The realm of finance and accounting has long been connected with number-crunching and stoicism. But in today’s digital landscape, a powerful personal brand is no longer a luxury – it’s a must-have for finance and accounting professionals.
A career in finance and accounting is considered to be the safest in the world. This is because every firm, regardless of size, requires an accountant to maintain and track its financial records.
Nevertheless, it’s tough for finance professionals and accountants to stand out from the crowd when they are looking for jobs. Most of them have similar qualifications, experience, and certifications, and use the same tools and software at work. This is why employers search for the X factor that distinguishes one job applicant from all the others, like someone with a firm professional profile.
This is why an increasing number of accounting and finance professionals are utilizing personal branding and marketing strategies to develop distinct online and offline identities to attract potential employers.
Personal Branding and Its Importance for Accountants
Personal branding is much akin to promoting yourself. It concerns creating an image and projecting your expertise and achievements. Primarily, you’re crafting the way others regard you. It does not quite resemble professional branding, which is more about making a name for yourself in your arena.
One of the prime advantages of personal branding is that it furthers people’s careers by differentiating them from the crowd and establishing them as experts in their industry. Spreading their social and online presence also helps them build trust with potential clients and employers.
Personal branding is a fragile journey, so if you’re an accountant or financial professional who is mulling over investing more time in building a personal brand, we’ve listed some of the best tips and ideas to lead you.
#1 Recognize Your Audience
Build on your prevailing community. Many people try to foray into a niche rather than tap into their existing communities. Instead, highlight the groups and communities with which you’re most acquainted.
Share your journey candidly. Numerous gurus project themselves as impeccable paragons of excellence. Though doing this only causes dissension with your target audience, as, in reality, nobody is on the spot each time. Be honest about your experiences, wins, and challenges. Your audience will associate with those much more than their concealed boasts.
Concentrate on a single mission. It’s an incredible feeling to be motivated and carry thousands of concepts circulating in your head. But you realize what perception is better? Viewing the outcomes of your targeted actions toward implementing one idea. In case of an overload of ideas, just note them down so that you can follow them later. At that, choose the one that interests you and is well paid.
#2 Choose a Theme to Espouse
What is the central theme fueling your personal brand? A theme imparts cohesion and clarity to your personal branding tasks. For instance, you can help accountants be more profitable and productive by using automation and low-code technologies. You can co-host your podcast from your premium accountant community to champion the idea that accountants should work smarter, not harder.
You can also launch your personal brand around a business opportunity. Create a niche firm focused on employee benefits plan experience.
It’s interesting that your social media isn’t about benefit audit plans. Instead, you share what you think about public accounting, getting things done right, and how firms work. Your personal brand began with a business idea, but it evolved as you expressed your opinions. Choose something you’re good at or know a lot about, such as crypto, small-business accounting, or ESG reporting. Being focused can help you get noticed instead of spreading yourself too thin by trying to do everything.
#3 Enunciate your Unique Perspective
Many people become disturbed by which platform they should feature on. But platforms are just mediums, which aren’t as significant as your ideas. Clarifying what you will state should be your first preference. Once you’ve perfected this, you can explore where and how you transmit them. Here are a few prompts to aid you in explaining how you view your industry distinctly:
- What pain points do customers tell you regarding their earlier accountant?
- What can your profession improve on?
- How has your life experience moulded your perspective on your profession
- What challenges do you face while attending to clients?
All these prompts need self-reflection – and that’s the objective. To build a great personal brand, start with who you are. And while, of course, you observe what others do, your own experiences and perspective are what make you special.
#4 Make a Personal Branding Plan
Businesses always have a marketing plan. So, you can do the same thing for yourself and your job search. Framing an action plan for building a personal brand can be a very effective way to ensure it becomes successful.
Target going after what you want in the long term and smaller, faster ones to get there gradually. Give each goal a deadline. Picture the smaller goals as steps to climb toward your bigger goal. Your goals should show how you want people to see you – both your friends and future bosses.
Clearly, an important first step is cleaning up your social media accounts, setting a professional image on each site. One of your goals, if not already established, should be establishing a presence of 10,000 connections on LinkedIn over time. Keeping a current profile is necessary. Check the visibility settings for your profile and ensure that it allows others to connect with you. If you’re looking for something new, there’s no stronger signal than putting this in your LinkedIn “About” section. The broader you can make your network (by attending workshops, seminars and making contacts related to your present work environment), the greater the chance there will be of developing such a network. Set SMART goals for your networking efforts. Every few months, find out if you’re on track (or not) so you can keep better track of your progress.
Get feedback frequently, as well. You can talk to your friends, clients or mentors, or even create a quick survey to get their opinion. Being aware of the way other people see you can provide you with an enormous advantage. Lastly, monitor your metrics: you can monitor how many people are coming into your site, who is looking at your LinkedIn account, and how many meetings you have had.
Don’t Stop Learning: The field of money is constantly changing, and to stay on top of the new information and to update your personal brand to stay successful.
#5 Keep Away from Oversharing
If you really want to separate yourself from your peers, exchanging more relevant information and supporting your brand are essential.
Nonetheless, a few professionals tend to ‘over-blog’ and spread themselves too thinly across different online platforms. There is also a propensity to overshare. You see this a lot on Facebook and LinkedIn. People get too emotional or post stuff that doesn’t fit their personal brand. So, their online image gets messy, and that’s probably not good.
It is essential to maintain a positive, valuable brand. When you’re incompatible with what you share, you may risk forfeiting your esteemed followers and acquiring some whom you may not be as eager to develop a networking association with.
Definitely having a correctly generated content plan on LinkedIn is much more probable to give you the advantage over other candidates, but don’t become too cramped on writing and sharing everything available. In the matter of distinguishing yourself, quality counts more than quantity.
Experts advise that you publish 1 to 2 articles or posts monthly, especially if you wish to ensure your intuitions are thoroughly researched, and your information is accurate. Think about coordinating with your communications and marketing crew to learn further about publishing your posts on your social media channels, dependable finance news portals, or forums like LinkedIn Pulse to enlarge your reach and impact.
Bottom Line
Personal brand-building services for accountants are no longer simply an option – they’re a requirement. From building credibility to generating leads, a personal brand needs you as an accountant. Why? A powerful personal brand can elevate your career and business to pristine heights.
Personal branding involves creating content exhibiting your unique value proposition to the world. It relates to your personal brand importance, outlining what differentiates you from the rest and leveraging those exclusive attributes to join with your target audience.
So why delay? Begin working on your personal brand today and create an almost infinite opportunity for yourself. Your personal brand is the most powerful asset you have, so it is up to you to create value from your personal brand.
