Editor's Guide: What factors affect consumer behavior? "Character" is one of the factors. And this personality not only refers to the "personality" of consumers, but also includes the "personality" of the brand. How can we understand the "personality" of a brand? How does "character" determine consumption? The author of this article has made a summary and elaboration, let's take a look.
What kind of character are you?
This question is actually difficult to answer accurately, just as the so-called thousand faces, people's personality is unique, which is the biggest difference between an independent individual and others.
"A man's character is his destiny." This is the classic sentence of the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus, which speaks of the fundamental influence of character on man.
When we put this phrase into the gradually younger consumer market, we find that the concept of "personality" begins to become labeled. Rebellious, rational, impulsive... As long as a person has a unique personality, it is easy to be seen in the crowd, and in the same way, a brand has a unique personality, and consumers will quickly remember you and like you.
Whether it is the consumer or the brand itself, the label of personality seems to have become the key to influencing consumer behavior.
First, what is the brand "character"
Personality refers to a person's temperament and character, which is a personality trait expressed in a person's behavior. Once formed, the personality will be relatively stable, but it is not static, but it is malleable. Brand personality is aimed at the preferences of the target group, and personalized customization is carried out at the level of products, concepts, marketing methods, etc., giving the brand life.
The brand's personality should be set up based on the brand's values, positioning and consumer identity. It is not difficult to determine the image of the brand, but the difficulty is to build the personality of the brand.
The brand's location is closely related to its "helmsman" to a certain extent. Whether it is Lei Jun, the "image spokesperson" of Xiaomi, who is active on social platforms, or Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree, who frequently "brushes his face" in variety shows, he is a representative of conveying the brand concept through his own personality. Because of their own personal charm, Xiaomi's "grounding gas" and Gree's "Gengzhi" are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
However, not all entrepreneurs want to appear in the public eye, for most brands, to create a virtual, character of the brand IP, is an important way to capture the psychology of consumers.
For example, the three squirrels that everyone is familiar with, their main personality is "cute", communicating with consumers through a cute image. Walking into the flagship store of the three squirrels, we will find a large number of dolls, posters, and the brand positioning of young trends is intuitively presented. The personality differences of different squirrels are adapted to the diversified product lines of the brand, making the brand's personality more plump, and creating a real image perception for the user, which is the most intuitive power of the brand's personality.
After the brand's image is built, a bigger problem will follow - how to maintain this image?
When a brand's market share and volume are getting larger and larger, the brand's personality will often be gradually diluted, if you do not pay attention to the maintenance of the brand image in the marketing process, it is easy to "disappear from the crowd".
Born in 1990, Li Ning has always been a representative of domestic clothing brands, once on a par with international brands. However, with the impact of various national tides and fast fashion brands, consumers' perception of Li Ning is getting weaker and weaker, and the sense of existence of the brand is getting lower and lower. Subsequently, Li Ning began to move to fashion weeks, constantly shaping a trendy and open brand personality, and successfully branded a unique brand mark in the hearts of young people.
Short videos, live broadcasts, celebrities... In the new marketing environment, there are more and more "contact points" between brands and users, which are channels for "charging" brand character, and only by consciously maintaining and balancing brand character can we achieve long-term development of the brand.
Second, not only brands, consumers also have personality
Just as the so-called "know thyself and know the other, never lose a battle", only by understanding the personality and mentality of the target user can the brand better "prescribe the right medicine" and create a marketing method suitable for itself.
From the perspective of consumer behavior, the personality of consumers can be roughly divided into three categories: pragmatism, interestism, and sharingism.
1. "I bought it because it was useful"
Product cost performance, price, origin, materials... In the eyes of pragmatic consumers, product-related information is the key to influencing their decisions.
Most of the time, they have checked the strategies and reviews on major platforms before going out to shop, and even shopping is not to buy products, but to collect information on various products, and then after sorting and comparing, select the most suitable one for them.
Such consumers are not easily persuaded by others, and it is almost impossible to "fool" them, but they have the ability to persuade and influence others. For brands, it may be possible to try to guide them to explore the practicality and price advantages of products, and improve the brand's platform voice through sharing, forwarding and other behaviors.
2. "I bought it to like"
This type of consumer has a strong spending power and is prone to consumption behavior, but they have their own logic and reasons. They often think that shopping is related to their own preferences, and practicality is secondary. When there are product highlights that appeal to them, they will quickly convince themselves to place an order to buy.
For this type of consumer, the personality of the brand is particularly important. Interesting, eye-catching brands and products are often the beginning of their brewing consumer impulses, and brands may be able to grasp the "sense of curiosity" in the marketing process and create unique product attributes under moderate conditions.
3. "Look, I bought this"
Consumers who like to share will also focus on the cost performance of the product, but their cost performance lies in the social function that the product "may have", and they are more concerned about "the opinion of others when they see me using the product". When they buy a product they love very much, they often take photos and post them on social media for the first time, sharing their joy with friends and hoping to resonate with others.
Under the influence of such characteristics, consumers themselves have become an important marketing resource of the brand, and the brand can try to guide such consumers to the secondary creation of marketing content, and the mutual guidance and communication of the two sides may be able to become a booster for the brand to break the circle.
Today's consumers are no longer a single content recipient, and acts such as creating content, creating topics and spontaneously diffusing make them "promotion ambassadors" of brands, which can amplify the personality characteristics and social influence of the brand itself.
III. Conclusion
The character of the brand needs to go into the spiritual needs of consumers and conquer them with the power of character.
Brands and consumers are "alive", and like making friends, the two parties with suitable personalities and common topics will have to interact with each other and form their own social circles.
Only when the brand really has a life, will the product and marketing become flesh and blood, and the user will sincerely listen to your story, so as to receive marketing content in a subtle way. When users are willing to trust and rely on the brand, the brand can really retain and sell, and the income will achieve long-term growth.
This article is published by @TopKlout Crowley with the permission of Everyone is a Product Manager; reproduction without permission is prohibited.
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