Brand Perception · The identity–image gap · Component
The priority gaps
The misperceptions that affect what people actually do — because not every gap is worth closing and most are not.
The deliverable
What it is
Organisations are tempted to close every gap, which spreads effort across misperceptions that change no behaviour and leaves the consequential ones unaddressed.
The filter is behavioural: does this misperception stop someone buying, applying, recommending or paying more? If not, it is a fact about perception rather than a problem.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
The consequence
What behaviour the misperception affects.
3 attributes: Behaviour affected · Volume affected · Segment
LearnThe value
What closing the gap would be worth.
3 attributes: Value of closing · Time to close · Confidence
Learn
A gap that changes no behaviour is a fact about perception, not a problem. Record it and leave it.
The other components in the identity–image gap
The comparison
Stated identity against unprompted image, side by side — word for word where possible, because paraphrasing on either side hides the gap.
LearnThe diagnosis
Whether the message was unheard, heard and disbelieved, or accurate and unwelcome — three findings that look identical in the data.
Learn