We all have that friend who swears by Starbucks and literally lives, works, and pees in the ubiquitous coffee-chain. For them, no other cafe will do. It’s hard to fathom why, considering the abundance of other coffee-chains and independent cafes offering similar if not better coffee than Starbucks. Alright, their lavatories are rather clean and decent, but surely there’s a more prosaic reason for Starbucks’ rabid brand appeal?
Brands like Starbucks are so popular because they have succeeded in grooming a personality for themselves that consumers easily identify with. That Starbucks fanboy friend of yours? He or she has a personality that’s very similar if not identical to other Starbucks fans. Strong brands craft strong personalities with human traits that resonate with their target consumers.
A brand that uses messaging, voice, tone and visuals that complement its personality will strengthen its brand equity. Failure to do so risks destroying the brand. With zero brand recognition, a company’s products become mere commodities – unrecognizable, and totally replaceable. Do you see Starbucks getting replaced by the hordes of competing cafes? I rest my case.
That’s why identifying your brand personality is so crucial. Whether you are running your own social media page or business, brand personality is always worth looking into. In this post, we will share Kdan Mobile’s step-by-step brand personality exercise and some interesting insights.
Be authentic
Big brands spend millions on focus-groups and internal surveys for their branding efforts. But you don’t need a big budget as long as you keep the process authentic. Invite your employees to take part in this project. Not just a select few who you think are likely to give views congruent to yours. Invite all staff to take part. Authenticity can also be demonstrated by an appealing logo created by a professional logo maker as well as a well-considered business slogan.
Methods
Brand personality is often expressed through a brand’s internal and external communications. To identify your brand personality, conduct a simple survey on the communication tones used by your staff in internal memos, emails, and chatting apps.
At Kdan, we asked staff to describe their perception of the brand, then categorized the words into broad personality types. Like this:
Flexible and Friendly
Commonly used words
- Flexible
- Relaxing
- Friendly
- Easy-going
- Helpful
Don’t be afraid to go into in-depth interviews. It helps naturalize the process and gets staff to open up more with insights like this:
“I enjoy working with the team, because people are friendly. The company is quite flexible about making changes, and allows employees to make mistakes and learn from experience.”
It’s also interesting to investigate this from your customers’ perspective, and compare the results from internal communications. What you think your brand represents may not be the same as what your customers think.
Responsible and Accountable
Commonly used words
- Kind-hearted
- Responsible
- Reliable
- Determined
- Realistic
Excited and Youthful
Commonly used words
- New
- Different
- Try
- Inspiration
- Improve
- Young
Brand Promise
You may find that despite the different perceptions of your brand personality, most of the traits will reflect your brand promise.
At Kdan, we enjoy a friendly, flexible work environment. We’re also passionate and determined to make continuous improvements, and engage our customers with friendly, personalized customer support.
A Great Brand has…
A great personality. And what do great personalities have? A great following – which in marketing lingo translates to traction. Start building your brand personality today, and watch your business take off!
Like our personality? Tell us what type of person best sums up Kdan!