The Seven Deadly Sins of Personal Branding

Whether you know it or not, you have a brand image. People know you for some key attributes, skills and possibly quirks. Whilst I sometimes balk at the notion of a person as a brand (I feel humans are somewhat more complex than a product or service) your values, strengths and behaviours combine to create a perception among those you interact with, and even among those you don’t.

Your personal brand is powerful. If you don’t know what it is, I would advise you engaging in some 360 feedback and, focusing on the positives, and with a few tweaks here and there, define what you want to be known for. And once you have a strong sense of your brand image, be careful not to weaken it by committing any of the 7 deadly sins.

1.      Over Exposure

It is impossible to buy a product if you don’t know it exists. Similarly, it is difficult to appreciate a colleague if you don’t know about the work they do. Managing the balance between sharing your achievements and overly tooting your horn can be tricky. In an attempt to create strong visibility, there can be a temptation to create noise where there is little substance. Be wary of losing credibility through over-exposure.

2.      Not Knowing Your Market

You deal with many different stakeholders, or ‘markets’ – the people who experience you. If you influence effectively, these stakeholders will be open to following you, and if you don’t, they may not willingly follow you. Often, we feel more comfortable dealing with one market or stakeholder group, than another. Some people shine when leading their team, yet are less effective when engaging with their boss or other more senior leaders. Others excel when working with their peers but are less inspiring when with their own team. The key is to tailor your offering to the needs of the market you are addressing. If your boss likes you to be direct and data-driven, make sure you get to the point quickly and back it up with facts and figures. If your team like a hands-off approach, make sure you inspire with a vision and agree on milestones, rather than micro-manage.

3.      Underestimating Your Value

It’s a natural human tendency to compare ourselves to others – and to underestimate what you offer. To look at what you don’t have rather than what you do. Whilst it is important to possess the baseline skills and key qualities in a particular role, it is also important to recognize the unique combination of attributes you possess and recognize their value to the market you serve. If you seek to build attributes that are not naturally or easily yours, you risk underestimating the value you provide you provide through the combination of strengths and beliefs you naturally possess.

4.      Saying No to Product Enhancements

Every product enjoys enhancements – whether in the product itself or how it is delivered. Whilst on the job exposure and learning is valuable, not investing in your own enhancements – in terms of technical or behavioural skills, is akin to stagnating in the market. In which skills or qualities could you benefit from being ‘new and improved’? Again, this is not a request to behave completely differently to your typical style, but to recognize when tweaks are required or new skills need to be mastered. It’s hard to be an effective leader if you don’t like to speak in public - or lead a Fortune 500 company if you can’t read a balance sheet.

5.      Delivering an Inconsistent Brand Experience

One of the biggest complaints from customers is an inconsistent brand experience – once a customer becomes accustomed to a certain level of quality/price equation and speed of delivery, they don’t want any surprises. Similarly, when a colleague approaches you, they want to be fairly sure they can accurately gauge your reaction – whatever the situation. If you know what you are known for, its easier to deliver a consistent brand experience. Be curious how you can enhance it - ask people what you can do to improve it, and let people know what you are doing to improve it.

6.      Authentic Brand Experience

Unless customers are looking for a fake, they really aren’t happy when they buy one. People can smell a fake, so ‘be’ you and deliver in line with expectations. Remember - tweaking your behaviour to be a little better than you were before is not being fake. Pretending to be something you aren’t, is.

7.      Misrepresentation

Many of us have fallen for marketing blurb at some stage, buying a product because we desired the promise it made or implied – only to be a little disappointed with the actual experience it delivered. We possibly find it difficult to trust such a product again. Make sure that in your drive to influence buyers, you aren’t over-promising what you can deliver and misrepresenting your brand. Similarly, just as products suffer dire consequences when they don't come clean about the mistakes they have made or issues with their product, so personal brands suffer when they defend the indefensible or shun accountability for their actions.

The biggest deadly sin of personal branding is not knowing what your own brand represents and which audience it best serves. I sometimes share that supporting leaders and leadership teams to be more effective is similar to a strategic marketing exercise: a process of identifying core strengths, values and purpose, and combining these to build a leadership brand that knows it stands for, what it’s market needs - and how to serve it successfully.

? Andrea Stone