Brand Personality including logos and such
Brand Personality is made up of many different (and some moving) parts.
How many times have you heard a product or service being noted as the “Rolls Royce” of their industry? Good thing the folks at Rolls have worked so hard to provide both an excellent product and an exemplary Brand Personality. Otherwise, those claims wouldn’t mean as much.
Yet, there is much more to a Brand Personality than hood ornaments or company logos. Let’s face it, it isn’t as if you can choose a logo and decide you’ve done all you can to brand your construction company. Throw in some company labeled shirts and hardhats and you’re making inroads in the brand personality game. Yet, there is so much more to it.
Here is a short list of some brand personality building tactics:
Putting great wraps on your vehicles
Setting up your audacious website
Delving into the latest (and greatest) social media channels
Being a guest on some well-chosen podcasts
Volunteering within your trade association’s network
Donating to support children’s sports or other activities
Attending general contractors’ meet and greet or appreciation events
Participating in needs-based construction events such as Habitat for Humanity
Some more subtle brand personality building tactics:
Learn how to shake hands well (Check out this video if you’re not sure of your handshaking ability.)
Practice better listening skills
Teach and develop leadership skills within the ranks of your employees
As you can see, developing a brand personality in your commercial construction subcontracting business takes time, is ongoing, and is likely to evolve as you grow. There are no magic formulas, no silver bullets, and no easy ways out when it comes to building brand personality.
Yet, looking at the whole picture gives you more ideas to try and inspiration to keep working on.
Time out for transparency
While doing research concerning how to be better at delivering the Schulte and Schulte message, I came across this fun little article at Career Addict. It is titled, 12 Examples of Brand Personality to Inspire You. It really is inspiring.
And, while reading, I kept thinking of various companies I know of which fit specific personalities.
Further transparency – What follows are 3 examples of Brand Personality as seen on Instagram. None of these examples are clients of ours. As a matter of fact, none of them fits the bull’s eye of our target clients. Because after all, we specialize in helping small to medium commercial construction subcontractors Run With the Big Dogs.
And, one of the firms highlighted (we believe) is primarily a service company rather than a construction contractor – 3 Mountains Plumbing. The other two – AFT Construction and Spain Commercial Inc. – are general contractors who do business with the folks we DO consider our target market (you know – those subcontractors I mentioned.)
Brand Personality on Instagram
First example
3 Mountains Plumbing found on Instagram at 3mountains.plumbing
From the Career Addict article, we see them as an Entertainer Brand:
“Entertainer brands champion values such as spontaneity, charm and humour. These brands seem to enjoy helping their customers discover the fun side of life. Examples of entertainer brands include Dr Pepper and M&M’s.”
The folks at 3 Mountain Plumbing take a difficult subject (who wants to think about all that goes on in those pipes and fixtures?) and turn it into something to laugh about. Also, their rhythm and consistency make remembering them easy. I must add, they make excellent use of color in branding.
Second example
AFT construction found on Instagram at aft_construction
From the Career Addict article, we see them as an Emperor Brand:
“Leadership, determination, respect, dominance, influence and wealth are values that are associated with emperor brands. Good examples of emperor brands are American Express, Porsche and Rolex.”
Brad Levitt and his team hire professional photographers to take glamorous photos of their high end, custom projects. And, they leave no doubt concerning who their target market is and what they can offer the folks within that target. There is no room in their marketing calendar for rants or “tool bribery” posts. They aren’t trying to teach fellow contractors how to accomplish building tasks, nor are they passing along building “tips.” I hasten to add; Brad is quite generous with helping other contractors learn the ropes concerning being in the construction business in other online formats.
Third example
Spain Commercial Inc. found on Instagram at spaincommercialinc
From the Career Addict article, we see them as a Wizard Brand:
“Wizard brands specialise in taking the ordinary and transforming it into the extraordinary. Wizard brands champion values such as imagination, surprise and curiosity. Good examples of wizard brands are Apple and Pixar.”
Kayleigh is the “marketing department” for Spain Commercial. Unlike AFT where their emphasis is on the finished product, Kayleigh’s emphasis is on the people and the process. She is exemplary at getting folks to see that “ordinary” acts at each stage of the construction process ends in the “extraordinary” at completion. Plus, Kayleigh’s passion for telling the story of Spain Commercial simply rolls off the screen and into your mind. The story unfolds one image at a time making it possible to imagine how this company will service their clients well.
How does your company stack up?
Take another look at the Career Addict article and see if you can find which brand personality type your construction contracting firm fits.
Our perusal of the article made us think Schulte and Schulte fits as a Source Brand.
From the Career Addict article:
“Source brands embrace knowledge and enlightenment. They champion values such as truth, objectivity, education, discipline, clarity and commitment. They are the brands that we look to for information, advice and insights. Examples of source brands include Bloomberg, eMarketer, Forrester and Mckinsey.”
What is your brand personality?
How well are you doing at getting the message across to your present and potential clients? We hope this article has given you food for thought as well as a commitment to presenting an excellent brand personality.
It is our desire this article (among our growing library of construction-centric informational articles) is helpful in assisting commercial construction contractors build better building businesses.
Providing Accounting, Contract Document Management, and Advisory Board Level counsel for small to medium commercial construction subcontractors.
So you can Run With the Big Dogs. 866-629-7735