In finance, trust is the product. A personal brand is how a client decides to trust you with their money before they have ever met you.
The Manifesto defines trust as the understanding that a person has good intentions, will follow through on their word, and makes claims that are accurate. In finance, that definition is the job description, and a personal brand is how it is demonstrated in public.
Finance professionals also tend to show only the professional side, which the Identity Positioning™ essay warns against. Clients choose people. Explaining money in plain language, and letting people see who you are, builds the familiarity that turns into trust.
Trust is the understanding that this person or entity has good intentions.
Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence, Second Edition, 5.4
Most advisors and bankers begin with Friends and Family and referrals from them. The Local Hero, known in a community as the person to ask about money, is the natural first target.
Where most stand: Tier 2, Friends and FamilyBuild toward: Tier 3, The Local Hero
The tier measures how large a position is. How good it is, is measured by The Five Personal Brand Pillars. Read more about the six tiers.
The moves MCG starts with for finance, credit, and banking professionals, grouped by pillar, in order. Each one cites the subchapter of Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence it comes from.
Advice Isaac Mashman has given on his own shows and in interviews that applies to finance, credit, and banking professionals, from the same library MCG consultants work from. Each one keeps the words he said it in, and links to the transcript where there is one.
Alongside your customers, create content for the people who want to get into your field themselves. Offer them teaching or consulting as a second line of revenue.
“that's how you can also monetize your personal brand”
Unrivaled Results with Mashman Ventures, “UNRIVALED: Personal Branding Training”, April 13, 2022
If your public presence is only a list of what you offer, build a name of your own around it: your story, your views, your face, on more than one platform.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“they don't have a brand for themselves”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “We’re All Playing Too Small”, July 31, 2020
When you share views on investments, say plainly that it is not financial advice, and disclose any investments or associations you hold in what you discuss.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“this is not financial advice”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “My Take On Crypto and NFTs”, January 31, 2022
Collect your accolades, results, and recognitions in one place and feature the best of them where people first find you.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“shine that spotlight on the individual”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “What Is Public Relations”, April 18, 2022
All consumed media educates, entertains, inspires, or connects. The Skyline Strategy asks for two pieces about your work for every one about your life. Here is one of each, for each purpose.
| Purpose | Brand Post | Personal Post |
|---|---|---|
| EducateTeach something useful. | A common money mistake explained simply. | How you manage your own money habits. |
| EntertainMake it enjoyable to follow you. | A financial myth debunked with humor. | The first thing you ever bought with your own money. |
| InspireShow what is possible. | A client who reached a goal they thought impossible, with permission. | Why you chose this work. |
| ConnectGive people a reason to reply. | Answer a reader's general question. | Ask your audience the money question they are embarrassed to ask. |
Draw a Week
Two posts about your work, one about your life, drawn from the ideas above.
Plan the ratio with the free Skyline Planner (opens in a new tab).
Review every public post against the rules that govern your licenses and firm before it goes out.
Market commentary alone gives no one a reason to choose you. Add the personal side.
A finance professional whose lifestyle claims do not match reality creates leverage against themselves.
Twenty-five questions, about seven minutes, free. Choose Finance / Credit / Banking Professional on the intake and the audit scores all five pillars, places you on The Hierarchy of Personal Branding, and returns the three moves that would raise your score most, each traced to the subchapter it comes from.
The firm’s topic guide on the subject, with the doctrine, terms, tips, and interviews in one place: Reputation Management.
Your personal brand exists whether you direct it or not, and clients choose a person to trust with their money, often before meeting them. Building it deliberately demonstrates that trust in public.
Plain-language explanations, common questions, and the human side, reviewed against the rules that govern your licenses and firm.
Through personality and clarity, not claims. The rules limit what you promise; they do not limit who you are.
Capital is plentiful; trust and access are not. An investor's personal brand decides which rooms they are invited into and which deals find them first.
Clients hire a lawyer, not a letterhead. The attorneys whose names are mentioned in the right circles are the ones who built a personal brand on purpose.
People buy from people they know, like, and trust. A seller with a personal brand is known before the first call, and that changes every conversation after it.
Follower counts only get you so far. What matters more is how much the people who follow you trust you.
A 2:1 ratio from Identity Positioning: A Macroscopic View on Personal Branding. For every two steps that grow the brand side, take one that grows the personal side.
To be a public figure is to be watched. As your efforts pay off, the people who hold leverage over you, and what they could do with it, matter more.
Chapter 2 of the Manifesto sets out four laws that build in order. Without familiarity there is no connection; without fame and influence, a personal brand has little reach or weight.
How MCG measures the quality of a personal brand. Five pillars, always in this order, weighted into one composite out of 100.
Engagements are accepted by application and seats are limited each quarter. Tell us who you are, what you are building, and the position you intend to hold.
Consultations are virtual or in person. See what each includes, and what is asked of you: Virtual or In Person.
