Here are two key questions about your marketing: 1. How much have you invested in your brand and personality? 2. How’s it working?
These are important questions. However, many companies – large, medium and small – can’t accurately answer the questions. That’s especially true regarding their return on investment. Yet, ROI is critical to measure.
New research shows how to gauge your brand’s personality appeal – if it’s suitable to yield sales.
“We developed this means of measuring brand personality appeal (BPA) so companies can figure out how favorably their brand personality is viewed by consumers – and what they can do to enhance that personality’s appeal to their market,” says Dr. David Henard, an associate professor of business management at North Carolina State, in a press release.
The paper, “Brand personality appeal: conceptualization and empirical validation,” was co-authored by Henard; Dr. Traci Freling, of the University of Texas-Arlington; and Dr. Jody Crosno, of West Virginia University. The paper was published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. (For purchase: http://www.springerlink.com/content/mm753j27h285511v/ )
“Until now, researchers have only been able to determine whether a company has a brand personality,” Henard says. “The only existing scale was Aaker’s Brand Personality Scale, which could determine whether a brand personality is rugged, sophisticated, competent, exciting or sincere.
“What we’ve done here is develop a system that digs deeper to help companies link brand personality to concrete outcomes. For example, does the brand personality actually make people want to buy their product?”
The study lists 16 questions to ask about your brand in three variables: Favorability, originality and clarity.
The press release explains: “Favorability is how positively a brand personality is viewed by consumers. Originality is how distinct the brand personality is from other brands. Clarity is how clearly the brand personality is perceived by consumers.”
The press release offers more explanation about the three variables.
“For example, a company may find that its brand personality has a moderate rating on favorability, but is viewed as highly original and clearly defined. High marks for originality and clarity make the brand personality more appealing than the moderate favorability rating might indicate. It also tells a company that it needs to focus its efforts on improving its favorability rating, rather than distinguishing itself from competitors, in order to boost the brand personality’s overall appeal.”
The 16 questions:
- This brand’s personality is unapparent…apparent
- This brand’s personality is distinct…indistinct
- This brand’s personality is satisfactory…unsatisfactory
- This brand’s personality is obvious…not obvious
- This brand’s personality is unpleasant…pleasant
- This brand’s personality is common…distinctive
- This brand’s personality is attractive…unattractive
- This brand’s personality is ordinary…novel
- This brand’s personality is positive…negative
- This brand’s personality is bad…good
- This brand’s personality is vague…well-defined
- This brand’s personality is poor…excellent
- This brand’s personality is undesirable…desirable
- This brand’s personality is predictable…surprising
- This brand’s personality is routine…fresh
- This brand’s personality is unclear…clear
The study provides interesting food for thought, right? Munch away.
“What”s a brand? A singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect.” - Al Ries
Terry Corbell, my close colleague and friend, is Seattle’s “Biz Coach.” He is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. I wanted to share his article with you, and refer you to his site, where you will find hundreds of interviews and articles (http://www.bizcoachinfo.com), and where you can contact him for a complimentary chat about your business.
