Successful brands have personalities. Apple is sophisticated and creative, Hallmark is sincere and wholesome, and Red Bull is active and exciting. You can almost picture “Red Bull” as an energetic tattooed guy waving to you from a skateboard. This is because the brand has carefully curated human characteristics. This allows people to form a connection, and translates to trust, loyalty, and retention. Once people develop an affinity for a brand, they continue “subscribing” to their content and buying their products.
The brands I mentioned above are giant and recognizable, but the principles are the same for smaller brands - and even specific email lists. So whether you are establishing a new list or refining your email marketing strategy, a useful exercise can be personifying your brand. If your brand was one person, who is it exactly sending out these emails?
We make this even more concrete by having someone who acts as a type of “brand ambassador” who does the mailing. They embody the brand’s characteristics, while also having their own name, personality traits, and way of speaking. They are the ones mailing the list everyday on behalf of the brand. This makes the personification of the brand even more tangible.
Here are some of the types of questions to ask about your brand as a person:
What do they look like?
How old are they?
What do they care about?
What is their motivation? What are their fears?
What are their core values? Are they compassion, dependability, helping others?
What is their personality? Are they serious, funny, inquisitive?
What is the level of their knowledge/authority? Are they an industry expert or an average person that has taken an interest in a specific topic/industry?
The more defined your “person” becomes, the better. And by refining your brand or list’s personality, you will not only benefit your subscribers, you will also benefit you as a company/brand.
How it Helps Subscribers
Building Trust and Loyalty
Subscribers are used to getting certain content or offers from your brand. You’ve consistently sent similar types of content, and they’re already interested in what you have to say
Providing Engaging Content
By providing engaging content that the subscribers are interested in, you increase the brand’s overall value. This targeted content strategy can help keep subscribers clicking and opening. More on that in a later post!
Establishing Rapport and Familiarity
You stand out in the inbox if they’ve already decided they like you. Everyone gets tons of emails daily, so people only have time to read emails from “people” they like
How It Helps You
Establishing your brand’s “view” on things
If you are considering running a particular affiliate offer, is it something this person would recommend?
Ex: A young skin-care guru is probably not giving financial advice.
How would they recommend it? As something they found interesting, or would it be an emphatic call to “try it now”?
With a fleshed out personality, you can also be more conversational in your Subject Lines and email copy. You can picture this “person” you’ve created talking to make it sound as authentic as possible.
This established tone extends into mailing affiliate offers. We’ve had success with the list personality introducing the offer in their own voice before diving into the advertiser’s provided materials
A more refined personality establishes your brand as a person subscribers can connect with. This leads to increased engagement and loyalty. It also provides you as a brand with a clear direction of how to talk and connect with your subscribers, which offers to pitch and how to do it authentically, and increase your visibility in the inbox.
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