Brand Attributes: How Does the Brand Present Itself?

What do you think of when you hear the name Steve Jobs?

  • Black turtle neck; round glasses; jeans; New Balance sneakers
  • Great speaker; reality distortion field; laser focus

The first bullet point covers physical attributes.

The second bullet point covers personality traits.

Steve Jobs (source: https://bit.ly/31gKrtR)

Steve Jobs built these associations through consistency. Over and over wearing the same uniform and behaving in a consistent way.

This is how brand attributes are anchored in the customer's mind.

It is no different with brands.


Brand Attributes: Depends on Brand

What should my brand attributes include?

It depends.

Brands with a physical product need significantly different brand attributes than brands with digital products.

To start ask yourself the following questions:

  • What is my product/service/brand?
  • Through which touchpoints are my customers interacting with the product/service/brand?

A good example is Mailchimp.

Mailchimp: Digital Product with Focus on Writing

Mailchimp is a marketing platform for small businesses.

Their first product was an email newsletter software. The goal: give small businesses an easy way to communicate with their customers in writing.

Writing is the name of the game.

Mailchimp has put together a Content Style Guide, which outlines the most important aspects of their brand.

The guide outlines the different brand attributes:

For Mailchimp writing is the main touchpoint.

That's why their brand attributes focus heavily on all aspects of the written word.


Bottomline: Brand Attributes Should Focus on the Main Touchpoints

Brand attributes are physical attributes and personality traits.

If a brand remains consistent, these attributes become associations in the customer's mind.

First, understand how your brand interacts with the customer.

Then, choose wisely and remain consistent.

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This post is an excerpt from my online course Fundamentals of Brand Strategy where you learn how to build successful brands.

The self-paced online course contains 5 hours of video material and teaches you how to use the Brand Pyramid.

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