The Brand Strategy of Stand Out Personality
In the world of retail and hospitality, so many businesses get caught-up in the operational whirlwind of attracting, serving and delivering product to their customers that they find it challenging to take a breath, step back and assert their brand. Yet for those brands able to bring their personality to life with confidence, there is much opportunity to cut through, stand out from the crowd and build engaging brand relationships. By brand personality we don’t mean saying whatever comes to mind in whatever tone of voice you feel like – but rather the strategically established overlap of who your business is naturally with who it needs to be to connect best with your audience. A well defined brand personality provides the framework for all employees and brand communications to confidently communicate to customers and clients in a way that is on brand and stands-out from the crowd.
A simple brand personality audit
A simple assessment for all brands whether retail, hospitality, professional services or online is to quickly map-out the five most critical consumer/client engagement points in your pathway to purchase. These might include:
• When they first arrive on your web site (not always the home page)
• When they walk past your store (not necessarily when they walk in)
• When their order is taken
• When they glance at your eDM for the first time
• When they receive your proposal
For each of these five critical engagement points, rate yourself out of ten for brand personality; how strategic/brand aligned, confident and consistently is your brand communication communicated? The goal simply is to consistently reflect your brand strategy, using your personality to differentiate and connect with your consumer or client. This simple assessment will give you a sense of what work you need to do on defining your brand personality and where the opportunities lie for you to leverage it for greater brand engagement. And remember, brands that score poorly are those with the greatest opportunity for improvement – and we’re always here to help.
Dave Ansett
Truly Deeply Founder & Creator of Brands
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