FINSIA Webinar Recap: The finance professional’s personal brand in 2022
While the recent business landscape has presented many challenges for the banking and finance industry, finance professionals have opportunities in 2022 to build trust and visibility by focusing in on a clearly-defined strategy for their personal brands.
In this week’s webinar for FINSIA, I highlighted 3 key methods for these professionals to consider in their communication planning this year.
Recent enquiries from finance industry clients have revealed the following objectives:
- Make a great first impression & quickly build trust
- Increase effectiveness of initial conversations and elevate professional communication in general
- Develop personal and team brand messaging to be seen as the team of choice for our stakeholders/industry sectors
- Develop strategic relationships & stay visible with targets (e.g. partners and referral sources)
- Achieve strong customer experience & manage risk
Yet, the challenges and roadblocks presented to these clients are significant, including:
- Ability to form a quick connection and build trust when we are online or wearing masks!
- Low confidence among new/young teams in first conversations and presenting yourself
- Low confidence in representing the brand (usually due to a lack of clarity on the brand, or lack of personal branding development)
- Being able to stand out as a go-to advisor, due to competition, poor image or low awareness
- Struggling to stay top of mind and build strong relationships, due to lack of time, competing pressures e.g. service level v timeframes, or established relationships with other suppliers already in place.
As we enter 2022, the banking and finance sector are being challenged to address major concerns in their business ecosystem – but these present an opportunity to lead and build trust with clear articulation of your approach:
- Inclusivity, diversity, equality, belonging in the workplace
- Climate change responsibility
- Ethics & transparency culture
- Expertise & service standards; customer expectations v constraints
- Fintech: competition, cyber safety
WATCH THE WEBINAR BELOW:
To build visibility and trust with your personal brand, three key elements should be considered in your 2022 strategy:
1. Increasing AWARENESS & VISIBILITY of your personal brand
Participants in the webinar were asked to consider where they sat on the ‘Trust Map’ to assess how close they were to being seen as a go-to trusted advisor. They also were asked to complete a quiz to find out how well they were attending to some important online and in-person elements of your personal brand!
2. Clarifying POSITIONING of your personal brand to highlight value
We spent a lot of time talking about positioning, or creating a ‘lens’ through which to invite others to see you. How specific are you with what you say and write in introductions, and on your official bio? Have you talked to the who, what and why of what you do? Are you directing the listener to the value in what you offer?
3. ELEVATING your personal brand to a ‘leadership brand’
Finally, I highlighted the special requirements of a leader’s personal brand – and pointed out that whether or not you currently lead a team or an organisation, you can always start thinking in terms of your leadership brand. An important part of messaging for leadership and authority in your space is to be able to define and clearly articulate your approach, honed through your experience. Why do you do things a certain way? What is it that you believe in? And of course… why is this of value to stakeholders?
Stay tuned for the follow-up podcast with FINSIA!