Personal Branding for Financial Career Growth
Dear Deb,
Q. I am a Senior Financial Analytics Manager at a major pharmaceutical firm and keep seeing articles on the internet about personal branding and professional branding. I would like to know if there is a difference between the two. Also, can you explain how branding will help me with my career?
T.H., Nutley, NJ
A. To answer the first part of your question, personal branding and professional branding are, more or less the same. A brand is a unique package that defines “you.” When you create a personal brand, it is with the intention of generating a cohesive, consistent representation of you, primarily on-line. Do you want to check your brand? Google yourself.
Some examples are Oprah, Trump, and Tony Robbins. Nobody would confuse these names with anyone or anything else.
The messaging you convey to the world tells people who you are, and what you represent in a personal and professional sense. That is why the terms personal branding and professional branding are often used interchangeably.
Now to address the second part of your question: branding can advance your career by making you a known industry commodity. While, not everybody will get to the level of an Oprah Winfrey or a Tony Robbins, your goal should be to move in that direction.
Establishing a well known presence will make you a valued and sought-after resource. By leveraging social media, blogging, live networking events, and delivering excellence in your professional life, you can demonstrate that you are an expert.
Consistency is important. All of your professional communications should be presented in a compelling way to help you advance your career to the next level. For example, since your professional path is within the domain of corporate finance, joining CFO related groups and forums on the internet, and actively communicating your knowledge and advice via blog articles, Twitter, and LinkedIn will allow you to publicize your brand.
Make yourself available to mentor others and provide assistance and guidance to those who wish to follow in your wake. Make sure you continually align your actions with your overall strategy as you build your brand.
There are many other specific ways to brand yourself. It requires effort, especially up-front; but those clients who have developed and nurtured a personal branding strategy have been able to obtain tremendous success in catapulting their career to the next level.
If you have a question for the Ask Deb weekly column, which appears every Friday, please email debra@careersdonewrite.com