If your food brand were a person at a party, what sort of person would they be? The loud, bold life of the party? Or the more relaxed, reserved, and clever person? Just like with people, our brands can take on personalities based on our vision and positioning in order to connect with the right people. It’s important to let your brand’s “true colors” shine through to help set your brand apart. Having a clear idea of what personality you want for your brand and how your brand will show up consistently in the world is a key deliverable of our brand strategy work.
Today on the Real Food Brands Marketing Podcast, host and Food Brand Strategist Katie Mleziva shares three questions to help define your brand personality to help you build connections and stand out from the crowd.
1. What adjectives would you use to describe your brand?
Envisioning your brand as a person at a party is a helpful way to start to answer these questions. Would they be the host of the party? The welcoming committee that is warm and approachable? Are you the first to arrive – the thing everybody’s been looking for? Are you the best dressed? Write the adjectives down that describe your brand – knowing there can be layers of meaning that may not be obvious to everyone outside of your team, but limit yourself to only about 5 or 6 so that you force yourself to be specific. Katie is happy to share examples, just email her – katie@realfoodbrands.com
2. What adjectives would you not use to describe your brand?
Just as important as knowing what your brand personality is, you need to know what your brand personality is not. So you could say your brand is informed and confident, but not arrogant. Or humorous, but not silly. Making some boundaries helps you and anyone you’re working with to bring your brand to life find the right tone and tenor in your marketing materials, packaging, and really everywhere you have copy or visuals both internally and externally. Just like boundary setting between people, healthy boundaries help you and your team avoid veering off course and instead stay on-brand so you can build that know, like, and trust factor that creates long-term connections. You may want to keep people engaged and wondering what will come next, but not because they feel like you’re scattered and disjointed.
3. What setting would your brand invite your biggest fans to?
Finally, if your brand were to invite you somewhere, what setting would it be? A party? A hike? A research lab? A long weekend in Sedona? How does this personality that feels right to you fit in with prior brand strategy work you’ve done? Does it consistently and cohesively shine through in the content you’ve already created or do you have some work to do? Does it make sense to appeal to and align with the needs of your ideal consumer audience?
These questions are meant to be simple because they serve as a quick “gut check” for whether or not you’re on the right track. If your brand strategy doesn’t make sense after going through this exercise, you know you need to go back make some adjustments.
If you do need some support, Katie’s new Brand Strategy Streamlined™ on demand course will be introduced soon and will share more details on how you can Define, Align & Activate your brand strategy, including your brand personality.
You can also join Katie for a small group 3 day intensive Building a Brand That Stands Out course through the Food Finance Institute in September. This is something Katie only offers a few times a year and it’s one of her favorite ways to work with brands so she is fully immersed and engaged in the 3 days just as much as you will be. Her goal is to help you make as much progress as possible in a short period of time so you can shake up shopping carts, together!
Quotes:
“Your brand personality is one of the single most important outcomes from your brand strategy work because it directly impacts how your brand is going to come to life—everything from your visual brand to your copywriting to your website user experience” – Katie Mleziva
“If you show up cohesively and consistently that helps people make deeper connections, because they know what to expect and what your brand stands for” – Katie Mleziva
In This Episode:
- How her most recent trip to Sedona helped Katie get grounded and centered again. Katie wants to know…where do you go to recharge?
- Why your brand personality is a key outcome of creating a brand strategy and should support with your purpose and positioning.
- The importance of leaning into your brand personality to attract the right people.
- Why brand personality comes so late in Katie’s Brand Strategy Streamlined™ process.
- Why you should describe your brand as if it were a person at a party.
- Why it’s also important to define what your brand is not.
- How to contextualize your brand personality to see if it makes sense.
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