F.or generations, there is a saying in the business world, especially among marketers and advertisers: think of your brand as a person. When you give it human personality traits, you can build a strong, resilient brand and drive growth.
As Investopedia explained. “A brand personality is something that the consumer can relate to” – and when done correctly and consistently, it increases brand value. After all, people like people more than things. The more “human” the brand appears, the more likeable it becomes. During my career in advertising and marketing, I’ve seen people become more interested in brands that “understand” them in a similar way to how they understand other people.
Companies still need to think this way. But the engaging personality traits and how they manifest themselves for a brand have now changed. As we near the end of the pandemic, society will be different. There are new things to consider as you build your brand personality and a number of new appealing traits for the commander.
Explosion of digital competence
Much of the change has resulted from consumers’ new relationship with online experiences. In just the first month Just the fact that the March 2020 pandemic led to a standstill in the US made 9% of consumers their first online purchase. At year-end, e-commerce sales represented an estimated 14% of total retail sales – double what it was in 2015.
Perhaps most noticeable was the rapid expansion of e-commerce knowledge in demographics. While inequalities in digital literacy a Main problemDigital literacy has also increased as people have worked to find their way around the new reality.
Like the Washington Post reported“One of the most significant and unexpected changes, according to experts, was the almost instantaneous adoption of online shopping by people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s.” The 65+ became the fastest growing cohort of online shoppers.
For a brand, the online audience is now more diverse than ever, including by age. Traditionally, a youth audience was the coveted cohort because it was the target audience that shaped culture, trends and buying behavior. With the transition to broader digital literacy in general, a brand needs to carefully rethink its online target audience and build its personality from there. And there personality traits come across differently onlineBrands need to pay particular attention to how different groups of the population perceive a particular post or online content.
Dialogue, not a monologue
This challenge becomes even more difficult. Today’s consumers not only expect and demand a high level of commitment and personalization from a brand.
Traditional marketing has been more of a monologue where a brand can shape and shape a carefully crafted message. For brands to be successful, personality needs to be clearly defined so that all of the stakeholders shaping the dialogue on behalf of the brand across all platforms know how to answer questions, make comments, and participate in conversations about virus topics or avoid topics You them overall and much more. And they need the agility to do this quickly.
Now that dialogue is key, companies need a new level of detail in order to build a brand personality. Is the personality and tone of voice playful? Serious? Diligent? Relaxed? And executives need to make sure these personality traits match the long-established traits that people already associate with the brand. The key is to strengthen the brand to meet the demands of an expanded online audience – and not lose the equity it has built over the past few years.
Have the conversation
Additionally, brands these days are expected to not only join but also have conversations on a wide range of topics that go well beyond those that have an immediate, clear connection to their products and services. The National Retail Federation has determined that 61% of consumers want brands to take a stand on social justice issues, while only 21% don’t.
When it comes to social issues, companies often tend to make boring, ultimately meaningless, statements that feel “safe”. However, these promotions do not reflect the brand personality. they reflect a lack of one. To be successful in today’s markets, companies need to find ways to clearly address key issues through the lens of branding.
Finding ways to achieve all of this is especially important because too many companies don’t understand this: the number of followers you get isn’t all that relevant. Instead, the key is to be had appealing content.
The content that people are most concerned about is always based on context. It’s about the moment you live in. As a world we have entered a new one. In order to look to the future, brands have to decide who they are – and point the way into a new, successful era.
Chris Foster is CEO of The next exercise and presenter of the podcast One hit above.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
