YOUR BUSINESS AS A PERSON

By Laura Wallace  |  December 07, 2017

You get to know people, who they are, what their personality is like and what role they play in your life. You become familiar with them, understand them and don’t think twice to pick up the phone to call when you want to get together for beers on a Tuesday night. These are familiar faces that are either staples in your life or you pick up right where you left off the last time you saw them.

Your business is just as a person. Customers rely on your product or service for a need and build trust in your quality and predictability. Your brand plays a valuable role in the lives of those you interact with. Thinking of your brand as a human can help to narrow down the details of who you are and how your company makes a difference. It can take a large subject and narrow it down to small details that add up to a big impact.

Ask yourself these questions; if my business were a person:

What would it look like?
Conservative, expressive, creative, professional, sleek, casual, sophisticated, chic, vintage – these are all different ways that people dress on a regular basis. If your business were a person, what would their style be? This is the base for your visual branding.

How would it speak?
Think of all the people you know and how they communicate. If your business spoke, how would it sound? Casual with puns, sarcastic, elevated, animated, polished? Think of how you want your business to sound to the public and use this as your writing style for your website, ads, social media and other forms of advertising.

What kind of personality would it have?
People behave in all sorts of ways. How would your business act as a person? Is it detailed oriented, making sure all the little things are taken care? Is it courteous when it answers the phone? Does it say hello to people in public? Does it go out of its way to make people happy? How your business makes people feel is a large part of your overall brand experience.

Your business is also like a character in someone’s story. Think of the customer as the hero and your business as the guide to get them there. You’re solving a need or a problem to make someone’s life better. You become a reliable friend that they turn to when they’re in need.

So what about a rebrand? Does that seem like a shock to the public when all of a sudden you look like a different person? Just like your own personal style, you evolve over the years. You don’t wake up one day a completely different person, you slowly stop wearing JNCO jeans and start wearing fitted jeans for work. You change your natural hair color to something different but you’re not changing your personality. A rebrand or a brand evolution is a subtle way to let people know your business is evolving and growing stronger.

You’re not wearing the same clothes you wore in middle school and your business shouldn’t be either. You’ve grown, matured and become an older, wiser version of yourself. And even though trends come back around, it doesn’t mean that you have to jump back on the bandwagon. Stay true to who your business is, even if it appears different than everyone around you. It’s the unique traits of your company that make it a trusted, reliable place to do business.