In branding, there are 12 main archetypes.

By working out which brand archetype fits your company best, you can work out how to position your brand, which can help with everything from written content to graphics. 

These archetypes are so incredibly helpful as they play on characters or stereotypes that many people already know, therefore helping people to feel like they know your brand.

The 12 Archetypes & Examples

• The Creator

The creator is authentic, yet prides itself on being innovative. It has a strong sense of creativity and doesn’t feel constrained by the rules – instead, it is busy inventing new things to keep its customers loyal & excited. 

A great example of a ‘creator’ brand is Apple.

• The Jester

As the name suggests, this brand is all about having fun! 

If your company is high energy and uses bright, vibrant colours this archetype could be perfect! 

Rather than solving a problem as such, the jester tries to entertain and provide value. This brand is confident and knows how to use comedy well.

M&M’s is a classic Jester-style brand, from the colouring to the confidence and teasing jokes used in their adverts.

• The Sage

Spiritual and the font of all knowledge the Sage is authentic and speaks only the truth. A ‘sage’ brand is an expert in its field and is always open to friendly discussion, often sharing authentic information.

Oprah Winfrey’s brand is strongly built on the Sage archetype.

• The Innocent

Consistently happy, reliable and trustworthy this archetype might play it safe but its positivity shines through. It always looks for the silver lining and will work hard to solve any problem. It is unfalteringly optimistic about the future. 

Coca-Cola and McDonald’s are true ‘Innocent’ brands. 

• The Lover

Is your company sensual and passionate? It is emotional and beautiful? If so, it could be a lover!

Lover brands are ‘givers’ in relationships and are aesthetically pleasing, valuing harmony and positive surroundings. 

Lindt chocolate, Victoria’s Secret and even Chanel could easily be considered lover brands.

• The Hero

The hero is courageous and has strong attention to detail -this brand seeks perfection. The Hero brand is an idealist bubbling over with self-confidence, combining quality and trust.

Often used in sports brands, Nike and Michael Jordan are easily heroes. 

• The Rebel or Outlaw.

If these archetypes were created today, they would probably be known as disruptors. They are outrageous, shocking and not afraid to shake things up. 

Rebel brands thrive on changing the game and do so with confidence. They are unconventional and go all-out.

This brand archetype instantly makes me think of Uber & Air BnB

• The Everyman

Whilst some of the other branding archetypes scream for your attention, this one is practical and honest in its approach.

These companies are humble and are guided by honesty, allowing regular people and average Joes to feel like they belong.

Companies that fit the regular brand archetype often grow quietly and consistently, only making a huge show when the time is right.

Budweiser for example is loved for being an everyman. 

• The Magician

Magician companies encourage their customer’s imaginations to run wild!

They are fun yet solve problems and have a deep impact on those they serve. When promoting a product or service magicians do the unexpected. 

Red Bull is a great magician

• The Explorer

You know your company is an explorer if it loves adventure! 

It’s not afraid to stand out from the crowd and redefine freedom on its terms. The explorer is self-motivated, independent and ambitious. 

Your company promises to take people on a journey, creating memories they won’t forget. 

For explorer inspiration, look no further than Jeep or North Face. 

• The Ruler

This company is powerful! 

It shows authority and isn’t afraid to create order out of chaos. A born leader it is constantly building on its foundations, with the hope of creating a legacy. 

However, rulers often have to be careful nobody else is after their crown by maintaining their perfection – sometimes at the cost of innovation.

Rolex is a prime example of a ruler.

• The Caregiver

Who doesn’t love a caregiver? Caregiving companies often act altruistically, showcasing these acts to their followers. They offer support and empathy – using emotions to let the company’s personality shine through.

These brands are often not for profit or include celebrities such as Princess Diana. 

In Conclusion

You should try your best to choose one of these archetypes to define your brand, though I know that can be hard to choose just one!

If you feel stuck between two, I’d recommend considering which your audience would respond best to- though this should only be a consideration. Try your best to stay true to you. 

Ps. If you’re interested in brand archetypes, you can learn about their use in advertising here.

If you still need help defining your brand my email & DMs are always 

If you’ve Googled digital marketing, I’m willing to bet that you’ve come across this term. So I thought we’d take it back to basics and discuss content marketing definitions and examples.

Content marketing is the golden child and with good reason. 72% of marketing professionals believe it increases customer engagement with a brand and increases leads. 

So what exactly is content marketing? 

Well let’s break it down, ‘content’ refers to anything you create and post online.  

This could be blog posts, whitepapers, webinars, podcasts, images and videos for example. 

And yep, this includes the photos/videos you post on social media. That’s because social media is a channel through which you share your content. 

Other channels include your website or any other online presence where you share content. 

As such, content marketing involves creating content to market your business. 

This is classed as ‘inbound marketing’ as you are trying to draw people in and turn them into customers. 

If you’re reading this and worrying about all the content you need to create, don’t panic!

If you are low on resources or time, you can always curate other peoples content and add your own comments. 

For example, you may share a study or news article written by someone else and share your thoughts on the piece. 

How Content Marketing Works

Content marketing works in a plethora of ways, so I’m afraid there isn’t one quick answer.

By regularly updating the content on your website you help with your Search Engine Optimisation (where you rank on Google). This is especially true if you consider keywords whilst creating your content.

By sharing your knowledge through content marketing, you also position yourself as an expert in your field, helping to build consumer trust. 

Examples Of Content Marketing

Video Content 

The first example I have for you is a golden oldie. 

Blenders may not seem the sexiest of products (especially before the rise of Instagram Wellness) yet BlendTec created a series of videos that managed to increase brand awareness exponentially. 

The videos featured the business owner dressing up as a scientist in a lab and blending random objects – including the latest iPhone. 

Coupled with the catchphrase ‘Will it blend?’ the campaign quickly went viral with BlendTec’s owner noting that sales were impacted almost instantly. 

The campaign proved so popular that at its height you could even buy branded merchandise with the phrase ‘Will it blend?’ on. 

Image Content

Shutterstock’s trend report is now in its eighth year, and there are good reasons as to why the company is continuing to produce it.

When it first launched, they shared an infographic online that was translated into 20 languages and focused on trends predicted from user downloads. 

Within the first two weeks of the infographic being shared, it was featured in over 170 articles and comments. The email promoting the infographic also had an open rate if 20%.

All of this coverage helped Shutterstock to reach a wider audience and gave them social credibility as many people who read the articles saw them as the expert voice. 

Written Content

Florida Physical Medicine knew they wanted to rank higher on Google for ailments related to car accidents. 

As such, they created onsite, written content that focused on niche keywords.

As part of this, they created valuable and informative content that answered common questions about the ailments. They then suggested that people who suffered from the ailment should request a free consultation which helped improve lead generation. 

By the time they had read the article, the potential customer already had trust that the brand knew what it was talking about, so were more likely to convert by requesting the consultation.

Over the next four to six months this resulted in:

• A 153% increase in site sessions year over year (sessions represent a single visit to your website.)
• A 121% increase in leads (51 to 133) year over year
• All existing keywords ranked in top 10: up 152% (134 to 338) year over year

I hope these content marketing definitions and examples helped to demystify it a bit, as content marketing is truly one of the best ways to grow your business. 

If you’ve got any questions about content marketing, drop me a comment below or join me on Instagram. 

Sources: 

OptinMonster

Smartinsights

Content Marketing Institute

If you have a business then I going to go out on a limb and make an assumption: you want to make money.

Shock. Gasp in horror. Swoon if you must. 

I know in modern times the statement “I want to make money” seems a bit of a faux par, with businesses instead talking about their missions and how they want to change the world. 

But to have a big impact, you at least need to be making a living wage. And generally, that means making sales or securing clients. 

One of the best ways to do this is to get strategic with the type of content you are producing and sharing, focusing on four main types. 

Marketing mastermind Dave Chaffey has created the RACE framework to make this even simpler.

A word of warning though, you will need to understand how your customers find you and buy from you to use this framework successfully. 

Type 1 – Reach

This type of content is all about building brand awareness.

You can do this on your own site with a focus on search engine optimisation. However, its also worth thinking about places like your social media platforms, other websites or even offline marketing if you fancy going traditional.

Success Indicators For Type 1 

• Unique visitors to your site/profile
• Fans or followers on social media
• Audience share. 

Type 2 – Act

This type of content encourages your audience/potential customers to take action.

This could be adding your products to their basket for example. 

Similar to the content in ‘Reach’ you can share it both on your website or other places you have an online presence. 

Success Indicators For Type 2

• Bounce Rate
• Product page conversions
• Pages per visit

Type 3 – Convert.

It should be no surprise that this type of content is all about those conversions – kerching!

When the customer reaches this content, they should in an ideal world already be familiar with your brand due to your ‘Reach’ content and be ready to commit, after your ‘Act’ content has helped move them through the sales funnel.

Success Indicators For Type 3

• Unique visits & fans
• audience share
• revenue or goal per website visit

Type 4 – Engage

You may be thinking that the hard work is done once you’ve made the sale. However, now is not the time to rest on your laurels!

Instead, work on building your customer relationships as this can help transform them into repeat buyers and brand advocates.

This is important as retaining customers is a lot more cost-effective than finding new customers. Also, word of mouth from previous customers can be a great help in marketing your business. 

Success Indicators – Type 4

• Repeat purchases
• Brand loyalty
• Advocacy.

So in conclusion, when planning & creating content for your business it is important to target your ideal customers all the way through their buying journey – and even after they have made a purchase.

By targeting your content in such a way, you are giving your customers the best chance of converting and your business the best chance of making sales. 

1. There is no such thing as a digital marketing expert. The digital world is always evolving and updating, in a way that makes it impossible for one person to be an expert at it all. If someone does tell you they are an expert, they are lying to try and get your money.
2. Nobody cares about your product/brand/founder story as much as you do. Sorry but it’s true.
3. Some books that were written 100 years ago are still relevant. Methods change over time, but the human psyche rarely does. 
4. What you don’t say, can mean just as much as what you do say. 
5. You don’t need to be on every platform or be everything to everyone – stop people-pleasing, and focus on what you are good at. 
6. If you’re building hype for your product/event make sure you can deliver on it, don’t be the next Clubhouse or Fyre Festival.
7. If you’re going to be on social media, make sure you offer a good level of customer service. 
8. ‘Always Offer Value’ – how you treat this advice will make or break your digital marketing. 
9. Yes, marketing is creative but don’t forget to crunch those numbers. Data is our lifeblood. 
10. Marketers are not graphic designers – sure some individuals may have similar skills but they are two distinct practices. 
11. It doesn’t matter what your competitors are doing, all that matters is what your customers want & how you can deliver it.