I get by with a little help from my friends…
Chances are you want friends, you like the friends you have, and would love to make some more of them. And because you do, you’ve refined your personality over the years so that it attracts people rather than repeals them. You’ve self-diagnosed, so to speak. You’ve taken the hints from the people that love you, as well as those that don’t, and you’ve done some tweaking and refining. This tweaking and refining has made you who you are today. It is how people have come to know, like, and respect you.
I suppose you could make a case for those who don’t care what people think of them, and we all know these people. However, for the sake of argument, lets assume that we all would like a few more friends. Besides, we are using your persona as a metaphor for that of your business. So even if you don’t want loyal friends, chances are you do want loyal customers.
So what is it in our personality that people like, and want to be around. Once you know that, you can push it to the surface more often. You do this by the way, conciously and unconsciously. Funny people make people laugh, which makes people want to be around them. Knowledgeable people share insight, which makes people want to be around them, provided they are not a “know it all”. In other words, how we present our individual personality attributes combined with the attributes themselves is collectively what makes up our persona. The difference between a “know it all” and an insightful person, by the way, is usually just a slight tweak in how information is communicated or presented.
Just like you, your Brand has a Persona. It possesses certain attributes and makes impressions based on those attributes. If they are negative attributes, you will need to identify them and surpress them. Replace them with those positive attributes that your customers love about you. If you don’t know what they are, ask your customers. Survey them! Just like your friends, they’ll tell you what they think. Once you’ve identified these attributes, than, bring them to the surface and develop them even further. Finally, refine how you present these attributes to the public. The people whose love, loyalty and respect you hope to gain.
Developing your Brand is not rocket science. Your brand has a personality and it’s right there in you. It’s in your history, it’s in the impact and interactions you have in your community, it’s in why you come to work everyday. But, you need to deal honestly with your business in order to uncover what is truly unique, and truly great about who you are, and what you do.
Once you’ve gone through the process of self-diagnosis, then you can begin to tell your story with meaning and project your Brands persona in a captivating way. Ultimately, loyalty is what you seek and loyalty is a byproduct of the positive and unique experience that consumers have every time they interact with your brand. Taking the time to do a little self-diagnosis is just as essential to making and keeping loyal customers as it is to making and keeping loyal friends.
