Avoid Bland Wording for a Unique Company Personality. One of the best ways to make sure that shoppers who find your company seek it out again is to establish a consistent and distinctive personality. Audacious For example, in both wording and design, SkinKC, which sells its own brand of natural skin care products, is decidedly audacious. Here, for example, are extracts from a few different product descriptions: Finally! An all natural deodorant that works! Lip balm with a natural smack. Instead of a spunky personality, it conveys tranquility and quiet vitality in its pastel color scheme, spacious layout, and soothing word choices, such as in this product description: OHA’s Seaweed Vitality Serum is a silky gel serum that glides on, leaving skin moisturized and soft. Some people looking for natural skin care would rather buy from the audacious shop than from the laid-back one, and vice versa. But a smaller company can maintain consistency by sticking to an easily remembered design palette and that core personality, expressed in one to three words. Words Are Key Many of the online stores I looked at for this article had almost no wording on their home page, only an array of product images, product names, and prices.
One of the best ways to make sure that shoppers who find your company seek it out again is to establish a consistent and distinctive personality.
Just as people might be brash, witty, cheery, brooding, or refined, companies can be bossy, empathetic, fanciful, breezy, or rough around the edges — or have any one of dozens of other personality traits. In the same way that a blah person doesn’t usually attract us as a possible friend, a nondescript company doesn’t stick in our minds as one we yearn to do business with repeatedly.
When a company has personality, it jumps off the page (or screen), and that personality shows up in everything from dominant colors to images, fonts, and slogans. Personality is the attitude or set of attitudes that comes across consistently as we read, scan, and shop. Words are central to this process.
Audacious
For example, in both wording and design, SkinKC, which sells its own brand of natural skin care products, is decidedly audacious. Here, for example, are extracts from a few different product descriptions:
- Finally! An all natural deodorant that works! No funky smells that just cover up odor!
- This bold face wash dares to strip down to only the essential ingredients your skin craves.
- Lip balm with a natural smack. Apply to lips for tingly, shiny goodness.
- This isn’t a lotion, it’s a rescue mission!
- You have a wild side, but your beard shouldn’t.
Each of those passages — there are dozens of others — contains at least one word or phrase we wouldn’t expect from a buttoned-down business: “funky,” “dares,” “craves,” “smack,” “rescue mission,” “wild side.” More than that, what comes through is an irreverent, almost naughty lightness that makes you want to pamper yourself with great-smelling, wonderful-feeling, fun-to-have products.
Peace and Love
Now consider another organic skin care company, OHA, with a “peace and love” vibe. Instead of a spunky personality, it conveys tranquility and quiet vitality in its pastel color scheme, spacious layout, and soothing word choices, such as in this product description:
OHA’s Seaweed Vitality Serum is a silky gel serum that glides on, leaving skin moisturized and soft. Our serum gel is derived from a trio of Kombu, Wakame, and Agar Seaweeds. This serum instantly re-mineralizes your skin, feels as light as a feather, and…
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