What if you had a friend who, every time you talked with them, sounded different? You call them in the morning and they greet you with a crisp British accent. You text them at lunch and they respond in leetspeak. You meet them for after-work drinks and they ramble on like a Texas auctioneer. How long would you remain friends with this person? Not very long. And it probably has nothing to do with their personality…but the schizophrenic way in which they communicate makes it hard for you to even know their personality.
While this may be an extreme example, companies and brands deal with the same issue. How do you get people to buy your product, watch your video, read your press release, become your Facebook friend? Well, for starters, you have to have a personality.
Humans are hardwired to be social. A brand that has a distinct personality makes it easier for customers to respond. But it’s more than just having a Facebook page, it’s more than just “social” media – it’s about maintaining a consistent voice, a consistent personality, throughout all facets of your online (and offline) presence. Susan Baier wrote a great post for Convince & Convert about the online retailer ThinkGeek and their successful creation of brand voice in the online social sphere. If you can create a holistic persona for your company that influences your PPC, SEO, PR and Social content, you’re on your way to building a cohesive personality.
The key to curing schizophrenia and maintaining a consistent voice is Content Strategy. Content Strategy is the new buzzword, encompassing all aspects of online marketing. While social media is the popular kid at the party right now, lots of people don’t know what to do with it. Content strategies are being formulated in an effort to make sense of social media and create a unified brand presence for companies. Kristina Halvorson’s post at Brain Traffic highlights some of the key trends in Content Strategy, comparing the rise in content awareness to that of social media.
Start thinking about how you sound online – how your PPC, website, PR and social content fits (or doesn’t fit) together. Would you be friends with yourself? If your brand was a person, what would they look like? What would their favorite movie be? Would they play an instrument? Wear hats? Start to answer these questions and you’re brand will come alive…not only for you, but for your customer as well.
*Photo credit: Saurabh Goswami (Flickr)
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This article is from Dustin Diehl
I love writing, I love reading, I love movies, I love cats, but most of all, I love a lil space opera called Star Wars...
Dustin has written 26 posts.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Great post, Dustin — and thanks for the nice comments about the post I wrote as well. You’re absolutely right — personality is key in marketing these days, and a CONSISTENT personality is what it’s all about. You hit the nail on the head when you said that the cure for brand personality schizophrenia is in content strategy — and it’s so important to ensure that somebody’s watching to ensure it’s the same all over the place. This is especially challenging when you’ve farmed out your Twittering, website content, email copy, Facebook page management, collateral development etc. to different parties — inside or outside your organization — and nobody’s assigned to making sure it all works together within the brand personality you’ve established for your company.