Personality-maxxing your Brand
How to use your brand personality to your advantage for unique marketing
Last week I wrote about the importance of having personality and knowing who you are in your brand. As well as the sad movement of businesses using AI shortcuts for marketing and losing who they are in the process.
Often when you think of brand personality you think about your brand voice, your visual style and how you behave in your business. What you might be over looking however, is how your brand personality can inspire the way you market your business and lead to more creative stand out marketing.
This is how you fully max your brand personality. You let it influence more then just who you are and how you present yourself but also the unique ways you attract and connect with people to share what you offer.
When Marketing Feels Dull Bring Your Personality
It’s Sunday night, and you are planning out your week and the marketing you need to do. Instagram posts, youtube video, Substack article, sales newsletter. It gets repetitive and dull. It feels like a churn and uninspiring. Here we go again, another week of trying to please algorithms and ticking off the boxes.
When you approach your marketing instead from a personality point of view, it will unlock stand out ideas and things that get you more fired up and excited to create.
Why? Because its soooo YOU. It feels playful and like you can fully express yourself and what you want to share with the world. It’s no longer about what an algorithm or latest trend dictates, but about showing up in a way that is uniquely you and fun.`
Social Media is Giving the Ick
I have been feeling the ick about social media lately. Not just because of the AI slop or the algorithm but the way everyone is obsessed with copying one another, keeping up and following trends. The need to do ‘whats in right now’ is giving me the ick.
It feels desperate. I feel like it really reached a tipping point this week when everyone and their dog decided the thing to do right now was talk about and try the ‘yapping’ trend. The way everyone just seemed to be scrambling to do the same format and imitate what worked so well for someone else.
I get that we need to be aware of what’s working and the collective psychology of what people need right now, but this just felt more desperate. Like if they didn’t do this style, sit down with a camera and get out their rode or DJI mic stat they were going to fall behind. And what I have seen time and time again with trends, is that when a trend doesn’t fit your brand personality, or you try to hard to imitate and being someone else that is so different from your own personality it feel jarring.
When reels first came out, it killed me to see soft gentle brands suddenly using trending fast paced music. I want to yell at them ‘that’s not YOU, stop that!’
This is why tapping into your personality is SOO important. You should be creating in a way that is authentic to who you are. Not trying so hard to be someone else, imitating your coaches and idols, doing the trends in desperation to fit in.
Now a disclaimer: It’s ok to try trends, test new styles to see what works and push yourself out of your comfort zone to grow and improve. BUT you should be asking ‘is this a better version of me, and becoming a stronger marketer and communicator? Or is this me trying so hard to be something I am not in a desperate attempt to fit in and be seen?’
How Personality Inspires Unique Marketing
When you start with personality it gets you thinking about marketing from a whole different perspective. Instead of thinking about platforms, algorithms and trends, you are thinking about what creative things you can do that allow you to show up in ways that feel most you and allow your talents and personality to shine brightest.
For example if you are an adventurous. Words to describe your brand personality would include Freedom. Curiosity. Authenticity. You are all about adventure. Your brand invites people to step outside the expected, embrace the journey, and explore new ideas or possibilities. It’s raw, real, and ever-evolving.
So what would your approach to marketing me that aligns with your personality?
Your approach would be all about breaking the mould and doing things your own way.
You are here to disrupt routine, challenge the norm, and carve your own path. You’re magnetic because of your independence and openness. You’re not trying to be perfect, but true.
Your marketing might look like:
- Organic, imperfect layout design -torn paper, hand-drawn lines, journal style layouts)
-Digital downloads that feel handwritten or travel-inspired (e.g. “Field Notes”-style PDFs)
- Postcards or notecards with natural textures or hand-lettered
-Kraft paper-style packaging or tags with hand-drawn icons
-Trail Marketing- Leave a breadcrumb trail to your brand. Unexpected, curious, memorable.
- Found in the Wild/ Wander Drops- Leave items for people to find related to your business. Making people feel like they discovered you by chance. E.g Stickers, postcards, button pins with text saying you found me' and details about business.
- Adventure Tags- Attach your brand to everyday adventure- painted rocks, notes in books, stickers on poles. Think guerrilla marketing.
- Instagram Reel Cover with a Raw, Scrappy Vibe
-Field Notes Mini Zine (Digital Flipbook or Printable)
- Patches with your brand sayings or phrases.
- A branded notebook- a great client gift.
- Branded cap or tote bag design for gifting or wearing in your content.
- Keychain for client gifts.
- Leaving clever posters or tear aways out on the street. More guerrilla marketing.
Discover Your Brand’s Personality and Aligned Marketing Ideas
I can’t list every personality and corresponding ideas here, and you may still feel unsure about what your brand’s personality even is. So I have created a quiz to help you not only define what your brand personality is but also give you ideas to help you approach visual marketing in a more personality aligned way. My hope is that it gets your creative juices flowing and we see more people trying new thing (tapping into what they are best at) and less social media sheep.
Once you have gone through it I’d love to hear what result you got and what ideas it sparked for your marketing.