Skip to main content

The importance of building a personal brand

Written by: ICAEW Jobs
Published on: 20 Apr 2022

 

The importance of building a personal brand

Building a successful personal brand is important when presenting yourself to your audience. The process of building a personal brand can be daunting, but it’s necessary for career growth. The internet has made it easier than ever for accounting professionals to build a brand that can make them stand out from the crowd.

Whether you are looking for your next job, getting a promotion or starting a business, you need to have a strong personal brand. Developing your brand takes time, which is why you need a personal branding strategy to help present yourself to your target audience

Our latest blog covers why it’s important to develop your personal brand, while also covering what it is and how you can build one.
 

Selfie ring

Pic: Anna Nekrashevich, Pexels


What is a personal brand?

A personal brand involves creating a brand around a person. It’s used to help develop an individual’s career by positioning them as an expert within a specific field. Through developing a personal brand, they can create a loyal audience, as well as progress in their chosen profession.

It can be uncomfortable to think of yourself as a brand at first, but the reality is that everyone has a personal brand. Creating and developing your LinkedIn profile or creating blog posts through your personal website are two great examples of personal branding.

In a professional context, your brand is the image that your audience sees. That could include your reputation in the media or how people see you online. By intentionally building on your personal brand, you take the opportunity to shape how you tell your story while establishing yourself as a leader in your industry.

 

Why is building a personal brand important?

For chartered accountants, building your own brand can open up many career opportunities. Consistency is key with personal branding, which done correctly will influence how your brand is seen by the public, thought leaders, employers and industry experts. How you present yourself with your personal brand can be a major factor in your career trajectory. 

Throughout your life, there will be times where people will be googling you for future jobs, interviews or public speaking opportunities. No matter where you are in your accounting career, if you’ve not spent time developing your personal brand, you will let others take control of your narrative. 

By being hands on with your personal brand, you can control the narrative while also showing your audience what you can offer to them.

 

How to build a personal brand in four steps

Before marketing yourself to potential clients and employers, you need to consider how you present your personal brand to your audience. It’s an important part of ensuring that you know what services you’re providing.

If you have never thought about marketing your brand, we have four steps that can help get you started with developing your personal brand.

 

Know yourself and what you can offer

One of the most important things to consider when developing your brand is that you know yourself and what you can offer to employers and clients. When you tell your story, it needs to be authentic. It will ensure that the audience has an ideal image of who you are and what you can offer to them.

It’s worth remembering when working on your brand that it’s not all about you, but your audience. As an accountant there could be a variety of specialisms and skills you might be able to offer. By creating an image of the services that you can provide, or clients you want to work with, it’ll help you present a more focused brand to your audience.

 

Offer value to potential employers and clients 

If you are looking for your next employment opportunity, setting up and promoting your own business, or you’re going freelance, you need to demonstrate that you can offer value to employers or clients. Whether that’s developing relationships, accessing new skills or finding a new job opportunity, your brand needs to be valuable to your audience.

There are plenty of ways that you can offer value to your audience. Creating engaging content through social media platforms, saying yes to public speaking opportunities and volunteering are a few ways of adding value. By providing valuable industry information and knowledge, your brand will become more reputable.

 

Identify your target audience

When developing your personal brand, it’s essential that you identify your target audience. A mistake many people make when developing their brand is trying to appeal to the widest possible audience. Tuning into the type of clients and audience you want to appeal to can help you get business to your brand.

Producing a client profile can help you identify what they want from you, as well as any challenges they currently face. The more information you have collected about your clients, the better it will be when it comes to providing services and products that they want.

 

Create a consistent online presence

It can be easy to neglect your online presence, which can lead to missed opportunities for career progression. If you’re not visible on social media or on other online platforms, it will be harder for your clients and audience to reach your brand. 

Having a consistent online presence has many benefits. Not only will it enable you to find new opportunities, but you will also build meaningful relationships and make your brand credible and trustworthy. When it comes to building your online presence for your brand, you need to think about how it will benefit you.

Updating your social media accounts with projects you’re working on and making time to manage your online presence can go a long way for your brand. By presenting your online presence in the best possible light, it can open you up to new opportunities while maintaining relationships both professionally and personally.

 

Conclusion

Building a personal brand is a key ingredient in taking your accounting career to the next level. It requires spending a great deal of time networking and creating an online presence that audiences and employers can go to. By focusing on developing your brand, it will help get you to that dream job you’ve always wanted.

If you have built your personal brand and are looking to take the next step in your accounting career, have a look at our job listings and careers advice on our website.