How can you measure the effectiveness of your personal brand? Oleg Rak, Managing Partner at Mason Rak, has a clear answer: the value of your personal brand is directly related to its ability to create and wield influence.
Our market research shows the same thing time and time again – a personal leadership brand increases your authority in the market. It gives you the focus to deliver results that are aligned with your identity, and perfectly in sync with the values and culture of your firm.
In the current volatile market, tax professionals who are looking to gain a competitive advantage must position themselves as thought leaders, visionaries and educators.
Have you mastered your personal leadership brand?
There is no secret. Smart tax professionals across the globe are positioning themselves as dynamic innovators through carefully managed, strategic personal branding campaigns. They continually develop their skillset, ensuring they are always front runners in the market.
A leader who knows how to manage their brand increases the equity of the firm they represent, in turn increasing their personal value. Tax professionals who know how to position their skills and experience for a particular firm have a clear advantage on the competition.
In the current market, your leadership brand will clearly position your unique ‘return on investment’ and help to accelerate your career progression. We outline five simple steps you should follow to build a strong personal brand:
- Make those around you successful
Winning personal brands are built on the success that they have created for others. This is often referred to as the ‘law of reciprocity’.
If you are able to create success for colleagues around you, your reputation and goodwill will not only shine through in your work, but throughout your network. This is one of the most overlooked elements of personal branding. In short, those who invest in professional relationships and help others to achieve their goals will benefit tremendously by doing so.
- Hire a professional coach
This is one of the single best investments you can make in building a powerful and sustainable personal brand. At Mason Rak we have a proven executive coaching system that is designed specifically for senior tax professionals to help define their personal brand and differentiate themselves from competitors in the market. This allows you to have a trusted advisor on your side, who will guide you through the branding process, and help you to further accelerate your career progression.
- Invest in upskilling
You will only strive as a senior tax professional if you continuously advance your professional and interpersonal skills. Careers in accountancy and law firms are becoming increasingly competitive, so you should never pass up the opportunity to enhance your knowledge and skillset, for instance when it comes to new technology, and digital innovation and automation.
- Effectively use social media
Brands work tirelessly to leverage social media in order to boost online visibility and revenue. But only a handful of tax professionals understand how to do it well. As a successful tax professional, it is now a must that you master your social media presence, interact effectively with your audience, and develop trust and authority with your network.
We believe LinkedIn is one of the best places to invest your time. If you have a strong and active presence on LinkedIn, and your personal brand story is evident, your professional network will naturally become stronger, and you can ensure that you stay ahead of the game when it comes to market intelligence and developments.
Make sure that your profile looks impressive. We see time and time again that even some of the most senior tax individuals underestimate the value of this channel, and do not realise the authority and reach that it provides.
Take the time to create a powerful LinkedIn profile that simply sells. At Mason Rak we have helped hundreds of tax professionals to transform their online presence and take their personal brand to the next level.
- Make your brand a reality
Your personal leadership brand should not promise what it cannot deliver. However, the way you position yourself will determine how you are seen in the market. The better your brand is, the better your reputation, engagement, and financial upside.
Building your personal brand is a continuous journey, you must consistently build powerful imagery and messages to establish yourself as a winning professional in your particular tax niche. Whether this is through your emails, phone conversations, the way you dress – you must showcase your skillset and support your brand.
We believe that in the post-Covid era, more firms will be looking towards digital and online presence when assessing tax professionals. The bottom line is, you need to build a personal brand in order to excel in the current market – it’s pivotal to your success.
Mason Rak is a global specialist tax search firm that operates extensively across all key global markets. In these uncertain times, the firm is perfectly placed to mentor tax professionals on their personal leadership brand. If you would like to discuss your brand and strategic global tax opportunities, please contact Oleg Rak, Managing Partner, on oleg.rak@masonrak.com or call +44 786 911 3281.