Most people don’t like or trust corporations or institutions.
They like, trust and relate to other people, mostly people that they see as like themselves.
Many years ago, advertising writer Claude Hopkins discovered his ads were more successful when they featured a story with a personality who invented a new product or innovation. For example, Professor A. P. Anderson invented the “shot from guns” process for making Quaker Puffed Wheat and Quaker Puffed Rice. For a while, Professor Anderson became the “face” of those products and increased their popularity.
Many prominent companies were founded by individuals who were their “faces”, such as Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Walt Disney. More recent examples are Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
General Mills “invented” Betty Crocker to make their packaged baking products more relatable and sell more of their food offerings.
General Mills also uses images of famous athletes on Wheaties cereal boxes to convey the image of a healthy breakfast cereal.
Is your business conveying a “corporate” image or relating to customers and prospective customers as a personality? Can you develop a celebrity image to promote yourself and your business?
To discuss this further, write to me at mgray@profitadvisors.com.