It was designed to help Google's brand reach a wider audience and to give potential customers a positive experience.
A brand persona should express the company's purpose and values. It's a creative representation of the company and is meant to appeal to an audience.
How do I get started on a Brand Persona?
Creating a brand persona is a creative process. The first step is to ask yourself questions. The answers to these questions will help you understand your target audience.
Ask yourself questions like:
- Who are my consumers?
- What do they want?
- What is my company's purpose?
- What do I stand for?
- Who am I?
- What is my audience?
- What are their needs and desires?
- What is my brand's personality?
- What does my brand's personality communicate to the world?
Why Do You Need To Build It?
Branding means establishing a strong and consistent identity with which your audience recognises, trusts, and connects. This identity will reflect your brand, allowing you to express your personality and values and speak to your audience's needs and desires. Your brand's personality differs from an indifferent brand to an engaging brand.
When building a brand, it's important to remember that brands have personalities, and personalities are unique. The key to branding is to establish that personality through consistent messaging and actions. It's like writing a book. No matter how many times you've written a book, the personality of that book is still distinct from the next.
Building a Branding Persona
To build a branding persona, start with your core values and beliefs. Ask yourself, “What is my brand really about?” Once you've determined what your brand is about, start thinking about your audience. Who are your audience's core values and beliefs? This should be similar to what you believe, but the values and beliefs of your audience should be more easily understood.
Once you've identified the values and beliefs of your audience, you can begin to develop your brand's personality. Think about the attributes of your brand. What makes it unique? How do your products or services make your audience feel?
Your persona can be very literal. For example, if you're a financial services firm, your persona might be an advisor who's very analytical and methodical. If your brand is a company that provides high-quality fitness equipment, your persona would be a fitness professional passionate about staying trim.
You can also be more creative. Think about how your audience uses your products or services. What's the one thing that they'd be surprised to learn? What's the best way to describe your brand personality?
Remember that your audience's values and beliefs may differ from what you think they are. So make sure that the values and beliefs that you share are the ones that are important to your audience. It's often helpful to think about your core values and beliefs. These may change over time, but it's essential to consider them now.
There are two main ways to build your branding persona:
- Think about your audience's values and beliefs. Ask yourself, “What does my audience believe in?” Write these down on sticky notes and stick them on your wall or in a file folder. These values and beliefs are a starting point for developing your branding persona.
- Develop your branding persona. Consider the values and beliefs that make up your core values and beliefs. Then, think about how your audience would feel about your brand. What feelings do you want your audience to have about you, your brand, and your products or services?
Remember to use these values and beliefs as the foundation for your persona, but keep your persona open to change. Your branding persona may change as your audience changes, and your audience's values and beliefs may change as they interact with your products or services.
The Three Cs of Brand Persona
For the last 50 years, people have said that “brand is everything”. But what does it mean to say that your brand is everything? The first thing that pops into most people's minds is that it's the logo on the front of your product or service. It's the little symbol that represents who you are.
It's also easy to understand how brands can be everything; after all, they're what's going to make you stand out in the marketplace and separate you from everyone else.
But when it comes to the 3Cs, you must consider all three aspects of your brand. That's because the 3Cs represent how others perceive you. And what's more, each of the 3Cs is also a vital component of a solid customer experience.
So let's take a look at what they are.
The 3Cs Of Brand Persona – What Are They?
- Customer: They represent the individuals who are using your product or service.
- Commitment: They show that you're committed to delivering exceptional experiences to them.
- Credibility: They demonstrate that you're an expert in your field and can deliver on your promises.
In other words, the 3Cs of brand persona focus on the people that buy your products or services. But that doesn't mean that your logo isn't necessary, either. Your logo helps set you apart from competitors and identify your brand.
All three of the 3Cs are critical. But in today's hyper-connected world, it's easy to forget the importance of the first two Cs.
You see, if you're not making any effort to make sure that your customers are happy, it's impossible to establish any credibility with them.
As for commitment, it's easy to give lip service to creating the best customer experience in your industry. But without taking that commitment seriously, it's a waste of time and money.
To sum up, the 3Cs of brand persona represent the customer experience. Without all three of the 3Cs, there's no brand.
Let's look at a few examples to see how this works.
Brand Persona Example #1 – McDonald's
Here's a great example of a brand that puts all 3Cs at the centre of its identity. McDonald's is one of the best-known brands in the world, and it's the company that many people associate with burgers, fries, and milkshakes.
But it wasn't always that way. At the start, McDonald's was much more than that. It was a small burger joint owned by a man named Ray Kroc. It was only later that McDonald's became a global food and entertainment giant.
Kroc realised that he needed to invest in a new marketing strategy to create the new McDonald's. His first step was to create a new corporate identity for the business, one that emphasised the customer experience and would set McDonald's apart from the competition.
That's when he came up with the idea to make the logo a big part of the brand. The result was a simple, memorable symbol that helped McDonald's transform how people think about burgers, fries, and milkshakes.
With the 3Cs in mind, you can see that McDonald's is a family of restaurants. They've all become extensions of the brand.
Of course, there are some differences between the different locations, but they all have the same mission. The McDonald's name has been carefully considered in each case to ensure a cheerful reminder of the company's goals and values.
And that brings us to the second example.
Brand Persona Example #2 – Apple
Another excellent example of a brand that puts all three of the 3Cs at the centre of its identity. Like McDonald's, Apple also has a strong history that dates back to the 1980s. But it was only later that the company decided to put its brand on the outside.
That's when it developed a unique personality that set it apart from the rest of the world. And it all started with the logo.
The company's marketing director revised the Apple logo for the Mac, Jony Ive. At the time, it was just an exciting piece of artwork. But the logo has since grown into something much bigger. It's become the face of the brand, the symbol that represents everything that Apple is about.
The 3Cs come together because of the company's commitment to building a high-quality, consistent customer experience. And that commitment is represented by the logo, which is the centrepiece of the company's identity.
How Brand Persona Affects Brand Perception
Brand perception is defined by who you are. You can influence your brand image by creating a persona unique to you, and many factors can influence that. These include your background, the kind of person you are, your gender, and your lifestyle.
Brands often focus on one of three leading brand personalities, the individualist, the socialite, and the perfectionist. Here, we'll look at how each brand personality affects consumer perceptions of brands and how you can influence each.
Individualist
Individualism is a personality type focused on pursuing happiness through fulfilling personal desires and needs. This personality type is very self-focused but doesn't care much about others or their thoughts. It's an individualistic personality that values independence and enjoys a certain amount of freedom.
Individualists are usually very easy to identify for consumers since they tend to stick out among other people and are likely to have more self-confidence. Because they are more focused on their own needs, they are less likely to be concerned with other people's opinions. They are also less likely to take any interest in products or services that other people might find appealing.
These people generally enjoy a sense of superiority over others and are likely to judge other brands by comparing them to themselves. They also believe that other brands will only be successful if they're similar.
Socialite
Socialites enjoy interacting with others and are focused on being accepted and liked by others. They are highly sociable and enjoy being around other people. They are interested in others' needs but may be less focused on meeting their own needs. They are generally easy to identify by their interest in others and because they usually tend to be outgoing and friendly. Socialites tend to value relationships and the ability to make friends and allies.
Regarding marketing, socialites are typically very open to trying new things and are highly receptive to new ideas and advice. They are likely to be more trusting of other brands than individualists. They are also likely to have more favourable attitudes towards brands similar to their interests and lifestyles.
Perfectionist
This powerful brand personality is focused on achieving the highest standards of excellence in everything they do. People with this brand personality are driven by goals and believe they should set high standards for themselves.
This brand personality is also known as the “type A” personality. These people have high expectations and are often very hard on themselves. They always seek to improve themselves and set very high standards for themselves.
Perfectionists are very dedicated and organised and likely to focus on reaching their goals. They are very goal-oriented but tend to be very sensitive about their failures and the failures of others.
These people tend to be very competitive and may compete in several different areas. For example, they may be very concerned about their diet, fitness, beauty, or finances and may be willing to spend a lot of time and money on these areas of their life. They may also be very concerned about the quality of their appearance. They may be willing to spend money on clothing, jewellery, or cosmetic products to achieve a specific look.
Perfectionists are also very critical of others and their products, believing their needs and preferences are the only correct way. They tend to be picky when choosing products or brands, believing they will only be satisfied if the products are just like themselves.
What Does This Mean for Brands?
Brands are people, too, so they can fall into these brand personality types. If your brand personality is the same as one of the above three, your brand can benefit from becoming more like it.
If your brand personality is the opposite of these personality types, it's essential to work to make it more aligned with the personality traits of these three types. You may need to change some of your brand's strategies, messaging, or other aspects to appeal to these different personality types.
Conclusion
The whole point of building a brand is to be memorable. People remember a brand more than a person.
The trick is to focus on one type of brand and become the best at it. Once you master a particular area, people will start associating that area with your name.
You can use this power to your advantage. For example, you may want to build a brand around an industry you're familiar with. This way, you can gain the trust and attention of those people, which can lead to a successful career.
Learn more about Brand Persona in this article!