Building Brand Personality That Converts

From Johanna Shirman, growth strategist at Madison Logic   

B2B isn’t boring—we’ve just made it that way. 

During his keynote at B2BMX 2026, “Building a Sexy Brand in an Unsexy Industry,” Elfried Samba, CEO & Founder of the Butterfly Effect, challenged something many of us in B2B marketing have accepted as truth: that “professional” has to mean polished, safe, and—if we’re being honest—a little bit blah. 

But behind every buying decision is a person. And people don’t connect with perfection; they connect with personality. And that happens to be a specialty for me.  

We’ve Confused “Professional” with “Forgettable” 

Somewhere along the way, B2B marketing became synonymous with being overly buttoned-up. We default to corporate language, neutral tones, and messaging designed to appeal to everyone—which often ends up resonating with no one. 

We prioritize sounding credible over sounding human. 

But as Elfried pointed out, the brands that are actually winning right now aren’t the ones playing it safe; they’re the ones building human connections. They show up consistently, with a clear identity, a distinct voice, and something to say that isn’t just corporate jargon. 

And most importantly, what they say feels like something. And that “something” doesn’t come from messaging frameworks.  

People Connect with People—Not Logos 

While we’ve gotten very good at refining messages, aligning stakeholders, and removing risk, we’ve also removed something else—any trace of the personality.  

The same leaders, subject matter experts (SMEs), and marketers we rely on to shape brand narratives are also the ones expected to represent them. But when those individuals are trained to default to neutrality, what shows up in-market isn’t expertise—it’s distance. 

The obstacle isn’t a lack of ideas. It’s a reluctance to let those ideas sound like they came from a person. 

That reluctance usually comes from somewhere: a past misstep, a culture of overcorrection, or simply the belief that credibility requires detachment. That’s the lie. 

The brands building real trust right now aren’t the most polished—they’re the most relatable. And relatability doesn’t come from perfection. It comes from perspective. 

Your buyers don’t just want information. They want to know: 

• Who’s behind this?  
• What do they believe?  
• Can I trust them?  

Those are the questions that drive decisions—and they’re shaped before anything is measured. 

Your Brand Isn’t the Whole Story. It’s the Character 

Another layer of this conversation is where brands actually sit inside the story they’re trying to tell. 

We often approach brand storytelling as a structure problem—how to sequence messages, map journeys, and align content to stages of the funnel. And while that matters, it misses something more fundamental: stories aren’t held together by structure alone. They’re held together by perspective. 

In other words, your brand isn’t the story itself. It’s a character inside it.  

That distinction changes the work. Characters don’t exist to deliver information—they exist to interpret the world around them. They notice things. They react. They take a position. And through that lens, the audience starts to understand not just what they do, but how they see the world they operate in. 

This is where many B2B narratives flatten out. They stay focused on consistency of message, but lose consistency of viewpoint. The result is content that may be accurate at every touchpoint, but emotionally indistinct across all of them. 

What’s missing isn’t more storytelling. It’s a clearer and more unique expression of perspective. 

Not just what your product does in the buyer’s journey—but how your brand understands that journey in the first place. 

• What problems feel most urgent to you—and why? 
• What trade-offs do you believe buyers are actually making beneath the surface? 
• What do you consistently see that others overlook? 

When that perspective is clear, storytelling becomes less about persuasion and more about recognition. Buyers don’t just move through your narrative—they start to see themselves reflected in how you interpret their world. 

And that’s what builds preference over time: not just a coherent story, but a consistent way of seeing. 

Personality Is a Growth Strategy 

As paid media becomes more expensive and less predictable, differentiation matters more than ever. And one of the most underutilized levers in B2B marketing is personality. 

Not gimmicks. Not forced “fun.” But a clear, authentic identity that shows up across everything you do: 

• How you write  
• How you show up on social  
• Who you put forward as your voice  
• What you choose to say—and what you don’t  

This is how attention turns into trust. And over time, how trust turns into something much more durable: community. 

A Final Thought 

If there’s one thing I took away from Elfried’s session, it’s this: We don’t need to make B2B marketing more exciting; we need to make it more human. 

Because at the end of the day, we’re not marketing to companies. 

We’re marketing to people. 

About the Contributor: Johanna Shirman is a demand generation strategist with over 10 years of experience working in B2B marketing and advertising. As the manager of Madison Logic’s strategist group, she helps teams build multi-channel programs that actually drive pipeline and improve go-to-market strategies with a focus on implementing data-backed marketing plans, getting channels to work together, and turning insights into actionable strategies.