Your Personal Brand Assessment and Brand You

Last week, we approached brand-building from a humorous perspective. Hopefully, you had a few chuckles. Today, let’s spend a few minutes thinking about your personal brand in businesslike way.

As a bit of background, I work on brands for a living. In my role as co-owner of a marketing firm, I’ve worked with hundreds of clients on branding matters over the course of a decade to assess, bolster or create the brand for their product, service, cause or company. Let’s apply some of those same high-impact assessments to your personal brand. (Note: it may be helpful to take your ego out of this exercise by thinking in terms of “Brand You” instead of you. That little trick will also make it easier to generate unbiased analysis on your own.)

Brand Recall – what do people think, feel, believe and remember about a brand? What do your friends and co-workers think, feel, believe and remember about Brand You? Are you memorable? Are you well known?

Brand Affinity – the degree to which customers have positive regard for a brand; the caring and loyalty that customers feel toward a brand. Do people like Brand You? Are you likable … genuine, trustworthy? Do you have loyal followers?

Brand Reach– the number of people a brand reaches; a brand’s sphere of influence. When it comes to Brand You–what’s your reach? How many contacts are in your Outlook directory? How many Facebook friends do you have … and how many Twitter followers … how many subscribers to your blog? If you mapped the locations of these folks, how broad or narrow is your reach? Is it weak or strong? Find out now!

Brand Equity – the measure of the worth of the intangible asset; a dynamic parameter that changes with every customer interaction and with every related news report. What is Brand You worth? How might you measure this?

Brand Position – a unique, lasting, mental reference point for a brand that conveys its uniqueness (i.e., its USP) and offers an emotional connection point. What is Brand You uniquely known for? How are you positioned? Why not ask 40 or 50 of your friends/contacts and find out. Are you connecting with folks in a way that is memorable and makes a difference?

If you are concerned about strengthening Brand You, please take advantage immediately of two key resources:

1- The Brand Yourself Google Grader – use it to see how your Google search results align with your desired position and affect your brand affinity.

2- My new book, Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out and Move Up at Your First Real Job – a practical guide book, chock full of quick, bite-sized lessons for young ambitious professionals. It features chapters on how to find your niche and how to manage your workplace reputation.

With the combination of these two powerful tools–one for the virtual world, the other for the real world of work–you can take your brand assessment and begin building a stronger, more effective Brand You!