Struggling to find your company's brand? Worried about how to polish your image? Forget that, argues MarketingProfs managing editor Matt T. Grant. Instead, focus on personality, not branding.

1. You Don’t
Need a
Brand,
You Need a
Personality

2. A presentation by
Matthew T. Grant,
managing editor at
MarketingProfs

3. What Is MarketingProfs?
 Online Resource for 500,000 Marketers
 Practical Articles, Stats, Videos, Podcasts, Slideshows,
Seminars, Courses

4. Who Am I?
 Managing Editor at MarketingProfs
 Producer and Host of Marketing Smarts Podcast
 @MattTGrant

5. “People Make the Difference”

6. This Is B2B

7. This Is B2C

8. IS THAT HOW IT HAS TO BE?

9. Consider Taco Bell

10. Now Consider This Response

11. Who’s Behind This?

12. People Want to Know

13. And This?

14. And This?

15. Is Your Brand a Mask?

16. DOES IT HAVE TO BE?

17. Some Things to Remember...
 Brain areas involved in making judgments about human
traits for people do not overlap with brain areas involved
in making judgments about human traits for brands.
(Yoon et al, 2006)

18. Some Things to Remember...
 As seven years of brand community research has taught
us, people are often more interested in the social links
that come from brand relationships than they are in the
brands that allow those links to form. – Susan Fournier

19. It is Not About Anthropomorphizing
Your Brand

20. It’s About: Up with People

21. People Expect Responsiveness
http://www.zendesk.com/blog/infographic-complaining-aint-easy

22. And Every Little Bit Helps
http://www.zendesk.com/blog/infographic-complaining-aint-easy

23. People Research Purchases Online
http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-
content?type=webcontent&articleId=1128065

24. And They Listen to Other People
http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-
content?type=webcontent&articleId=1128065

25. People Connect with People
http://www.mindjumpers.com/blog/2012/11/consumer-
expecations-social-media/

26. Chex Mix

27. Humor and Human Interest

28. Intel

29. Engagement + Sharing

30. Engagement + Sharing

31. This...

32. SO...WHAT CAN YOU DO?

33. Personality Test
 Does it matter to your customers?

34. Drop the Mask

35. Tony Hsieh = @zappos

36. Ann Handley = @marketingprofs

37. John B @ Best Buy

38. Jeremy Waite, Adobe

39. Borrow Personality
 From Followers, Fans and Friends

40. Taco Bell on Facebook

41. Baja Blast Freeze

42. Chalupas

43. Borrow Personality
 From “Influencers” (or, really, people who have built an
audience online)

44. Michelle Phan

45. Mark Lives @ IKEA

46. Ryan Higa and Carl’s Jr.

47. FINAL THOUGHTS

48. Brands Create Differences in Things
That Are Essentially the Same

49. Personality Expresses Our Essential
Differences

50. Thanks!

51. Image Credits
 http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:ARC193204.gif
 http://www.photos-public-domain.com/2010/11/19/loaves-of-white-bread/
 http://vintageprintable.com/wordpress/vintage-printable-%E2%80%93-art-and-design/design-textile-and-paper/design-textile-
and-paper-4/design-paper-mask-javanese-2/
 http://fuzzandfur.net/tag/arukuma/
 http://failuremag.com/feature/article/smile_til_it_hurts/
 http://irrationalgames.com/files/2010/04/unmasked-479x572.jpg
 http://article.wn.com/view/2008/12/01/Are_Argentinas_Cows_Happy_Eating_Grain/
 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AContortionist%2C_posed_in_studio%2C_ca._1880.jpg
 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AStephanLIonFacedMan.jpg
 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARitratto_di_fanciullo_con_disegno_Giovanni_Francesco_Caroto.jpg
 http://www.reusableart.com/v/animals/cats/colored+drawings/colored-cats-12.jpg.html