Benefits of adding personality to your business brand

Many businesses survive on word of mouth and personal recommendations. People like to deal with other people, or do business with people that people they know recommend.

One of the companies I deal with I use because of the company director. He is a great guy, good to talk to, very professional, has my sense of humour, always lets me dig in to his stupidly enormous jar of haribo sweets and is always prepared to go the extra mile for his customers. When I recommend him he gains new customers because the people I know trust me and I can effectively communicate what a great service he provides. It's a powerful PERSONAL recommendation. Unfortunately I can't spend my time going around telling everyone how amazing his company is, so like many other businesses he uses leaflets, flyers, brochures and a website to attract new customers. These forms of marketing need to effectively communicate how good this company is and what a great guy the director is. This can be difficult to achieve via printed or online marketing materials but injecting a little personality can really help increase feedback, enquiries and sales.

Below are 5 ways to add a personal touch to your marketing.

A few lines from a happy customer is worth much more than an entire essay written by you about how wonderful you are. Include testimonials on your leaflets, website and brochures. Make sure the testimonials are genuine and go in to a little detail. A testimonial such as "Great service, i will recommend you to everyone!" means diddly squat. If possible try to use the person's name and company name. A full name adds legitimacy to the testimonial. A testimonial from Mrs B from Leicester is pretty useless. Make sure you also add testimonials to your website. We often get calls from people who say "I came across your website and read your testimonials.." it's obvious from comments like these that the testimonials have lead them to call us. A lot of your customers will be busy people, don't be afraid to offer a small discount or incentive in exchange for a testimonial. Testimonials can be worth their weight in marketing gold!

People like to put a face to a name. Adding a photo of yourself and your staff is a great way to help people connect with you. There is a local company here who put photos of their technicians on all of their leaflets. They do this because in order to do their jobs they have to enter people's homes. An element of trust is required when allowing someone you don't know to come in to your home to carry out work. By adding photos to their leaflets potential customers can immediately see who they will be dealing with.

You can also add a little personality to your pictures. You could take a photo of yourself doing something you love, this shows who you are as well as telling the viewer/customer what you like doing. You could get a little more creative like I did with my about us page (hover your mouse cursor over the image and you'll see what I mean) Poking fun at yourself is a good way to make a company feel down to earth and approachable.

A blog is a fantastic way to communicate directly with people and to let your personality shine! It's your chance to write directly to the people that want to know about you. Show you are professional and good at what you do by talking about what you do in depth. Let people know who you are and what you get up to with blog posts about your latest news and events. Offer free advice, blog about interesting customers and experiences, gain followers and subscribers. You can even build a community around your blog.

Social networking is huge, and for good reason. It gives business owners the opportunity to connect with people on a personal level. Try to avoid selling via social media. Instead, get involved in discussions, answer questions, ask questions, offer advice and ask for advice. Social media is an opportunity to start networking and connecting with like-minded individuals, potential new customers and even future potential business partners.

If you're selling a telephone that transforms in to a left-handed noseflute, you better own one! There better be pictures of you using it and there better be one at your home and in your office! If you aren't using your own products or services why should anyone else?