Understanding Brand Archetypes

Archetyping is an individuation process that allows us to familiarize ourselves with our own, complex and unique personality. Archetyping helps you to become comfortably familiar with your personal response structures and all of the instinctual behaviors that go along with that, shedding some light on why certain things seem to come easy to you and others feel like a struggle; Why some relationships are comfortable and others are not. Comprehending yourself at this deeper level helps you live a richer, more authentic life, make better decisions, and brings you closer to serving your purpose. Understanding how it all plays into the brand you’re building is essential to creating an authentic presence that serves both your true calling and the needs of your customers flawlessly.

ar·che·type (ärk-tp), n:
an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic imagery derived from the
past collective experience and present in the individual unconscious.

Archetypes are helpful in understanding your self, motivations, goals, and desires. When used in branding, they also help you clarify those same things for your business and for your ideal customers.

If you aren’t sure what your brand archetype is, take my free quiz to find out.
Thoroughly tested and deeply accurate, my self-assessment has been taken by over a million people. It’s highly regarded as the best brand archetype quiz available. 

Using archetypes in your branding will help you:

• discover your strengths and weaknesses
• tap into your power sources and use them to your advantage
• make conscious, highly beneficial decisions for yourself and your business
• cultivate healthier relationships, personally and professionally
• identify and rid yourself of what’s been holding you back
• gain clarity around your calling
• attract the right customers, employees, and supporters
• create offerings that you’re proud of
• increase profits
• meet your niche where they are and help take them to the next level
• handle your challenges in healthier, more efficient ways
• have the confidence to ignore the naysayers and critics
• get to know yourself like never before

The core of who you are lies within your primary, or ‘dominant’ Archetype. Its virtues are alive and well in your everyday life.  Whether or not you realize it, the majority of your choices are made within the confines of this space. You’re drawn to relationships, products, and companies that exude these virtues. And those within the same archetypal persona are drawn to you as well.

Consciously and unconsciously you live and work most harmoniously with others who fall into this group. This is why it’s so important to live your truth in both your life and your work.

Holistic Wayfinding

Archetyping provides a purely holistic approach to building your brand and connecting you with your most-likely-to-buy people.

A well-archetyped brand is more authentic, more confident, and more trusted than it’s non-archetyped counterparts. All this transparency and honesty helps create deeper relationships, attract more business, and increased profitability. More importantly you’ll be serving the right people, your way, doing the things you love. You’ll create a brand that’s strong enough to stand alone, yet flexible enough to allow for growth and expansion. 

Skillfully work your persona into all aspects of your brand and watch the magic happen. The more deeply you embrace the characteristics of your dominant archetype, the more authentic and effortless things become.

It’s Time

Working with archetypes can be a life changing experience. Each of us has so much to offer the world through our own unique blend of experiences, talents, services, and gifts.

Archetypes encourage us to look beyond what we think we are and what we’ve been led to believe we are (or should be), chiseling the fine points and smoothing the edges of our unique personas as we are introduced, sometimes for the very first time, to our truest self.

Once you’re able to understand yourself and your brand at this deeper level, your ideal customer profile begins to take shape. When you truly know who you are, what you love to do, what you’re good at, and who you’d most like to serve, you’re finally able to create and develop offerings to suit the needs of others, and your own. No more convincing. From here on out, it’s all about connecting.

Embrace yourself, every last part, and you’ll discover your best life and your most powerful brand. 

That’s a promise.

Meet the Others

We’re not in any of this alone. It’s important not only to get to know ourselves, but others. Understanding a bit about the other archetypes will help you comprehend why others do the things they do, what inspires them, what they fear, and what drives their goals and behaviors.



Visit the Archetype Directory to get familiar with the other persona types. You’re bound to see familiar faces there. You may even see a little of yourself in some of the other types; A good sign that you would get along quite well with them.

 

Even when you’ve got a great grasp on your archetypal persona, choosing a visual representation for your brand can be difficult. To help, I curated an entire collection of  on-trend elements from professional designers and photographers. It’s packed with archetype specific fonts, designs, graphics, imagery, templates, and more. I call it your Archetype Brand Hub. It’s got everything you need to get a better visualization of your unique brand. You can check out the Archetype Brand Hubs, right here.

Grow your Tribe

Sharing your archetype is the best way to connect with likeminded people. It also helps attract your right people to you. It’s easy to show off your archetype with our highly recognizable, officially branded graphic. You can also use any of the following posts, or create one of your own:

I just discovered my brand archetype. Find yours at MelissaBolton.com #archetypalbranding

Discover your truest self through the magic of archetyping. It’s free! MelissaBolton.com #archetypalbranding 

Take the complimentary assessment and discover your unique brand persona. MelissaBolton.com #archetypalbranding 

Learn More

Interested in learning more about a particular archetype? Follow the links below to get to know each individual type.

Meet The Luminary

Meet The Innocent

Meet The Explorer

Meet The Monarch

Meet The Creator

Meet The Nurturer

Meet The Magician

Meet The Warrior

Meet The Maverick

Meet The Passionate

Meet The Jester

Meet The Communitarian

Back to You

Hopefully this has helped you on your way to a pure and authentic brand. Remember, archetyping is just a guide, not a set of rigid rules. While understanding your archetypal persona and how to put it to work in your brand will work wonders for your business, it’s not easy to pull everything together. It took me many years to thoroughly understand it all. If you’re struggling, don’t go it alone. I can help. 

Melissa Bolton

I’m a Brand Therapist® providing psychology-based branding, copywriting, and consulting to individuals and micro-businesses in the creative arena. My signature services will help you discover and articulate your most authentic self so you can tell better stories, make more meaningful connections, and do more profound work.