What do Nike, Apple, Geico, Google, JACK and other such business giants have in common? BIG PERSONALITY! Ever stop to think that brand identity isn’t everything - especially in today’s virtual world where buzz, tweets, blogs, FaceBook and texts often speak more about your company than paid advertising?
These marketing greats demonstrate a personal mission tied to their professional message - which gives them unlimited confidence to shout their business from the rooftops. Through a very specific and consistently strong personality, they generate great flexibility in how they connect their message to relevant news and current events almost daily.
According to David Arvin, Visibility Coach,
“Developing and marketing a dynamic business personality is more than simply espousing and promoting a business philosophy or organizational message. These highly differentiated and unique companies are consistently walking-the-walk as well as talking the talk! They live the message in everything they do – and everything they don’t do.’
With BIG personalities always on display, these colorful companies crusade for their niche market: be it innovation, customer service, entertainment, luxury, fitness, or quality. Expression of their mission is paramount to a “simple” marketing approach or concrete strategy.
Take for instance, Nike and it’s recent show of support to Tiger Woods. Tiger has been, and IS still the representation of Nike’s personality. Tiger lost other endorsements, but not those that bank solely on his face as their image. As reported on CNN,
“Nike typically doesn't shy away from mentioning athletes' troubles in its ads, experts say. The company has stuck by other athletes with personal problems, such as basketball star Charles Barkley, who famously said in one ad he shouldn’t be a role model.”
By sticking close by the sides of its media personalities, Nike conveys its business personality: strong, constant – maybe even edgy. You decide:
Nike aired a TV commercial on April 7, 2010, featuring Tiger and the voice of his late father, Earl Woods, an edgy move that calls out his personal problems on the eve of his return to competitive golf. The ad aired on ESPN and the Golf Channel just one day before the start of the Masters.
If you buy into this personality quotient, but don’t currently have it, how do you get it? Is it possible to create such an “intangible” without flopping? Let’s face it, this is risky business and takes careful top-down consideration.
- Look at your company mission statement. Does it give you plenty of adjectives to work with? Does it give you room to be bold and a little self-important? Does it give you permission to be top dog in your industry?
- How about your overall marketing strategy? Print ads, TV, radio, brochures, business cards, etc. What do these print pieces convey about your company’s personality, or lack of? Have you asked any outsiders lately? You might be surprised.
- Decide as a team whether this is a path worth taking and if so, don’t look back! Commitment is critical here. Learn from Nike and be ready to persevere.
If you’re not interested in the spotlight or not quite ready for such heavy media attention, get there. If you’re there and ready – then jump in. Be educated, be ready for the good and the bad, bring the passion and deliver an engaging business personality that the masses will remember!
