In small businesses especially, your own personality can deeply influence your business and brand. Detangling yourself and your personal influences from your brand can be a tricky task and is it really necessary? 

Can you have a deeply personal business and brand? We argue that, yes, you can! We simply advocate that you take some time and think through just exactly how you develop your brand personality with intention.

To begin, we feel the need to touch base with you about branding and what brand personality really means. Let’s dive right in!

What is Brand Personality?

In the world of business and branding, experts are always coming up with new tactics to perfect brand strategy. One pinnacle model for this throughout the industry is The Five Dimensions of Brand Personality, coined by Jennifer Aaker.   

Essentially, this outline categorizes the way in which brands embody their personality in one of the following five categories: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. For the record, the five main brand categories only give an overview of the brand as a whole. There is certainly the possibility that a brand can embody more than these five attributes. Generally, any given brand personality will fit somewhere within these five dimensions.

How to Develop Your Brand Personality

We can utilize models like The Five Dimensions of Brand Personality in the development of a  brand. During the brainstorming process, we can categorize our brand, considering what best describes the overall personality we’re trying to achieve. Brainstorming keywords, phrases and attributes can be helpful and is an excellent place to start.

Read More: 5 Tips to Personalize Your Brand

Step 1. Begin with the Customer or Client in Mind.

The first step to any branding strategy is to think of the customer first. With small business brands, the owner may be inclined to put a lot of themselves into the brand. If they like yellow, they might want to use yellow in their brand colors. 

However, in our branding process, we develop brand personas to frame our direction that we take with the brand. Who is your customer? What are their problems? What are they looking for in a business or service like yours?

Step 2. Consider the Competition. 

To create a personalized brand, it is important to check out the competition in your industry. What sets you and your business apart from the rest? Once we pinpoint your differentiating factor, how can we incorporate that into your brand? How can we communicate your uniqueness to the masses? 

Step 3. Work with a Branding Expert!

While you are an expert in your field and with your business, you may be lost when it comes to branding. In our process, here at The Mug, we partner with our clients to understand their business, their customers, and what they would like to achieve as far as their brand goes. They bring their expertise to the table and we bring ours. 

Shoot us a message if you’re interested in learning more about our branding process! We love seeing our clients’ brands evolve right before our eyes.