We all have a unique personality. It is part of what makes us special to those we call family and friends. It is also a trait that can be leveraged by marketers, more so for consumer and to a lesser degree B2B marketing. Even though our own personalities are unique there is enough commonality that personality can be used as a basis for market segmentation.

It is also a critical piece of the creative strategy we employ to communicate our value propositions as part of our acquisition and customer retention marketing programs. The table below highlights one method of building a personality profile. In this case, the marketer is looking to build a profile for those who ride their bikes socially. The exercise is built using traits in a multiple response format. This allows the participant to select any or all traits they associate with the social bike rider.

This approach can be used for a variety of profiles. If the marketer in question has a line of bikes and accessories geared for competitive riders, then a separate slate of traits may be needed. If the company has multiple product lines they may find overlap between the profiles. This overlap offers the potential for common messaging.

In fact, messaging is why we develop personality profiles for marketing use. Personality profiles can be used to develop avatars as well as lines of communication that appeal directly to key market segments. They can also be used to judge the suitability of potential spokespeople.

Platforms that support online consumer research are ideal for developing personality profiles. Their ease of use allows you to quickly compare differences and similarities between current brand users and prospective customers. Make sure your survey includes other transactional and profile data (e.g. demographics) in order to facilitate these comparisons.