Journal of Financial Planning: August 2023
J.J. Peller is a Carson Coaching executive business coach. He holds an economics degree from Wabash College and spent the first five years of his career at Merrill Lynch before finding his calling to help other financial advisers grow their businesses. Carson Coaching is the official coaching partner of the Financial Planning Association.
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As a financial planner, it’s important to have more than just expertise in numbers and figures. Building a personal brand that sets you apart from the competition is key to growing a great business that you love.
But most financial planners get into this profession because they love doing financial planning—not because they want to grow a personal brand. So how can you create a personal brand that truly sets you apart while maintaining integrity with your core identity and your passion as a financial planner?
In this article, we’ll explore top tips and strategies that you can use to start building a strong personal brand, even if you’ve never thought about it before.
What Is a Personal Brand?
Before we cover ways to quickly build an attractive personal brand to help you bring more clients to you faster, let’s get on the same page with what it is.
I love how Sprout Social, a social media management company, defines personal brand as “a culmination of the experiences, skills, and values that differentiate you.”1
You likely already know the three components in this straightforward definition (experiences, skills, and values). To begin building your personal brand, you simply need to take time to identify and write them out in a way you can then use.
One example is Valerie Rivera, CFP®, who leans into her identity as a first-generation Latina wealth builder from Chicago who comes from a big family and is a mom to a lively little girl. Her social media presence and personal brand reflect this.2
Another way I’ve heard personal brand talked about is that it’s simply how others feel about you and what comes to their minds when they think about you. For example, think about a close friend for a moment. What are the first thoughts that come to mind? How are you feeling now that you’re thinking about that friend? What emotions come up for you? Your answers are aligned with your friend’s personal brand!
One exercise to start getting the wheels in your head turning is to ask close friends and family to tell you the first few thoughts and feelings they have when they think about you.
You could also ask, “What are my top three talents, from your perspective?” The answers you get from friends and family will likely not surprise you. You’ll probably even feel pretty great to hear their answers because they will likely be the things you’re especially gifted at and enjoy doing.
An Example of How a Clear Personal Brand Can Set You Apart
I was recently talking with a financial adviser who I coach. We were specifically talking about his niche as it relates to the personal brand and value proposition he wants to build. I mentioned to him that he’s not going to have much of a differentiator from other people doing holistic, comprehensive financial planning. All true financial planners can say they do this—so what would be his real differentiator?
We discussed how his personal passions and interests (which would fall under the “experiences” category in the definition cited above) are the things that will differentiate him and draw the right people to him to become his clients. He had an “aha moment” and said, “There is an adviser down the street from me who only works with police officers. He’s known here locally as the financial adviser for police officers. If I were to sit down with a police officer about financial planning and he did too, most of the time, he’ll win that relationship . . . because he’s the financial adviser for police officers.”
Exactly!
Both this adviser and the adviser down the street from him can do the same exact financial planning and wealth management work. But what’s the difference? One only focuses on helping police officers and the other does not.
You might be thinking, “So does this mean my niche is my personal brand?” No, not exactly. Your niche contributes to it (the culmination of experiences, skills, and values that differentiate you). Let’s go back to the example of Valerie Rivera. Her personal brand is that she is a first-generation wealth builder. In her case, her personal brand fits perfectly with her niche, as she serves first-generation wealth builders at her firm, FirstGen Wealth.
Your passions and hobbies are also a big part of your personal brand. What are the things you love to do outside of work? For example, are health and fitness both parts of your core personal values? What are the activities you do daily or weekly that solidify your values of health and fitness? For example, one financial planner I work with loves CrossFit and hiking in the mountains. Both of these are part of his personal brand.
One example of a person who does this well is Jess Bost, vice-president at Alpha Architect, who is also a CrossFit coach and Olympic weightlifter. Bost is known for posting frequently about her weightlifting, her family, and her musings on the industry.3
So, the experiences component of your personal brand isn’t just about your professional experiences. In fact, one of the best ways to differentiate yourself is to focus on all the personal life experiences you’ve had and are currently having that make you who you are.
Know Your Values
One of the most important steps in building a strong personal brand as a financial planner is defining your personal values and then prioritizing them. To get your brain moving in the right direction in identifying your values, you can see examples of the values we often hear from our members:
- Family
- Fitness
- Health
- Financial freedom
- Positive attitude
- Gratitude
- Working hard
- Enjoying life
- Friendships
- Other relationships
- Personal growth
- Achievement
These are just a few, but you get the idea. Now, what are your values? You can take time now or block some time on your calendar to sit down and really think through your values later. Then, put them in order of importance in your life.
Use Storytelling to Connect with Your Audience
You might be thinking, “OK, once I have an idea of my personal brand, what’s next?” Great question. Next on the agenda is to communicate that personal brand to connect with clients and potential clients.
People are much more likely to remember and connect with a story than they are with a list of numbers or facts. By sharing stories that illustrate your expertise and showcase your personality, experiences, and values, you can create a deeper connection with potential clients.
To use storytelling effectively, start by thinking about the stories that have shaped your career as a financial planner. Have you helped a client achieve a major financial goal? Have you overcome a significant obstacle in your own career? Once you’ve identified a few key stories, think about how you can use them to illustrate your expertise and connect with your audience.
Posting on Social
In today’s world where using social media is a part of most everyone’s daily routine, building a strong online presence is essential to building a personal brand. This means having a professional website, engaging on social media, and maintaining a consistent brand across all your online channels.
Start by publishing content on social media sharing more about who you are and what you’re all about. Initially, you might only have a handful of followers who engage with your posts. That’s OK! Successfully leveraging social media to build your personal brand and your business takes time and consistency.
I’ve heard it said that when you first start publishing content on social media, you’re not publishing content for other people—you’re publishing for yourself. You might be thinking, “What do you mean by that?” I mean that publishing content on social media is a skill like anything else and you’re publishing for yourself to really find your voice and the message you want to share.
Keep in mind, just like your personal brand is stronger when you build it around personal interests, passions, values, and experiences, your social media content will be stronger if you build it around these things also.
Many people feel they can only post content related to financial planning and the economy because they want people to know they’re a financial planner. But to quote Theodore Roosevelt, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Relating this quote to social media and personal branding success in the modern era, I’d change this quote to say, “People don’t care what you do professionally until they know who you are personally.” Keep this in mind when you’re thinking about what you’ll publish on social media to showcase and highlight your personal brand.
Continuously Reassess
One of the most important secrets to building a powerful personal brand as a financial planner is continuously reflecting on and assessing it. You’ll be a different person five years from today. Why? Because you’ll have five years’ worth of new life experiences, you’ll gain new insights and perspectives, and you’ll learn and develop new skills and expertise.
Ensure that you review and assess your personal brand annually to see if it aligns with who you are and how you want to be perceived. The cool thing about your personal brand is that it’s yours to create and build. You’ll build your personal brand based on the experiences you choose to venture into, the skills you choose to develop, and the interests you choose to explore. Get creative, have fun, and enjoy this process. You can build a personal brand that truly sets you apart from the competition and highlights the best of who you truly and authentically are.
Endnotes
- See the definition of personal brand from Sprout Social at https://sproutsocial.com/glossary/personal-brand/.
- See Rivera’s Twitter account at https://twitter.com/1GenWealth.
- See Jess Bost’s Twitter account at https://twitter.com/lady__bost.
