Achieving a Consistent Personal Brand: 5 Step Gap Analysis

What is everyone saying about you? It’s important to understand other’s perceptions of you to ensure they are consistent with the personal brand you want to be known for. Dale Carnegie said it best; “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other persons point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”

You see, it doesn’t matter what you think but rather what other people think about your brand. It’s these perceptions that can help you or hold you back from that next promotion. It’s important to know if other’s perceptions are in line with how you perceive yourself. I suggest this simple gap analysis that will provide you with valuable feedback that will help you analyze your brand perception.

Brand Gap Analysis:

1. List the top five traits that you would like to be known for. These can be words or phrases that describe you.

2. Next, identify at least three and no more than five people to get feedback on your personal brand. Suggestions include; peers, direct reports, your manager, other superiors and even customers and vendors. Whoever you chose, ensure they will be willing to provide you with candid feedback. The point is to get at least three very different perspectives which will help form a good basis of how you are perceived in your organization. One caveat, this is not a statistical study but rather a basis to understand the predominant themes and perceptions of you. You are simply looking for a small sample or a handful of people who will provide feedback.

3. Send an email to those you identified to let them know you are working on your brand and are interested in gaining their feedback. Simply ask them the following: “Please provide five words that come to mind when you think of me, words that describe my brand”.

4. Now validate the feedback you received. Did others see you the same way you see yourself? Look for the same or similar words and group them together. Were there any surprises? Were there any words mentioned that you hadn’t included on your list? Often times my clients are surprised by some of the words that others used to describe them. They say things like “I never thought anyone noticed this” or “I just do this, I don’t even think about it.” These are probably strengths you have taken for granted but should be part of your personal brand. Did you identify any gaps between how you see yourself and how others see you?

One of my clients wanted to be seen as a leader but when she received her feedback, the word “leader” was rarely listed. This surprised her but after gaining additional feedback she learned she needed to take initiative to demonstrate her leadership. With this new insight, she was able to make the necessary changes to bring her brand perception to a place that would help her achieve her goals.

5. Armed with this valuable feedback, you are ready to develop your Action Plan for changing those perceptions and closing any gaps. Only when you’ve identified these gaps can you effectively promote a consistent brand. And while you can’t necessarily control people’s perceptions, you can guide them to see you as you would like to be seen. Ask yourself the following two questions; “what perceptions do I want to change?” And “what strategies can I use to change those perceptions?” Now develop your Action Plan and transform your brand into a consistent brand!

Sage Alliance, a Leadership Performance Company, provides coaching, teambuilding and assessments, workshops and speaking on topics including; leadership development, empowering teams, communications, lasting impressions, personal branding and building a coaching culture for executives and high-potentials – for both team and individual leaders.

Contact us today to discover how your organization can get the most through improved productivity, efficiency and direct impact to your bottom line, while leaders gain powerful insight, crystallize opportunities for growth and fine tune their strengths, enabling them to make the greatest impact. You can contact Shelley Hammell directly at shammell@thesagealliance.com.