EP 16 | Building a Brand Persona for Storytelling That Lasts

Without a strong brand persona, your storytelling will never stick. Period.

This is Part 3 of the Forever Framework, my 6-week brand strategy series. In this episode, we're connecting the dots between brand persona and storytelling, because here's the truth: you can craft beautiful stories, but if they're not rooted in a clear persona, they'll feel hollow and forgettable.

If you've been struggling with storytelling that feels off or doesn't connect, this episode will show you exactly what's missing.

Part of the Forever Framework series: a 6-week strategy to build brands that last.

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Podcast Host : Shivani Pandey , Founder - Think Brand Forward

Think Brand Forward exists to help female founders build a timeless brands rooted in proven strategy—brands that outlive the founder and inspire the next generation of women.

6 week Brand Strategy program with Forever Framework : https://www.thinkbrandforward.com/brand-clarity

Monthly FREE Workshops : ⁠https://www.thinkbrandforward.com/event-list⁠

Latest Offer: Your Story Board : https://www.thinkbrandforward.com/story-board

Your Story Board is a strategic storytelling framework that helps you map the narratives that define your brand. Move beyond scattered content into cohesive, repeatable stories that align with your brand persona and actually convert.

Transcript

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The reason founders struggle to convert is not because their product isn't good. It's because their story has no spine. Beauty is noise. Clarity, that's bank account. You are the director of your movie, of your business. So please stop acting like a stylist with hex codes and balls. It's time to strip your blockbuster. Your storyboard is live. It's a new offer. All details in the show notes. But before that, I have a very special announcement. I just launched my storyboard offer, which is a 90-minute high octane session to script your story. And today's topic of brand persona fits in so perfectly that it will really you will really see how it how the dots get connected. So let's talk about brand persona. What is brand persona? It is the personality you own for your brand to connect with your audience. But unfortunately, if I see around everything is about mood boards today, that's how people think that the only way they can do is connect with the audience is having this perfectly curated mood board, which is all about the vibes. But I really want you to think as a brand owner, as a female founder, as a business owner, that every time you are sitting down to write your email, or you know, you are on a podcast, or you are creating some content, and you feel the disconnect, like you feel like a fraud that this idea that I have about my brand, I I how do I express it in ways beyond my colors and my palettes and how my feed looks on Instagram? So that's where personality and persona comes in. It is the the connection between you and your audience, right? It is the energy, the authority that you display when you're connecting with your audience with any touch points that you can look at, and that is how you really own that persona, and the story becomes so strong that next time you are on a podcast or sitting down to write your content or creating that reel, you will not have a problem because you exactly know what you need to tell in what tone to your audience. So that is what we're discussing today. Brand persona is the secret sauce. So let's go. So let's talk about why this entire storyboard session that I am creating for my beautiful, powerful female founders is so important in today's day and time. The moodboard trap has stopped brand strategy going beyond that stage of your business where you just create that and you move on doing the other things that your business needs to survive. I really think that even if you're starting a business or you're creating a new business, there needs to be clarity on what exactly are you doing to connect with your audience beyond the surface level? What are you doing beyond the good clothes that you're wearing to connect with your audience? I recently, you know, I do these workshops, and I recently had a participant in the workshop posing such a beautiful question that led me to even get more excited to do this episode. The the participant had a question that okay, I have a brand, and you know, this is what I'm selling, but when I'm talking online, it is about me, my personal brand, because that is what I need to talk about. Today is all about personal brand. That is that is how you connect with your audience, and absolutely, personal brand is how you connect to your audience, but you must understand that if you are on these touch points that you're creating for your brand, you need to have that clarity of exactly why you're doing it. Are you doing this to create followers or are you doing this to sell your brand? Because if you are entirely relying and overindexing on your personal brand, the personal brand voice that you have to sell your product, do know that you are over-indexing on your personal brand, that your actual brand is not able to take the the front stage, which you really want when you are selling a product, you are really wanting that product to shine on its own. Your personal brand definitely adds in the the trust deficit that we see in the market today. It it is very much required that you your face is on the brand, you are talking about it in places where you need to, but your brand also needs to have a voice of its own, it needs to stand on its own, and and that brand voice is also something that needs to be totally crafted out. You as a brand owner and the creator of this product and the face of the product, there needs to be a balance between both brand voices, both brand personas. And if you're not doing it, you're losing out or confusing your audience by just thinking that the brand strategy that you created for your brand with the mood board, the mood board trap, as I call it, you're done. That's not it. Brand persona is a personality, is it a personality type and archetype that you take on to communicate with your audience in a way that is consistent, problem solving, and really making them look at you as the solution provider that you are. So obviously, when you work with me, you get that understanding of how do we balance it out, how do we balance the the uh ratio of your personal uh personal brand to your product brand because it works in stages, and that's why you get experts when you're doing the brand strategy to make you understand that this is not just about creating a mood board for your brand, and then it all it is all about you talking about your personal brand. There is a huge disconnect that's happening in the market. I see it all around, and I really want to bring it to the forefront. Brand persona and your brand voice needs to be distinct. It's not just the clothes you're wearing, it is the personality under that clothes that is based on perception and purpose, which is what I always talk about. How you're being perceived really depends on how you're projecting and using your personality to your advantage. So essentially, what does it mean? That are you a rebel, are you somebody who wants to break the shackles of the society, is your brand standing for that? That you want to go against the grind and and showcase that personality, or are you somebody who's a sage, who's a guide, who wants to lead your audiences into uh you know, into this place they want to be from their vulnerable place that they are in, and view as a guide, as somebody who can walk with them to take them there, or are you somebody who is all about providing structure? You you are the kind of person who can facilitate and empower people with the the needs that they have for achieving their higher self so that you are the one, you are the tool that they can use to get there. Or are you all about belonging? Are you all about community? Are you all about feeling connected? There's these are different brand personalities, and then the the more you distinct you are on this, that's how you realize that you are creating a brand truly that connects, and not just something that is good on paper, but in essence, is absolutely lost. That is the kind of brand strategy work you need even when you're creating a brand, not just when you have survived the survival stage, because even the survival stage needs a strategy. I often hear from so many people that I interact with oh, you know, we are in survival mode, we don't need brand strategy, we we are today need leads and we need to survive. Is the survival worth it if it's based on a tactic that cannot work tomorrow? Think about it. It's a very weird analogy, but I that's what's coming up in my head. Is that like if you were to think of your health, would you depend on the latest trend to take care of it, or would you do things which are seeped into a lot of experience and a lot of science? So, you know that's what it is. It's it's like one turmeric turmeric latte is not going to solve your inflammation problem. You're gonna do things which are helpful for you in the long term. So, I'm just trying to use this analogy to tell to to speak to the founders or to the so-called believers of the fact that brand strategy is just good to have, but it's not must-have, and I really want to dismantle that narrative. No, brand strategy is part of survival, you are not going to win if you are just surviving for today, and that's how your brand strategy is not working for you. So, a big part of that brand strategy is your brand personality, and that is what I'm trying to showcase here. So, if you're you're not sure about whether you your brand personality is working in your favor, you really need to do an alignment check. How can you do that, right? Look at your last few pieces of content, whether it's uh online or through your um uh uh you know email campaign or your newsletter, uh, your feed, um maybe the last podcast you were in. Look at the voice that you've been using about your brand. So if you're trying to pro if your brand's personality, you think through your mood boards and all of that is very bold and spunky. But when you speak about your brand, it's really seeped into this quiet energy that you have, which is very much uh you know, like like this um strong strength that you kind of maneuver in. Then are you really is it really resonating with the alright now? I want to talk about uh how do you build that alignment because your brand is out of alignment, you feel it, and you're constantly trying to look at ways in which you can build that alignment. So we are talking about uh three steps that you can do it, and that will help you define your brand personality and also help you in descripting your story. So, brand personality can be done in three ways. You can list it down in three ways. A, you need to know who you're helping, who your audience is, and what role do you play in their lives. Your brand personality really needs to depend on that. What do I mean by that? If you are somebody who is a guide to your audience, then that is a personality that you own for your audience. And similarly, you need to know what role you play in their lives. Then step number two is really knowing the audience's viewpoint on how they are observing that personality of yours, your brand personality. It could be in many ways. It's in the tone that you speak in, it's in the voice that you speak in, it's the words that you use, it's the words you choose not to use. All of those things help you achieve the brand personality that is required for that connect with your audience. Otherwise, every day when you change and swing around your brand personality, one day you are spunky, the other day you are a guide, the other day you are a hero, then you suddenly become spunky again. It keeps altering. And the only job your brand has is to create memorability. How do you create memorability? Memorability is created by the same signals being sent out always. The only benefit of having the mood board is to assist in that memorability because people can recognize you through those elements that you're using. But as a female founder, as a brand owner, don't stop at that. There is a bigger responsibility you have towards your brand when you're creating a whole strategy. So the next thing, the last thing that I would say in brand personality that you need to do is to test it. Based on your last few engagements that you've had with your audiences, you need to see what exactly how are they perceiving you, what is the perception they are uh, you know, currently they are embodying with your behavior. So that is a proof for you to know that whether you are aligned or not. Because before you finalize your personality as something that you want to lead with, when we come to the storyboard section of our work, you need to know that your brand personality is really connecting based on the evidence that you have. If you want to test your personality before you really lock it in, I think use a few of your communication channels. Maybe it's an Insta group that you have, or it's it's some kind of a community you're part of. Put out a poll, do things that help you achieve that personality, help you lock in that personality so that you are really sure about it. So I guess this is not going to be one of those sessions where I'm leaving you with uh, you know, some homework because I've not done that before, but this is your homework, you need to go back and check and audit your your all the touch points, whether what is the personality that is really oozing out and test it out, look at what the feedback has been, and then go in and lock your personality. That's how you will come up with your brand voice. And if you are still confused, I highly recommend you to come to my free brand voice workshop that's gonna help you really lock it down. So that's what I have for you today. So, so many things in store for you: the brand voice workshop, new storyboard session, and of course, this podcast that is all about creating a brand that will outlive you and inspire the next gen of women. So, this is me signing off, and I'll see you soon in the next episode. Bye.