How To Create A Brand Personality For Your Digital Marketing In Singapore

how-to-create-a-brand-personality-for-your-digital-marketing-in-singapore

Brand personality refers to the human traits associated with a brand. It is a crucial element of digital marketing in Singapore, as customers relate to the personality traits of your brand.

Creating a brand personality requires thought, planning, and commitment. You need to strike a balance between appealing to the needs of your audience and showcasing what you have to offer. It is challenging, but the benefits go beyond increased revenue. You will get more loyal fans, and more importantly, you will build the reputation of your company.

How to Develop a Brand Personality

Here are the strategies you should adopt if you want to create a brand personality.

digital marketing in Singapore

Decide Who You Are

Many companies who do digital marketing in Singapore decide who they are after going live and personalize their messaging according to the situational developments. This is a huge mistake.

Before anything, it is crucial to set your values and target identity. You should know your specialties and priorities, as well as the emotional appeal of your brand to its audience. This ensures that everyone knows who you are and what you are about from the onset.

Know Your Audience, Competition, and Value Proposition

The next step in your branding campaign is research. You should understand your audience, competition, and value proposition.

People have different needs – what appeals to a teenager might not appeal to the working class, and vice versa. Knowing the preferences of your audience is vital in creating a brand that people will love.

Your value proposition is what makes your business unique in its niche. Make sure that your customers know what makes you better than your competition. Also, you should monitor the strategies used by your rivals so that you know what works and what does not. 

The last step of research is the SWOT analysis, where you analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to your brand. It is crucial if you want to gain an edge over your rivals.

Research can be cumbersome, but the more you know about your brand, the more likely you are to succeed in digital marketing in Singapore.

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Choose Your Voice

Your voice defines your brand personality – it resonates as the vibe you put out to your existing audience and prospective customers.  For instance, you could adopt a funny or a serious tone. You could also present your brand as an affordable option or a luxurious outfit, vintage or futuristic, and so forth.

Ideally, the voice of your brand should be a blend of different personas. For example, you could be funny but professional, realistic and innovative, and so on. You should also ensure that your voice gives your brand human traits.

Craft Your Message

Crafting your message is the foundation of your brand advertising in Singapore. Your message is the vehicle that propels the voice and personality of your brand to your target audience.

You need to employ effective content marketing strategies to ensure that your message reaches the widest possible audience.  This means that you should know where to post your message, and at what time. Some of the platforms where you can share your brand message include email, landing pages, your website, and social media.

The message also combines your brand personality and its visual components. These include your logo, fonts, and the copy in your message. They should all be in line with your objectives, and more importantly, they should convince your audience to try out your products. 

Be Consistent

Consistency impacts the success of your digital marketing in Singapore. You must stay on course and commit to your strategies.

Avoid making abrupt changes to your brand voice and message, as this will alienate your audience. If your customers associate your brand with a particular trait, posting anything opposite will derail your marketing efforts.

If your message does not work, consider investing in A/B testing. This will enable you to learn where you are getting it wrong and rebrand your identity.

Use Feedback

If you do online marketing in Singapore, you probably know that customers have differing opinions on your brand. Some will like what you are doing, while others will not.  You should embrace all kinds of customer feedback, especially the negative ones.

Most people base their decisions on emotions rather than logic. Regardless, you should adopt a dynamic brand personality and respond to both positive and negative reviews. The responses should not be generic, like ‘thank you for the feedback.’ Instead, you should ask them about the ease of the experience of the problems they faced. You should also ask what you need to improve and use that information to better your services.

The Importance of Brand Personal for Digital Marketing in Singapore

Your brand personality goes beyond the list of traits associated with your company and its products. It guides the representation of your brand in the real world, and actively influences the way people perceive and interact with your business.

Here are the benefits of a brand personality to your online marketing in Singapore.

Create a Unified Front

Brand personality is crucial in shaping multiple touchpoints in the design cycle. It is useful in unifying designers and their output, regardless of the channel they are using.

Your branding campaign ensures consistency across all platforms, including your website, product packaging, and written copy, and so on. If all mediums are communicating a similar message, customers know what you stand for and are more likely to engage with your brand.

Make Your Brand Easy to Recognise

A brand personality is defined by the traits of your company, as well as its visual components like the logo, typeface, and advertising copy. It distinguishes your company from others. When a customer spots your logo, website, or catchphrase, they can immediately link it to your company.

Reach the Right Customer

Consumers usually interact with businesses with a personality that matches their own.  Many buying decisions are influenced by how the customer thinks of themselves.

When you create a brand personality, you appeal to the identities of your customers. For instance, if you sell sports items, most of your clients will be people who love sports. The same applies if you deal with professional items or any other type of product.

Encourage User Confidence

Branding helps your digital marketing in Singapore by promoting predictability. When people know what to expect from your company, they like it even more.

A brand personality creates predictability – it assists the consumer to know how a brand will behave and the emotions it will evoke. Knowing what to expect, makes it easier to decide whether you like a brand and if you will remain loyal to it.

Ultimate Guide To 12 Primary Brand Personality Types to Increase Customer Retention Rate

Today’s marketing landscape requires more than just brands communicating about their products and services. To encourage brand loyalty, they must create an emotional connection with their customers. An increase in brand awareness equates to more revenue for the business.

According to Lucidpress, a consistent brand presentation translates to a 23% average revenue increase since the brand will attract more customers and retain loyal ones. Another survey was done recently found out that 81% of emotionally connected brand consumers promote products and services to their family and friends. More so, 70% spend twice as much with the brands they connect with than those they do not. 

Brand personality entails authenticity in characteristics and nature similar to that of a person, such as;

  • Loyalty.
  • Patience.
  • Optimist.
  • Pessimism.
  • Generosity.
  • Greed.
  • Charm.
  • Confidence.
  • Efficiency.
  • Decisiveness.
  • Motivation.
  • Passiveness.

Here are some brand personalities that you can use to define your brand. 

The Creator (The Artist)

“Creator” brand personality focuses their attention on customers. They are creative, make their trends. They are passionate about self-expression and imagination. 

 The creator’s motto is: “If it can be imaged, it can be created.”

Their characteristics include;

  • The creator is the artist, musician, writer, dreamer, innovator, or inventor.
  • They have an insatiable desire to create something new or original. 
  • They have a constant need to express their talents.
  • They have visions and strive to bring that vision to life through their expression.
  • Their core desire is to create something enduring value. 
  • The creator is best in art/design, technology, marketing.
  • They tend loyal followers and often inspire their customers to be creatives.

Examples of famous brands with creator archetypes are Lego, Apple, and Adobe.

The Leader (The Ruler)

The leader or the ruler is motivated by the desire to be robust and in control. It is naturally dominating. They pride themselves on representing the brand’s highest standards. They inspire to rule a specific niche and inspire others to be leaders too.

 Their motto is: “power isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” 

Their characteristics include:

  • The ruler is the boss, the leader, the corporate CEO, the manager, or anyone with a commanding and authoritative manner. 
  • They have dominant personalities.
  • Their core desire is to build a successful company or community. 
  • They fear chaos and being overthrown.
  • Their primary motivation is to gain and maintain power. 

The ruler brand personality in branding is ideal for luxury cars, upscale restaurants, and watches.  

Your brand should exercise leadership and demonstrate its superiority to resonate as a ruler or leader. Its voice should be commanding, articulate, and refined, and messaging reaffirming its status.

Examples of famous brands with ruler/leader brand personality are Louis Vuitton, Rolex, and Mercedes-Benz. Each of these brands depicts luxurious life with their use of imagery, language, and messaging.  

The Explorer (The Seeker)

The explorer or the seeker brand personality has a desire for discovery and connecting with nature. They are the embodiment of innovation and ambition. They are constantly on the lookout for self-discovery and to discover new frontiers. 

 Explorer’s motto is: “You only get one life. Make it count.”

 Their attributes include: 

  • They most feel at home in a rugged environment.
  • The explorer dislikes confinement. They don’t want to be put in a box or caged.
  • Their core desire is to explore and discover the world.
  • They fear conforming and getting trapped.
  • Explorers’ archetype is best for outdoor equipment, travel adventure, and Auto (SUV).

 A brand can acknowledge the modern confinements of the community or celebrate a journey to resonate with the explorer archetype. They should have personalities, fearless, and daring voices to evoke adventurous emotions. 

 Examples of brands with explorer personalities are; Jeep, The North Face, and Patagonia

The explorer personality challenges the brand to explore and embrace the unknown.

The Jester (The Comedian)

The jester brand personality explores the truth with a joke; they portray their brand with an element of fun and living life at the moment. BuzzFeed, memes, GIFs, online quizzes are a perfect embodiment of jester personality.

 Their motto is: “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” 

Jester elements are:

  • The jester brand personality may be known as punster, entertainer, clown or comedian, or anyone who is playful.
  • They approach life with optimism.
  • A jester is young at heart and never takes anything too serious. 
  • They desire to live in the moment.
  • They fear boredom or being boring.
  • Jester’s brand personality is best for Beer brands, Children’s entertainment, and confectionery. 

Jesters can connect with their audiences through laughter and happiness, and they can turn out to be the most loved brand.

 M&M’s, Geico, and Old spice are brands that uphold the jester personality.  

The Hero (The Warrior/Superhero)

The hero brand personality is society’s savior. It embodies courage, triumph, and self-sacrifice. A hero’s motive is to assist others in achieving their goals and bringing positive change to the world. Brands with this personality showcase their accomplishments in bold ways, and they are consistently working to improve and prove themselves.

 An epitome of a warrior brand is Nike. It doesn’t only sell sportswear. It also motivates, inspires, and empowers its customers. It portrays resilience in the face of adversity.

Heroes’ motto is: “Where there is will, there is way.”

A hero personality is characterized by;

  • Always working towards making the world a better place.
  • The hero personality inspires all of us to triumph over life’s adversities.
  • They persistently work towards proving their worth as well as everyone else.
  • They work hard than everyone else to achieve greater heights.
  • Hero’s take courageous actions.
  • They fear vulnerability and weakness.
  • Hero’s personality is best for sportswear, outdoor, and equipment. 

 Nike, FedEx, and Adidas are examples of brands that embrace the hero personality. They stand out in adopting personas and inspire people through the achievements of their brand ambassadors. 

The Visionary (The Magician)

The visionary brand personality knows how to actualize dreams. They have mastery in thinking deeply and outside the box. They hold visions that people can visualize and those that others see impossible. Intel, Apple, and Google are perfect examples as they emotionally engage the audience with evocative pictures and videos that focus on the evolution of technology into an extraordinary experience.

 The visionary’s motto is “Anything can happen.”

 Their characteristics include:

  • Visionary brand personalities make dreams come true.
  • The visionary/magician is also known as catalysts, innovators, mediators, or charismatic leaders.
  • Their energy sometimes lies in their ability to persist.
  • They fear unanticipated adverse outcomes.
  • The visionary core desire is to actualize the dreams.
  • They also enjoy remarkable success.
  • This brand personality is best in the health, entertainment, and beauty industry.

 Disney, Sony, and MasterCard are perfect examples of brands that possess visionary personalities. They exude some kind of mystery, magic, and glamour. 

 The Lover (The Idealist)

The lover or the idealist brand personality is characterized by luxury and glamour. They are passionate and intimate in character. Gucci, Versace, and Godiva are examples of provocative and extravagant brands. The lovers’ objective is being in relationships with people, the experiences and the work, and the environment surrounded by love.

 Lover’s motto is: “I only have eyes for you.”

 Lover’s personality is characterized by: 

  • Frequently used by filmmakers.
  • Their core desire is to achieve intimacy and experience sensual pleasure.
  • They fear being alone, unwanted, and unloved.
  • Lovers are also known as partners, intimates, team builders, or enthusiasts.
  • The lover brand personality is ideal for the cosmetics, jewelry, and fashion industry.
  • The brands promise and deliver beauty and sexual appeal to their audience.

 Perfect examples of famous brands that possess the lover’s personality are Chanel, Victoria’s Secret, Alfa Romeo. 

The Sage (The Teacher)

The sage brand personality upholds curiosity and consistently shares knowledge with others. Google is a perfect example; it has organized the world’s information and made it universally accessible, valuable, and reliable.  

 Sage’s personality motto is: “The truth will set you free.”

 Sage personality is characterized by:

  • Desire to understand the world and share information with others.
  • Their core motive is to discover the truth.
  • Sage personalities are long-life learners, and they enjoy expressing their knowledge.
  • They fear ignorance and being misled. 
  • This personality is best for News networks, universities/schools, and consultancies. 
  • The sage brand believes that education is the path to wisdom and knowledge.

 Google, MIT, and CNN are examples of famous brands with sage brand personalities. The internet is invariably the most reliable source of information.

The Innocent (The Dreamer)

The innocent brand personality is optimistic, honest, pure, and driven by the pursuit of happiness. They love the simplicity and allow their customers to explore their business for themselves. Coca-Cola is a perfect example, which brings about happiness and feel-good vibes. 

 Innocent’s motto is: “Free to be you.”

 They are characterized by their ability to:

  • Maintain a cheerful personality and an optimistic outlook on life.
  • Innocent characters often want to retrieve back to their nature and natural living.
  • They are honest and pure. 
  • They pursue happiness for themselves and everyone around them.
  • Their primary desire is to experience a beautiful world.
  • Innocent personality fears being in the wrong.
  • This brand personality is best for skincare, fresh food, and the beauty industry.

 Some of the famous brands with this type of personality include Aveeno, Wholefoods market, and Dove.

 The above brands promote natural ingredients and simplicity. They also adapt simplicity to represent women naturally. 

The Caregiver (The Nurturer)

The caregiver brand personality is generous and compassionate. Companies that uphold this personality are gentle, offer comfort and support. They strive to fulfil people’s needs and make them feel safe and appreciated. Nivea is an excellent example of a caregiver. It exudes gentleness, warmth, and care. 

 A caregiver personality possesses a selfless personality and desires to protect others. Their motto is “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

 This brand personality has characteristics such as:

  • They like their efforts to be recognized.
  • They take care of those who are in need.
  • A caregiver may be also be known as a saint, parent, supporter, and helper.
  • A caregiver fears selfishness and ingratitude.
  • Their core desire is to protect and care for others.
  • This brand personality is ideal for health care. Non-profits and education sectors.

 Unicef, Toms, and WWF are some of the famous brands with caregiver personalities. Essentially, they exist to provide care and protection.

The Outlaw (The Revolutionary)

The outlaw brand personality appreciates and at the same time challenges the status quo. They bring about social change and create a cult-like following in the industry. This brand allows its customers to be fully expressive. 

 Their motto is: “Rules are meant to be broken.

 The outlaw personality has elements like:

  • They are enticing.
  • They are romantic brands ready to disrupt society.
  • Their primary desire is to offer revenge or revolution.
  • The outlaw fears powerlessness, being trivialized or feeling inconsequential.
  • This brand personality is best for the Auto/Moto, construction, and body art sectors. 

 Examples of famous brands with outlaw personalities are; Virgin, Diesel jeans, and Harley Davidson. These brands appeal to inner outlaws with their audience. 

The Everyman (The Regular or Good Guy)

The everyman brand personality expresses simplicity and sincerity. These brands tend to connect with people at a deeper level. IKEA is a perfect example of a brand with everyman personality. It celebrates everyday life’s beauty and demonstrates how everyone can experience it.

Its motto is “All people are created equal.” and they exhibit virtues of simply being ordinary just like others.

The everyman personality has elements such as:

  • They dress in the most ordinary clothes and are not sophisticated.
  • Their core desire is to connect with others and to belong simply.
  • They fear rejection and standing out.
  • In branding, this personality is best for Homes, family auto, and everyday apparel.
  • Everyman’s personality is humble and strives for simplicity.

Examples of famous brands with this personality are Target and Wendy’s. These brands are usually affordable, genuine and they often tend to fill the void in the market by offering products or services at low costs. 

How To Create Your Brand’s Personality

1. Identify Your Target Audience

It is vital to understand your target audience while developing a brand strategy. Their demographics and psychographics enable you to deeply and broadly understand their interests, making you align them to one of the 12 brand personalities easily.  

2. Establish Your Brand’s Role in The Market

The role you play in your audience’s life determines the most suitable brand personality you will possess. Your role may be to guide, mentor, lead, partner, motivate, inspire, etc., this gives you a better understanding of the characteristics they will respond to. 

3. Align Your Brand to A Personality Type

After figuring out:

  • Who your audience is?
  • How their journey looks like.
  • Their fears and desires
  • Their characteristics and behaviors
  • And the role your brand plays in their lives.

 Proceed to establish and align a personality that will best suit your target audience. 

4. Add An Influencer Personality.

After defining a brand personality that best aligns with your brand, it’s time to add an element of influencer archetype to shape the personality and behaviour of your brand. You can achieve this by adding complementary traits that will attract your audience.

5. Bring Your Human Brand Personality to Life.

To achieve this, adopt attitudes, beliefs, and opinions that will turn your brand into a unique persona that has a sense of direction. You can also make it visual by using a series of pictures to evoke emotions this way. Your brand will start to feel like an actual person. 

 6. Establish Your Brand Voice

At this stage, your brand requires tools to express its personality to the audience. One of the most effective tools is the language and the tone of voice. If you are using texts, you can add emojis to emphasize mood and feelings. 

 How to express your brand personality 

Apply Brand Personality to Brand Message

Some brands use video content through YouTube channels to deliver their messages, while others use written and visuals to communicate. A well-developed brand personality transcends media; their communication “sounds” and “feels” human. Brand and effective copywriting go together. 

Apply Brand Personality to Brand Story

Notably, your brand story is not about the history of your founders. A story should be able to resonate with its readers. A compelling brand story is about your audience, their existence, their needs and challenges, and their journey to success. 

 Your audience persona and your human brand persona will help you curate a story that your audience wants to hear.

Apply Brand Personality to Brand Identity

The most expressive tool for the entire brand strategy is brand identity. People only remember visuals for as little as 13 milliseconds because our brain processes visuals faster. 

 To effectively display your brand’s identity, develop clear quality visuals through;

  1. Recognizable and memorable image styles.
  2. Use of colors that portrays your brand’s feelings and emotions.
  3. Typography that accurately displays your brand characteristics. 

Apply Brand Personality to Every Touchpoint

Your brand strategy is the foundation of your entire brand communication. It is vital to ensure your brand personality is consistent on all your platforms. Every touchpoint should have your brand’s personality, including social posts, emails, content, websites, videos, banners, and brochures. 

 Brand humanizes your business, intending to make the target audience connect and relate to it.

 Reasons To Develop and Maintain a Brand Personality

  1. Brand personality helps to form emotional attachments with your consumers.
  2. It allows the brand to stand out.
  3. It allows brands to portray their marketing strategy effectively.
  4. A brand personality protects your brand through a unique identity.
  5. It builds customer loyalty.

 Brand Personality Frequently Asked Questions

How do you develop a brand personality?

  • Decide who you are.
  • Know your Audience.
  • Choose our Voice.
  • Craft Your Message.
  • Be Consistent.
  • Use Feedback.

What questions should I ask a brand strategy?

  • What is your story? 
  • Who is your target audience, and how do you communicate with them? 
  • Which brands do you admire?
  • Who and what are my competitors doing? 
  • How do we want your customers to feel? 
  • What are brands’ core values and attributes, and how will you express them?

How do you analyze brand identity?

  • Analyze the company and the market. 
  • Determine your key business goals.
  • Identify and establish your customers.
  • Determine the personality and message your brand wants to communicate.

What are the different types of branding?

  • Personal branding.
  • Service branding.
  • Retail branding.
  • Product branding
  • Corporate branding.
  • Online and offline branding.
  • Cultural and geographic branding. 

What makes a strong brand?

A strong brand contributes to the company’s peak performance and sustains it for an extended period.  It also clearly demonstrates brand values and is consistent in all touchpoints.

What are the elements of brand personality?

Five primary brand personality elements include Brand Competence, Brand Sincerity, Brand Excitement, Brand Sophistication, and Brand Toughness. Most brands choose to leverage brand character to express their brand personality and establish their brand storytelling process.

What are three essential aspects of a successful brand?

A Successful brand has three essential elements:

  • Consistency makes it clear to customers what they expect. 
  • The community enables you to establish the right market for your business.
  • Content helps you resonate with our target audience.

What is the first step of the branding process?

Here is a step-by-step branding process:

  1. Develop your brand strategy.
  2. Conduct market research.
  3. Establish your brand identity.
  4. Build your style guide.
  5. Work on brand awareness.

 What is a brand message strategy?

An effective brand messaging strategy connects the brand to its audience. Brand messaging engages people in a way that they can understand and relate to your brand.

 How do I know what my brand is?

  1. Identify your reasons for Selling.
  2. Establish your core values.
  3. Remember your Audience.
  4. Be consistence.
  5. Create room for adaptation.

What are some of the brand personality examples? 

Coca-Cola’s brand personality has a combination of sincerity and excitement. It exudes festive joy and honesty through social media campaigns and advertisements.

 Apple’s brand personality expresses a fresh-faced young and modern feel. It showcases technology as simple and innovative at the same time.

 Red bull’s brand personality is hyper-energetic, excitements, and rugged. 

 

Conclusion

The best way of creating a strong brand personality is taking your company and its products, and imagining what it would be if it were a person. After this, you need to personify the brand.

Brand personality is essential for improving customer loyalty and differentiating your company from competitors. The perception that consumers have on your brand contribute to the attainment of brand equity and also enhance your digital marketing in Singapore.

Brand equity is the total value of a brand as a separable asset. It is useful in measuring the effectiveness of your online marketing in Singapore. It also helps in forecasting the future growth of a business.

Get in touch for more tips on how to do digital marketing in Singapore.

About the Author

Tom Koh

Tom is the CEO and Principal Consultant of MediaOne, a leading digital marketing agency. He has consulted for MNCs like Canon, Maybank, Capitaland, SingTel, ST Engineering, WWF, Cambridge University, as well as Government organisations like Enterprise Singapore, Ministry of Law, National Galleries, NTUC, e2i, SingHealth. His articles are published and referenced in CNA, Straits Times, MoneyFM, Financial Times, Yahoo! Finance, Hubspot, Zendesk, CIO Advisor.

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