When was the last time you set aside time to reflect on the personality of your organisation's brand?

Given the current pressures, it's understandable if you haven't had the time to think about your brand's personality. However, in the age of AI, this is a crucial aspect that can help your business stand out.

In the past, quality content could set your brand apart. But with AI accelerating content creation, it's the unique character and distinctiveness of your brand's personality that truly makes a difference.

What do we mean by the word ‘brand’ anyway?

Many business owners are confident they understand their company or business's brand. However, in many cases, this knowledge is based on externals such as the logo, fonts, and brand colours.

While the logo, brand colours, and website are important, they're just the visible part of your brand. They're not the brand itself but rather its identity. The brand is more than the visible aspects; it includes intangible aspects like mission, purpose, and values. It is the combination of tangible and intangible qualities that gives the brand personality.

To fully understand a company's brand, we must also consider its intangible aspects, such as its mission, purpose, and values, and how these are encapsulated in the brand's personality and voice. Purpose is what the business does and promises its customers; the mission is what the company hopes to achieve through doing business; and the values are what the brand represents.

The voice of a brand is how it communicates to customers. The organisation's values often determine this. Other facets of the brand include how it differentiates itself from other brands and how customers experience the brand pre- and post-interaction with the company.

Hence, a brand is multifaceted. It combines internal and external elements that give the business its distinct identity or personality.

With the acceleration of AI content, effective brands are increasingly differentiating themselves by their distinct personality.

Brands with distinct personalities.

Examples of brands that have distinct personalities include:

Harley Davidson – embraces a rugged identity and demonstrates a rebellious spirit against conformity. It holds out the illusion of liberation and the rugged individualism.

Red Bull is synonymous with energy and excitement. The brand often sponsors extreme sports and activities to support its edgy identity and intense attitude.

A third example is Patagonia, which portrays an ethical, trustworthy, and down-to-earth image that appeals to customers who value environmental responsibility.

These are three examples of companies that have gone beyond creating a brand around the externals of brand identity and have worked hard to build a distinctive personality that resonates with similar qualities and characteristics in their customers.

Brand personality – the essential essence

Like these three examples, successful brands understand the importance of creating a human connection with their customers. This enables them to stand out as distinctive and different from other brands that rely on AI-generated content alone to connect with customers.

Finding your brand personality

Determining a brand's external aspects, such as a logo, colours, and font, is often the easiest part of developing its personality.

Developing a brand personality that connects with customers takes careful consideration and time.

More than adjectives

When companies start considering their brand, they often jump straight to using adjectives to describe it. Focusing on adjectives can lead to several challenges when clarifying the brand's personality.

·       Generic or overused adjectives won’t help the brand to stand out or to differentiate it from other brands

·       Concentrating on finding the right adjectives can lead to misalignment with the brand values or a lack of resonance with the target audience. This only creates confusion and weakens the brand identity.

·       Perception vs. reality. There is a risk that the adjectives chosen by the company may not accurately reflect the customer’s experience, which could lead to a credibility gap for the brand.

·       Cultural differences. Adjectives can be interpreted differently across cultures, which can be challenging for global brands

Rather than concentrating on adjectives, it is essential to ask questions like:

If the brand were a person, who would it be?

What values would it stand for?

What is its motive?

These questions link to the brand's mission, purpose, and values, which, as mentioned above, are part of the brand's intangible essence. Answering these questions is the foundation for creating a brand personality with which customers and clients can connect.