Create An Authentic Brand Personality

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of the
NerdBrand podcast, where we'regoing to talk about a bunch of
different things like authenticbranding and some of the
craziness that we've seen lately.
So let's get going.
Welcome to this episode of theNerd Brand Podcast.

(00:35):
So I want to start off withauthentic branding.
So what's an authentic brand,or what's authentic branding?
Well, let's talk about somebrands that are authentic
Patagonia, ben Jerry's, vans,shoes for those of us that are
maybe older and don't know that.
Nike, in-n-out Burger, whichjust moved to Texas from

(00:58):
California.
Well, you know another statethat lost a homegrown brand
there, but I digress Apple, redBull, rei, and that last one, I
can't really, you know, make acomment on what that is, but you
know, if you do know, leave acomment on Facebook for me.
So what is authentic branding?
It's just transparent,consistent and genuine.

(01:21):
It's in its communicationbehavior.
Now, what does that mean?
So you build loyalty and trustwith your customers through just
being honest.
Everybody's great at what theydo, everybody makes good pizza,
but what's different about yours?

(01:41):
What's different about yours?
So you have to create a brandimage that is just honestly
rooted in reality and not someidealistic, aspirational
marketing ploy because peopleare going to see right through
it.
So you want to definitely focuson what is it that makes you
different, what is it that makesyou stand out?

(02:03):
The best place to figure thatout is ask your customers, ask
the people that are devoted, thepeople that will recommend you,
the people that will alwaysrefer to you, talk about you,
support you.
Find out what they're saying,because everybody if you look
for adjectives, I guesseverybody's trustworthy,
everybody's honest, everybody'stransparent, you know, wants to

(02:26):
be transparent.
Like you know, those are prettygeneric.
You kind of want to look forthe things that definitely are
markers that identify you andyour brand, because you have to
have a brand that is written anddone in a way that stands out.
It's a very noisy, a very noisymarket and I think that a lot of

(02:51):
times, a lot of people getfocused on what are we going to
do for marketing?
Are we going to do some Googleads?
Well, you don't do some thisand some that?
Anything there needs to be ananchor.
What is it that you wanteverybody to?
When they hear your name, theygo.
I know who that is.
Now, if you don't know whatthat is, it's not a bad problem,

(03:14):
but if it's not something youcan fix, then it's a problem.
So you know and I mentionedadjectives, so I know that you
know, not everyone is aHemingway I'm not Adjectives,
though they play a vital role inbranding, because it
establishes your voice and yourpersonality.

(03:36):
So if your business is speakingdirectly to your ideal audience,
you have to create a connectionthat's merely beyond what you
do, and we would call this, onthe outer circle, the what, and
for years we've operated withSimonson X Golden Circle why,
how, what.
And I've seen a lot of peopleget it wrong.
A lot of people are like let'sfind your why, yeah, but you

(03:57):
don't know how.
So you know what is your why?
Well, how to find my why?
I don't know what.
My why is my why is I'm inbusiness to make money?
No, that's not really it.
No, I'm in business because Idon't want to work for demand.
That's not a good why.
I want to help people do do badno, that's not a good why.
There is a reason you're inbusiness.
There's a reason you do whatyou do.

(04:18):
It is your mission.
So from that you'll figure outyour how, which is your belief
of how to do that, and then youhave your what on the outer
circle, which is the services orproduct you offer.
So you don't want a brand thatspeaks generically in a
corporate vernacular.

(04:39):
That just makes you sound welllike a business.
You want to sound like abusiness that has a personality.
You have attributes that arealigned with exactly who your
audience is.
So it's sort of like I guess avery dumbed down example would
be in some parts of the countrythey say Coke, in some parts

(05:02):
they say pop, in other partsthey say soda or soda.
So, all things being said,there, your brand needs to sound
like it's a trusted friend,somebody you're going to think
of first to call for this orthat.
So pick the right adjectives,figure out your history here.
If you're trying to just makeup adjectives to ascribe to your

(05:24):
brand, that's not a good way tostart with this.
Um, you have to look at thehistory of.
Well, why are you named whatyou're named?
Stick to it, because anythingelse is a gimmick and not
authentic.
So even if it's a boring story,it's still yours.
It's still yours to build on.

(05:51):
No-transcript, we'll help youdefine your vision, figure out
the why and, essentially, yourmission and connect it with your
ideal customers and stand outin that market you're trying to
stand out in.
So that's something that Irecommend that is done, that
people start to think about asthey go into 2025, instead of

(06:12):
Google Ads, facebook, socialmedia or whatever deliverable
that you're wanting to purchasethat you think will help you
make more money.
Because if your motive is tomake more money and not stand
out in a crowd, then you're justnot.
It's just not going to work orit's not going to work very well
.
So what are some adjectivesexamples?

(06:32):
Sincere, helpful, confident.
So instead of sayingtrustworthy, you can use those
Adjectives like edgy,adventurous.
You know that appeals maybe tosomebody who's younger, younger
audience Reliable.
That sort of thing could beused.
So you have to make your choiceswisely, because these are words

(06:55):
that you may think like well,why do I need to do all this?
It doesn't make any sense.
Well, let's look at Coca-Cola.
So Coca-Cola has changed theirs, but you can have more than one
, you can have a series of them,and it should be in your brand
standards anyways and they'reall defined as to what they mean
for the brand, not necessarilya Webster's Dictionary
definition.

(07:15):
Coca-cola is happiness.
You know Apple's sleek design.
There's a Coca-Cola ad thatsays open happiness.
So it's a differentiator thatthey're trying to stand out.
Both of them are.
That is built on a predetermined, strategically selected
adjectives and this is going tocreate a position for your brand

(07:36):
, for the audience you're tryingto reach.
You're positioned wrong.
I don't care what yourmarketing is or the deliverables
, you're not going to hit thetarget because you do not sound
like them, you're not agreeableto them and you don't have to be
agreeable to everybody andyou're not going to be.
That's a myth.
That's just something that'sjust mythical that you'll never
like.
Let it go.

(07:57):
Um, can't make everybody happy,but at the end of the day, if
you have a target and you needto know it, you need to select
words and adjectives in your adsand your content that are used
to hit that audience.
So aim to hit a corner ahandful of you know selective
adjectives and create a position.

(08:18):
A position.
Don't try to create multipleones.
The idea is we always want togo wide.
No, you cannot go wide untilyou start narrow.
So in the personality of yourbrand, you know the dialogue
needs to exist between companyand customer.
So it seems like a normal thingto say and social media

(08:41):
immediately pops intoeverybody's head.
But that's not necessarily thechannel that all brands can do
this on and you could get quiteexhausted with it, especially
during a time like now where youjust have a lot of back and
forth over things that happenedthis week and I will leave it at
that as of March 7th here in2025.

(09:02):
But, you know, these thingshave transformed businesses.
Tesla has done it withsustainability, or sustainable
and cutting edge.
Airbnb did it with communitydriven, local, but they're also
like running campaigns now, Ibelieve, to sort of show you
like you know you get a biggerspace with a hotel, blah, blah,

(09:23):
blah.
There's just a lot of brandsthat have done this spin and
it's worked really well.
As they start to create ads, asthey start to create the
identity or express it aroundthese deliverables that
everybody usually is the firstthing they go to, when the first
thing they go to should be this.
So if you have a website, socialmedia, marketing materials,

(09:46):
these words have got to beintertwined into your content to
reinforce that messaging foryour brand's personality.
If I click on a blog post andit doesn't really read like the
rest of your content, yeah, okay, I can see you're trying a
thing.
It's sort of like trying to becool when you're not one of the
cool kids back in high school.

(10:07):
It's like it's okay, just beyou.
It's just don't try to besomebody.
You're not and it's okay.
But you know, if you're goingto try to figure out, well, who
is my audience and how do Ifigure that out so that I can
figure out my adjectives, well,I don't really advocate you.

(10:27):
Try to start there in that way.
Figure the adjectives out first.
You're a person, you own thebusiness.
There's people in your businessand the people around you in
the business.
They have personalities, theyhave a demeanor, they have a way
of expressing themselves, talkto them, have team meetings, get
to know one another.
You don't have to share eachother's personal lives.

(10:47):
But if you've got anybody inyour organization that interacts
with the public in any wayelectronically or in person,
listen to how they talk, howthey communicate, and then
develop the adjectives, and thenwhat'll happen is just by
organic results.
You'll just attract an audience.
Now, if that audience is notprofitable you're going to know

(11:08):
that in a few months then youneed to pivot.
That's when you have to haveyour strategy in place to do so,
in case that happens.
Because I think the most partthat everybody can agree on if
you just serve the audience, youjust have to appeal to them.
Somewhere in this big world,there is, out of the team, you

(11:31):
have an audience that willsupport you financially, will
support you from your brand'sperspective and recognition and
will give you the lift you needto be successful in what you're
doing.
So it's a critical step indefining that.
Now think about your role.
What is it you want to be?

(11:51):
Do you want to be if you're theowner?
Do you want to be the motivator?
Do you want a guide or is itjust a status symbol for you?
Now I would say if it's astatus symbol for you, then you
probably have an ego that reallyis not in alignment with the
rest of the organization.
Probably have an ego thatreally is not in alignment with
the rest of the organization,because organizations tend to
evolve.

(12:11):
The more people you add andegos will definitely start to
collide pretty quickly.
So if you have a business andyou own it just out of pure
status, that could be an issue.
Then it's going to be an issuequickly and it's going to be
very visible to the audienceyou're trying to reach and sell
to and that will turn them off.
We are in a time where peoplewant transparency and honesty

(12:32):
and common sense and they wantsomething that is relatable in
that way and not somethingfanciful.
They want somebody that's just,you know, authentic.
So they're going to look forspecific traits when they weigh
a major buying decision and youradjectives will help define
those traits.
But you also need to live up tothose adjectives.

(12:55):
In other words, don't make upadjectives.
Really check your ego.
Really check where you are atthe door.
What are you good at?
Are you good at this, are yougood at that?
And you know it doesn't meanit's good versus bad, it's just
being ego egotistical, that'sbad.
But what are you good at?
And run there, do that, becausethat's what you'll be known for

(13:15):
and there is an audience there,likely.
Um, describe your brand'spersonality, um, you know, look
into those broad adjectives.
What are your traits?
Uh, what are the things thatpeople know you for?
If you're funny, all right, usethat, use the humor in your
copy.
The things you don't want to dois get very, very specific and

(13:39):
granular to the point where itgets overused or too generic, or
those are things that you don'twant to do.
The goal is to represent yourbrand to the goals that you have
for the business and youraudience's goals, and it's
really important to know whatyour goals are before you

(14:00):
initiate any brand agencyinitiatives.
Versus working with freelancers, versus creating an ad campaign
.
Powerful adjectives can be boldand brave, dominant, commanding,
vigorous, influential.
Emotional adjectives are warm,friendly, passionate, inspiring.

(14:22):
Modern brands can sometimes usevisionary, pioneering, cutting
edge.
And then niche-specific onesare going to go with the
eco-friendly, artisan, gourmet,exotic boutique.
You have to think along thoselines on what are you?
You can't be all of thosethings because now you just are
not really identifiable thatwell.

(14:45):
So I would recommend thatcontact NerdBrand agency and ask
us for a consultation.
We'll sit with you, try tofigure out what is your brand's
personality.
We'll try to figure out if it'sa personality that's sellable
and you know.
Then we'll get to thedeliverables a website ads, you
know, because everything has tobe in alignment and in sync with

(15:09):
what you're doing in publishing.
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