We all know that we connect better with another person than a nameless, faceless corporation. So one of the exercises we do here at Parker Sanpei when helping our clients put a face to their brand is to have them articulate to us how a stranger would describe “meeting” their brand at a cocktail party. How are they dressed? Do you feel comfortable around them? Are they a good listener? Do you feel like there is more you would like to know about them?
The answers to these questions provide us insights into how engaging a brand, product or service is in the market. However, our clients are often so close to their brand that they find it hard to articulate these qualities to us from an outsider’s point of view. And from those who can describe their brand in this way, we often get subjective or aspirational feedback – not the real, authentic way that prospects or customers perceive the brand.
Structuring Objective Discovery
So we developed an objective tool we call the Brand Personality Profiler to collect what the customer sees to help our clients with this exercise. We started by evaluating what works in other personality profiling frameworks and studied how they could be applied to business. For example, a personality question like “You don’t like to be a leader in public settings” was rewritten as “You don’t stand out as an industry leader.”
We grouped seven relevant questions each in four brand personality categories: Authority, Momentum, Relevance and Resonance. We then identified ten different “lenses” that consumers engage with a brand from, like websites, advertisements, social media, news, influencer opinions, and the like. The result is an objective assessment from the consumer’s point of view across 140 different points where they may engage with the brand.
Each data point is evaluated on a seven-point Agree to Disagree scale from publicly available information like number of studies a brand publishes per month versus the best practice, how much engagement they get on their social channels, how well the user experience on their site works compared to the competition, etc. Scores across five channels for seven different questions per category are then averaged to create an overall rating for each of the four brand personality categories.
There Are No "Good" or "Bad" Personalities
This data-driven approach removes bias – from both brand owners and third-party analysts like us – in order to truthfully assess the brand. Our assessment doesn’t make you a “bad” or “good” personality. However, if a brand feels, for example, that a classification as an internally-focused brand that is invisible to their audiences is not what they want to be, we can share the data points that fed that classification to identify opportunities and processes that will move the brand to a more customer-focused, highly visible one.
Just like people, not all brands are the same. They don’t focus equally on things like publicity, image, messaging, visibility, customer service, analyst relations, thought leadership or user experience. So the elements they choose to focus on (and not) will tell a story, and leave a potential customer with an impression. Is the impression your prospects and customers come away with the right one for your business and marketing goals?
Contact us, share some information, and let the Brand Personality Profiler be your guide to creating the most effective brand, product, or service in your market.
Reach out for your free Brand Personality Profile
