brand personalities can be as colorful as needed.

Brand Identity or Brand Personality For Website Planning

ByLee First Published

Do you feel like your website is floundering because you don’t know who to attract, how to get their attention and keep them interested in your business?

You need to establish a connection between your brand and your customer so that your website can not only attract the right customers but be helpful to them in finding the solutions. On top of that you need to show the value they will receive by being in a relationship with you and your business.

When you’re thinking of website design, you need to take into consideration features of your brand like colors and fonts (brand assets) and the personality of your brand (brand personality) so that people know how to connect and perceive your business. It all ties together to create the culture of your business

The bottom line is that your website needs to reflect your brand and the vibe you want to present. And it begins by creating your brand identity and brand personality.

What is the difference between identity and personality?

Identity for Your Brand

Your brand identity is the guide behind the distinguishable brand of your business so that your potential clients develop an interest in your and your services. Your brand identity refers to the physical parts of your brand – name, logo, style, fonts, colors, icons, etc. and how clients perceive you.

Your brand identity provides the direction of your brand to give it purpose and meaning.

  • Your brand identity is the visual cues, something people can see.
  • Brand identity communicated what words cannot.
  • Your brand identity can grow and change.

Personality For Your Brand

Brand personality is a way to humanize your brand so that it’s relatable to your ideal clients. For example, if you’re a sports or fitness coach, then your personality would be someone fit, active and self-assured. If your business is party planning, you may need to reflect fun, outgoing, confident and organized. Your brand personality is what allows your clients to build that relationship with you.

We love to personify things, and your brand is no different.

Because your brand personality is assigned traits and human-like qualities, it becomes the attitude of your business. It is the feeling your customer has about you and how they can build a relationship with your business so that you can achieve quality brand ambassadors.

  • Your brand personality usually stays the same but does evolve over time.
  • Your brand personality is about the characteristics and differentiators.
  • Brand personalities are often equated with archetypes.

If you’ve already done your research on creating an identity, then you’ve got half the battle complete. You can easily take that information and use it to help define a personality and value system for your brand.

Your personality can be broken down using the Big Five Personality Traits, developed in 1961 as a starting point. The five factors defined as openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, represented by the acronym OCEAN or CANOE.

I’ve turned these five descriptors into my brand traits:

  • Openness to experience = adventure/curiosity
  • Conscientiousness = dependable
  • Extraversion = energetic/fun
  • Agreeableness = helpful
  • Neuroticism = balanced/encouraged
Fun and energetic

You don’t want to get your personality confused with your identity because as an extension of your identity, your personality can get lost if not properly integrated.

Think of it like this; if my logo and images were stuffy and corporate, then you wouldn’t be able to see the adventure and fun that adds to the energetic vibe of my brand. And if I didn’t seem to explain things with analogies and plain speak you wouldn’t see the helpful nature I embrace.

Remember this: when choosing images, articles to write, social posts to share, start with the personality and then move into the identity. Because the key is to be consistent.

Take Away

Because your website is an extension of your brand and an asset in your marketing arsenal you need to be sure it reflects but your identity and personality. Defining your brand is set one in the planning process because you need to know who you are talking to and how you can resonate with them.

Your brand personality is a set of feelings, qualities, and emotions that define your brand identity and brand. 

Inspiration is everywhere including your competition and thought leaders of your industry, but you want to be careful not to recreate their brand or steal their identity.

Whether you are working on your identity or personality, both require strategies and planning so that they can work hand-in-hand to showcase your authenticity. 

Need some additional inspiration or help?

[cp_popup display=”inline” style_id=”11122″ step_id = “1”][/cp_popup]