Brand values vs brand personality: what’s the difference?

Branding | Business Development

Everyone hates jargon, don’t they?

Before I entered the fast-moving world of digital marketing, I used to think that the terms “brand values” and “brand personality” were just jargon that allowed marketing agencies to charge extra money for no reason. When considering brand values vs brand personality, I just presumed the terms were interchangable.

I now know better.

Far from being wishy-washy marketing “speak, “buzz-words”, your brand’s values and personality are crucial to your business’s success and distinct aspects of your brand identity.

Let’s find out about what they are, the difference between them, and why they matter to your business.

What are brand values?

Brand values are about the principles on which base your brand. When done well, when someone thinks of your brand they should automatically associate it with the brand values you embody. They should clearly show the beliefs that your company stands for and be used as a guide for making good decisions as your business moves forward and grows.

A business will typically have between 3 and 6 brand values. These values will help inform your strategy, messaging and the atmosphere of your business.

What is a brand personality?

Brand personality is the character of your business, the persona that you use to project your mission, vision and values to the world.

Brand values vs brand personality: what’s the difference?

Interconnected and related to one another, it can be difficult to differentiate between brand values and brand personality. Brand values are the “why” behind what you do. They are the ethos or foundation on which your brand sit. Your brand personality is how these values come across to the outside world.

Why are brand values important? 

Brand values should not be ignored or decided on quickly just to “keep up appearances”. They are the backbone of your company’s character.

It helps you connect with clients

They help you connect with your clients in a very personal way. Brand values matter because consumers may choose products and services based on what they believe the company stands for.

It informs the decision-making process

But brand values don’t just impact your clients, they also inform internal business operations. They act like guidelines, helping you make business decisions that will help you build a business that you can be proud of.

How to implement brand values throughout your business.

It provides standards of behaviour

They also help your employees – giving them a standard of behaviour and service under which to operate.

This means you must not decide on brand values purely because you think it’s what clients want to hear or because it’s the done thing or the “on trend” cause of the moment. 

They must be developed honestly and truly reflect what you and your business believe to be important. If not, employees and clients alike will see through them and become dispondant.

Your brand values probably already exist…you just have to decide how to express them in a way that your employees and consumers will understand and relate to.

Why is a brand personality important?

It allows you to showcase yourself…

I meet so many business owners that have built great businesses, but when I look at their website it simply does not reflect what I know about them.

Developing a brand personality and using it in all your online platforms (including your website copy) will help you to showcase just how great you are.

… which attracts your target audience

A brand personality helps you to humanise your brand. This helps to evoke pleasant emotions in your audience and communicates your values to them (without consumers even realising it), in a personable way.

Just like personality traits in people, different brand personality traits will appeal to different types of clients. Developing a consistent brand personality will help you connect to people.

… which generates leads.

In the world of websites, the more users you can connect with emotionally, the greater the chance you will convert them and generate a lead. People buy from people, so helping develop a brand personality will lead to more enquiries in the long run.

Where to start?

Assuming that you have your brand’s purpose, mission and vision sorted, how do you decide on what your brand values should be? Moreover, how on earth do you create a brand personality in a digital world, to help you communicate these values effectively to your consumer base?

To help our clients unearth their business’s brand values and personality, we run a comprehensive brand strategy workshop.

Over the course of two mornings, we use a variety of tasks, exercises and discussions to uncover what makes your business unique. From your purpose to vision, mission to ethos, our workshop delves deep into what makes you tick, helping you define your brand values and personality.

Interested in our Know Workshop? Learn more. 

And I can guarantee there won’t be a “falling back into a colleague’s arms” trust exercise in sight!