In a competitive industry such as the financial services industry, passion and determination are crucial, but to truly stand out, you will need well-defined personal branding and marketing.
But first—what is personal branding? Personal branding is where you combine your unique personality with professional expertise to create a well-rounded, professional yet distinctive persona. Your personal branding needs to be cohesive and continuously upheld throughout all aspects of your professional life.
Personal branding is incredibly important in the financial services industry as it helps you project the right image to clients and more importantly, helps you build trust and credibility. Clients are seeking someone who can understand their values, so it is incredibly important to be able to convey that through your brand. Building a personal brand will also allow you to review and understand your values and how you approach business.
Research yourself
To build a personal brand, you need to be able to understand yourself, consider your best qualities and how those qualities make you stand out amongst others. Ask yourself how you want to be perceived, what sets you apart and what you want to be associated with. It would also be beneficial to think about your experiences, how you communicate and how you approach certain things in life. If you are struggling with this, feel free to reach out to some close friends or family for their opinions. After all, a personal brand is how you want others to see you.
Cherry-pick your assets
After researching yourself, you may find that there are certain standout qualities that you would like to highlight as part of your brand. Consider how these qualities compare to other financial planners and choose one to be your unique selling point. This is the single most important part of your branding, so, ensure that this quality sets you well apart from others. Remember, everyone can claim that they are “reliable”, so try thinking out of the box on how you can reposition your quality uniquely. Once you have your unique selling point, you can build a more cohesive branding around it that intertwines between personal and professional.
Manage your social media well
If people are not seeing you in person, they are seeing you online. Curating and maintaining your social media presence is also an integral part of your personal branding. When utilised correctly, social media can allow you to reach a wide range of people quickly and show them why they should put their trust in you before even meeting! So, ensure that the topics you are posting convey your brand, are informational and entertaining.
Social media is not only limited to single clients either, businesses are also frequenting social media to find financial planners. Ensure you are utilising professional social media sites like LinkedIn, which is where many professionals gather. Using other sites like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter will also help share your brand. However, it is important to research different demographics and find your focus area that fits your personal brand as each site typically caters to a different demographic.
Stay on top of industry trends
As a financial planner, your clients are putting a lot of trust in you to be highly knowledgeable and help advise them through new rising trends. You need to be aware and familiar with new topics in the industry to help your clients make the right decisions. Staying on top of everything also demonstrates your dedication to your work and helps to build your expertise along with trust and credibility. You can do this by subscribing to sites like Forbes Money or Kiplinger, or local finance sites like Seedly or MoneySmart.
Network
Networking with like-minded professionals from your industry would be highly beneficial as you will be able to see how others brand themselves and share your brand too. Connecting with other professionals will also help you learn how they navigate the industry through new rising trends. This may also open more doors to collaborate with other financial planners to build your credibility.
If having no prior experience in the financial services industry worries you, fret not. At KWO, we offer marketing support to our financial planners and we will help you build your brand. When you join our team, rest assured that we will guide you and see to it that you thrive! If you are looking for a rewarding career with a work-life balance, join us today!