How Archetypes Can Improve Your Online Branding Strategy

People want to research purchases independently. A 2018 Forrester study showed that 68 percent of people prefer doing research alone vs talking to a salesperson, up from 53 percent in 2015. This independent research doesn't happen all at once. According to Google, buyers - both B2B and B2C - conduct 8 to 12 searches as they click themselves through the purchase process. Most consumers start with a simple query, usually conducted on a mobile device. Often after that, they will use their desktop to visit a variety of corporate websites, consumer review sites, or discount sites. Next, they might read a social media post or a blog article. And finally, they might download a whitepaper or sign up for an email list. 

The growth of independent digital research is good news for your businesses, but only if you're giving your potential customers a variety of ways to discover and learn about you. What are you doing to make to make the most of those 8 to 12 searches? Are you providing reasons for them to visit your website and social media accounts? Do they get the same feeling about you from every encounter? It is vitally important for your brand to provide a consistent and recognizable experience across each platform so your company can build brand equity across channels.

One powerful way to provide a consistent online branding experience is to use archetypes. 

Archetypes are stories we all know and can relate to. In marketing, they are a way of representing your company's brand and relating to the essential needs of your customers. Although we use archetypes for marketing, archetypes are based on the work of Jung, the psychotherapist. The 12 archetypes can be grouped into four categories. Each category meets a basic human need, such as:

• Achievement - represented by the Hero, the Rebel/Revolutionary, and the Magician archetypes
• Belonging - represented by the Lover, the Jester, and the Regular Guy archetypes
• Stability - represented by the Caregiver, the Ruler, and the Creator archetypes
• Discovery - represented by the Innocent, the Sage and the Explorer archetypes

Understanding your brand archetype will help your company provide consistency across messages and platforms. Because archetypes are universally understood, every member of your communications team will be able to grasp what the tone of your content should be and will be able to write to it. That is, knowing the emotion each message needs to convey will help you choose the words and images that are both right for the situation and right for the brand. Your marketing team might not always choose exactly the same words and images, but each experience - whether it's a short tweet or a long whitepaper - will provide a level of consistency that will help build trust in your brand and its products or services. 

The first step in implementing an archetype for your brand is choosing an archetype. Your archetype should be natural to your brand, but aspirational. It should be authentic to the needs your brand meets and the emotions your customers experience. A simple way to get started is by taking our archetype quiz. [link to: https://www.trivera.com/archetypes] This quiz can help you define your company's story and set you on a path to a consistent brand experience across every platform and message. Once you know your archetype, use it to strengthen your brand and increase trust throughout the purchase process.  

Discover your archetype

Help define your company's story.

Take the short Quiz

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock 

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