Charismatic

adjective, exercising a compelling charm that inspires devotion in others

To create a charismatic brand, you must first start with understanding the definition of “charismatic”. One thing I found particularly helpful when trying to connect a thing (the brand) with an adjective mostly associated with people, was the idea that I could make my brand into a person by developing a marketing persona. In her blog, Heidi Cohen defines marketing personas as,

“Marketing personas are imaginary versions of your prospects, customers and the public that contain in-depth, lifelike character traits, including fun names, to help develop content and marketing”. (Link to Blog)

While she uses this to aid in figuring out how to market to certain market segments, I believe it’s even more useful with you can say, “This is the kind of person my brand would be like if it were a human. These are the character traits it would have”. This helps me gain a greater image of what my brand it which makes it more helpful when getting into the nitty-gritty of duller marketing research areas.

Another tool I’ve found to be good for more visual people such as myself is a perceptual map. Created multitudes of perceptual maps can help you figure out how you’re different and tell you what areas you have the opportunity to capitalize on. Simply by changing the axis labels you can gain a whole new insight on how you’re comparing with the competition which can lead to greater insights on where you’re connecting better than others (or vice versa) and where you have the opportunity to expand your reach if your brand “personality” fits in that ‘white space’. See More

Finally, an exercise I found most helpful to do after collecting all your research with survey information, focus group results, and whatever else you can come up with figuring out:

1. Headline for my branding goal
2. Consumer Insight
3. Brand Fit (what your brand needs to be to meet your customers needs/wants)
4. Strategic Opportunity
5. Watch-Outs

Happy Branding!