Personal brand: shameless self-promotion or service?

Delicious irony isn't it? Here I am posting about personal brand after a four month blogging hiatus. 

This post is for capable senior women like those I met and spoke with last night about the importance of their own personal brand. In my experience many women, and some men, in financial services are really good at putting themselves, and their profile last. Bad move. Here's why.

You're busy right? And besides self-promotion is so...well...selfish

Working on, or even just maintaining, personal profile comes in almost bottom of the list after a bunch of other things. "Other things" in my case (and for many other working parents) include client work, supporting my team, managing the business, and, out of hours spending time with the people who matter most. Oh...and sometimes doing stuff for me.

And there lies the problem. If we put it last on the list we're putting ourselves last. Smart? Generous to others? Not really.  

I recall all those wise women who told me (on the birth of my twin daughters) that I needed to take care of myself. First. Without an emotionally & physically well mother the babies, and the family, wouldn't fare so well. And they didn't. So after a few crashes and the third baby I got better at it. Diet, exercise, down time. 

Taking care of yourself, as a new mother, is actually a service to the people you love.

Self-promotion as a service?

If you're in a leadership role in financial services, or want one, taking care of your personal brand is also a service. To your team, your colleagues, your company - and your future.

As a professional communicator in finance and wealth management I was always pretty clear that my brand wasn't important- the company was, the executives I worked with was and the products were. To promote myself would have been unthinkable. 

That was then, and this is now.

Now, social media and contemporaneous changes in business norms have made it all very different. 

I've watched capable financial services executives go unnoticed in big organisations waiting to be 'seen'. I've seen less capable people build their brand and go far further than others. And I've seen social media make managing your own brand in wealth management essential - not discretionary.

Now I know it's something my business needs me to do - it's part of leadership for me, just as much as it is for the CEO of a top 20 ASX company. Not doing it is to fail to step up to the plate.

Who wins?

Watching colleagues, clients in wealth management, and friends business get this right - and advising some of them - here's my observation of who wins and why when you get personal brand or profile right. 

Your team - As your profile grows, so to does your ability to attract, keep and lead A-players. With a clear internal and external message about who you are and what you stand for, your team know what's expected - but you're also more likely to attract people who want to be part of your vision and led the way you lead. And you grow your own "permission to lead" as your external stature grows. It's endlessly fascinating to me to see how external recognition (for capable executives with integrity & self-awareness ) drives internal respect in finance.

Your company - Companies are made up of people. To some extent their reputation is that of the individuals who work there. Key external people (clients, financial planners, investors, partners, industry stakeholders) you deal with think of your company brand and you in the same thought. A clear personal brand that supports the company's goals, and a profile program that takes that brand to market, enhances your employer's reputation.  ]

You - ”Reputation” is technically defined as the extent to which stakeholders (let's say counter-parties, deal partners, investors or financial planners for example) support you. As you consciously build your reputation, you're better able to achieve both personal and corporate goals - thanks to the support of others. Building personal profile obviously also helps secure that next role or experience. Visibility sometimes matters more than ability in corporate - like it or not. Dialing up your visibility gives you access to greater career choice and opportunity.

So bump "personal profile' up your to do list. Sure it helps you, but it's also a service to your team and your company brand.

BlueChip has recently developed a model for developing a personal brand and profile program. Email us for a free copy.

Winds of change: are you prepared?

By guest blogger, Aideen McDonald

As BlueChip took its place at last week's FSC Conference, there was a feeling in the air that made me sit up and take notice. Something was markedly different. There was a freshness whipping through the rooms, circling attendees and entwining itself in the presentations. And, as quickly as a cold wind slaps you in the face, it hit me: the financial services industry is finally getting involved in the online conversation and embracing social media.

The twittersphere was the strongest, most consistent breeze. Personalities such as Conference MC Tracey Spicer (@spicertracey), Liberal member for Bradfield Paul Fletcher (@paulwfletcher) and media representatives including The @Australian's national affairs correspondent David Crowe (@CroweDM) and trade media Money Management (@moneymanage) exchanging thought-provoking comments throughout the three day event. Conversations were abuzz with even the FSC's own mascot @RegTheFSCMascot, christened by BlueChip's own Bruce Madden (@madd_23n), getting involved in the action.

The conference included not one, but two, sessions on social media - unheard of for an Australian financial services conference up until now. However, the appetite for such discussion was such that both sessions attracted big crowds.

The first, "Social media - fad or the future" had Bravura Solutions' (@BravuraFinTech) Roland Slee (@Rslee) and BlueChip Communication's (@bluechip_comm) own Carden Calder (@Carden) present practical ways #financialservices businesses can add social media to the marketing mix to reach an attentive and targeted audience.

The second #socialmedia event at #fscac took place centre stage with Rohan Lund (@Rohanlund) of Yahoo!7 highlighting the overall importance of financial services coming to meet the rest of the world in the digital world. Lund also focused intently on the real advantage wealth management businesses have in this space given their access to relevant data and customer bases.

The chatter on Twitter, discussions at the social media presentations and even the conversations that followed, highlighted that, while the financial services industry is still lagging behind most in Australia, interest is certainly building.

As noted by Financial Standard (@FinStd) via Twitter during the conference, people were not raising hands for social media a few years ago, but industry leaders now seem to understand that it is not a fad, but the future of your business. How could it not be? It's the fastest and surest way of connecting with your audiences whether they be advisers, HNW investors or consumers. And if the FSC conference is anything to go by, the social media storm is brewing fast and ready to hit. The question is: will you be ready?

Aideen McDonald is an Account Manager for BlueChip Communication

Social: saving lives by building a better GP

And how far behind is financial services?

If anyone you know is still wondering about whether social media has commercial worth, here's one to shout from the rooftops. 

News from a medical study today is a huge signal to the medical establishment about social tools for Australian doctors and patients. And a harbinger of what's to come for our banks, insurers, wealth advisers, financial planners, credit card companies and financial services providers as they serve us on our own personal journeys towards better financial futures.

Listening to ABC Radio 702's breakfast show this morning I heard something everyone should know. 

The Medical Journal of Australia is going to develop a collaborative social tool (a wiki) to help General Practitioners (GPs) deliver the best possible care to patients. At least that's the summary version I've gleaned from news media and the MJA website. 

Why? 

Almost half of Australian patients don't get "recommended care"

Because a recent study suggests adult Australians are receiving "appropriate" (read 'good enough') GP care at 57%. That leaves a whopping 43% of GP care in the sample group of more than 1,000 who did not receive "appropriate care".

The potential extrapolation to the Australian population (think in particular regional or social-economically under-served communities) is frightening.

Now while there will be headlines in those stats, here are some realities:

- GPs are among some of the most overburdened in our health care system

- They have limited time and resources to diagnose (and often treat) thousands of diverse conditions

- No medical  professional is omnipotent...and we're unreasonable if we expect them to be...which we often do!

So how does a busy GP ensure (ie be certain or near enough) they're doing better than getting it right half  the time? Use a wiki that, overseen by experts, provides a "dynamic, centralised and inclusive platform — openly available to all to contribute to and use — that will help empower clinicians to deliver the best care."

It's a huge leap for practitioners, who for sometime have been complaining about "Google Doctor", but have, on occasion, been well behind the eight ball when faced with an intelligent, curious and well researched patient.

Personally I use healthy caution when it comes to Google Doctor. I have the words of my late grandfather, a specialist and pioneer in his field, that a little bit of knowledge is indeed a very dangerous thing. 

Personally? Google+ motivated parent > GP

But, and it's a huge but, I have used Google twice to identify and correctly diagnose rare conditions affecting my children.

After failing to arrive at answers to serious questions in several consults, I was forced to look for answers myself in the only medical database I have access to (imperfect as it is) - Google. 

After that, and with the germ of an idea I went to yet more doctors to be told (on occasion) I was wrong. And then, upon persisting, finding advice from more specialised doctors in particular fields, that I was right.

OK so that's probably an unusual example. Still, it suggests a worried parent with Google, some basic biological knowledge and the ability to use Boolean search terms beats 15-30 minutes with a busy GP or paediatrician any day. 

And that's just wrong. 

Simple access to information is putting medical professionals, and their patients (most of us!) at a huge disadvantage.

Why? Because many doctors, while great professionals with specialist diagnostician skills, don't have the time or tools (here's where the wiki comes in) to get the right answer. In some cases, they may also lack the humility or intellectual curiosity to get the right answer, but that's another, and thankfully, less common, story.

The God-complex revived: in a wiki

This signals a very real application of social tools to one of the most important ares of our lives - our health.

Here are a few key lines from the excerpt in today's MJA abstract covering the study, which was designed to measure how well we deliver “appropriate care” to patients in Australia (doi: 10.5694/mja12.10510). 

"The researchers were aiming to reproduce a landmark 2003 study that found that only 55% of patients in the United States received “recommended care”...findings are essentially the same — that almost half of patients are not receiving appropriate care....

"...challenge that practitioners regularly face — how to access reliable, updated and credible information about appropriate care, and how to make clinical decisions in the absence of this information.

"...Runciman et al suggest a way to achieve national agreement on clinical standards...we (the MJA) are already working with the Cancer Council Australia to deliver a “wiki” guideline tool on our website...a dynamic, centralised and inclusive platform — openly available to all to contribute to and use — that will help empower clinicians to deliver the best care."

We can't reasonably expect our GPs to be God, or even close to omnipotent, but we can expect that when such a tool exists, they can use it to improve their diagnoses.

Still wondering about social media in financial services?

Here we have a wiki - a social, collaborative tool - that may well lift the standard of GP care in Australia. Well used, that means savings lives, improving quality of life and lower health care costs as we improve prevention and treatment. 

How long before such a wiki helps financial planners, and their clients, arrive at better decision about long term financial planning? Or helps you make better decisions about the cheapest and best credit card? Or when to flick the mortgage provider and change banks? Choose a super fund? Or how to really cost the services the bank provides? 

Sooner than we think.

Hopefully such solutions will be made possible by joint industry efforts, collaborating with consumers, to develop social tools that give us all access to better financial decisions.

It would seem that whether we seek to be healthier, wealthier or wiser, the democratisation of information long predicted through social is reality. 

Why financial services suddenly had a social media conversion

It's been a while since we first started the conversation. And last year suddenly the dialogue changed complexion.

Instead of saying:

"Really? No it's just another Gen Y fad" or

"Sure, that will work for Coke but not for our (insert financial services brand here) audiences" or

"I don't think we need twitter or facebook. Not really our audience"

...many senior executives started to ask...

"How do we get there?"

And what drove the change? Well there was carrot and stick I suspect - from above, below and outside.

Before I start sounding too much like a Dr Seuss book, let me explain.

Many times recently I have heard (forgive the paraphrasing if you recognise yourself):

1. The Board want to know what we are doing about social media
2. Our staff feel we really should be using social media / using social media more
3. We had this issue that started on twitter/facebook/on a blog/online but we couldn't deal with it properly because we're really not set up to.

And so now we have social media religion. Yes, it's a touch feverish but doubtless that will settle down after the first blush of conversion wears off and social becomes the 'new new new normal'.

We've had the "new normal", post GFC. We've had the "new new normal" of volatility and GFC Mark II threats. Now I'm calling a similar major shift - the new new new normal.

Okay it's kind of hokey jargon but long term, social media will fundamentally change how we communicate as people and organisations far more than a couple of bouts with liquidity issues, bank failures and sovereign debt issues.

Possibly it already has.

If so, most in financial services are playing catch up.

Why I can't do what you want if you can't explain it well enough...internal communication

Now I may not have started out as a guru at explaining myself to others. Just ask my team.


But what I do know a little about is explaining (on the large scale) strategy to staff - in financial services but also other industries. 


What does that mean, exactly? The bit about "explaining strategy to staff"?


It means this... what the context is, where the company aims to be in that picture, how we're going to get there (together)...and...drum roll...what your part is in that bigger game plan.


But here's the trick. And listen up leaders because most of you get this wrong. Consistently. I say that with due humility because I get it wrong too.


The "trick" is this:


1. Get clear on the actual strategy
2. Get clear on the context (outside and inside including what your team are thinking, feeling and experiencing right now)
3. Get a sense of what needs to be done to deliver on strategy then (this is really important) 
4. ASK the top team (maybe up to 10% or more of your team) how to do it...and listen to what they say - that's the operating plan! And the messages.
5. Finally, tell everyone. Again, and again, and again, and again and again...until they start to mock you.


There are many other, longer, ways of explaining these top five essential actions in making strategy relevant to teams - and whole organisations.


But after more than a decade and a half inside, and outside (advising), large and small financial services companies (and some others) on internal communication, I can offer you the short version.


Of course the real test is my own business, BlueChip Communication. In recent years I've worked with a mentor who is not a communication expert, at least in the "corporate communication" sense. And yet what he said about communicating strategy is absolutely right. I use this wisdom everyday at BlueChip. 


Paraphrased, it's the summary version of how to make strategy real. 


"Define your strategy in five or six key sentences. Then repeat them. All the time, to everyone."


Has it worked? Well ask one of our people next time you see them...

FSC Day Three: Talking Heads

Today's breakfast was well attended - no doubt thanks to the Financial Services Council's sensibly late 9am start. Even the majority of last night's hard partying delegates fronted up for the FSC's Talking Heads session with the ABC's Leigh Sales, MP David Bradbury and Senator David Bushby.

Employer default funds, My Super and more were on the menu.

Why, asked Leigh Sales, is My Super going through Parliament before the Productivity Commission has done it's job? Because we can't wait forever, was the response from David Bradbury. And besides, the Productivity Commission's "to do" list is long enough already.

Does the super industry have blood on it's hands given older investors lost so much of the value of their investments during the GFC, asked Leigh Sales, paraphrasing the Future Fund's Paul Costello.

Those investors who did do well said Senator David Bushby may well have been lucky, rather than clever.

Questions from the floor canvassed whether new, regulated, remuneration arrangements might create new forms of conflicted remuneration, and addressed the role of financial planners in addressing financial literacy.

In response to the latter, said Senator Bushby, not everybody will end up with the expertise needed to make fully informed financial decisions - so the role of planners may become more important than ever.

David Bradbury cited school programs and the governments' Money Smart website, as well as the opportunity to seek advice when it's needed.

Could the government spend part of the Financial Literacy budget advocating people seek financial advice asked the FSC's Brogden? Probably not, or at least not yet responded Bradbury. Basic budgeting is a far higher priority for now.

Just how fast can PR deliver business results?

Recently we were engaged by a client who was well into a particular campaign. Sans PR. Which is fine...unless that campaign needs PR support.

Swiftly after our appointment (days, not weeks) our client asked where the positive media coverage was.

Ouch!

Here's my take on that, and a short version of the conversation I had with our client. I should disclose, our client had ample, positive and on-message media coverage less than a fortnight after our appointment. Or course it's not always that fast, and here's why...

Good public relations results usually take time to deliver.

Time to plan, to create good quality materials and to judge the implementation timing so it hits at just the right time.

Lead time can be days...or weeks...or months...or even years.

The true value of some public relations programs we've implemented for financial services clients can sometimes only be measured years after our appointment - and after years of persistent, consistent action directed at a clear goal.

Years to build a reputation, and minutes to lose it, says Warren Buffet.

Regardless, sometimes you need a PR or media results NOW.

So what can you do to set yourself up for the much needed, but hard to get, quick win?

1. Tell your PR firm the truth - the whole truth, not just the version you'd like to see in the paper. Treating them like mushrooms won't help you get the outcome you want, but it may well put limits on their care factor. You can be frank and still be clear about what should, and should not, make it into the public domain. In any case it's good practice to make sure you have a non-disclosure in place and that all final materials are properly signed off. But beware: as in all things, if you put garbage (the edited truth) in, you'll mostly likely get garbage out.

2. Give them some time to deliver. The time needed to delver an outcome depends partly on how hard it is to get the result you want. If you see effort for a few days or weeks, without the outcome you're seeking, perhaps ask yourself if they've done everything you could reasonably expect...and whether their 'smarts' suggest those efforts were in fact high quality. If you have smart PR people working for you and there are no (or lacklustre) results in, say, the first 90 days then by all means start to second guess your provider. If it's been a few days and you're wondering where the positive media coverage is, perhaps second guess your brief!

3. Be clear. What matters most to you? Consistent coverage in financial services trade media? A big article in the Australian Financial Review? Or a microsite that's direct emailed and achieves high return visits or viewer engagement/dialogue? Pick your goal, and brief your PR consultant accordingly if they didn't ask "what matters most here?" before you got started.

4. Hire smart. Selecting the right PR firm doesn't have to be rocket science, or labourious. But it should be based on clear criteria. So what sort of criteria might help if you are looking for a quick win? Someone who's done engagements like yours before, and ideally very recently. A firm who perhaps have capacity right now i.e. an established team with a good track record. Perhaps if you need a quick win you also need a strong leader in the public relations firm to be on call for you for a short period of time. Fine - add it to your criteria and consider that might add cost. And of course if the quick wins you seek are in media, you need a firm with great relationships with your target media.

Finally, the firm who delivers the quick win may, or may not, be the firm you need for the long term engagement. Long term success requires all together different criteria - a topic for another time!

Breakfast with the Prime Minister today

Squeezed tightly between two clients I listened intently to Kevin Rudd talk this morning.

I say "squeezed tightly" because the sold-out event drew the financial services industry in force to the Shangri-La ballroom in Sydney to hear Chris Bowen, Minister for Financial Services, Craig Dunne, AMP CEO, John Brogden IFSA CEO and the Prime Minster.

Chris Bowen told a great story about a Prime Minister who began a national savings system yet left the office before he could complete the vision. He went on, of course, to say that last weekend another Labor Prime Minster finished the job by announcing the phase in of a 12% Superannuation Guarantee Charge.

The Prime Minster positioned super as a buffer that helped Australia avoid the worst of the global economic slowdown, and as one of our greatest national strengths - contributing both to the nation's economy and the security of Australian families.

Certainly there wasn't a lot of talk about banks today - as the PM went on to say super gave depth to domestic investment markets, diversification in the financial system and provided a source of capital for business.

What he didn't say was that all the talk about retail term deposits being granted concessional tax status, of say 15%, came to nothing. There was a firm view, pre-Henry announcement, that we would see a product created that enjoyed the same tax benefits as super and also provided a ready pool of onshore bank funding.

The Prime Minster also talked about Australia in 2009 and painted a picture of a nation that, in 2009, remained an attractive source of capital globally, with a strong financial sector making up the single largest sector of our economy.

Australians' expertise in funds management, risk analysis and financial markets, he argued, should encourage us to take what we have learned here and apply it in the region to make Australia (and Sydney) a regional hub for financial markets.

Continuing challenges for super? Adequacy, fairness and efficiency.

So what of the future for super? 

Many in the industry have called for regulatory certainty around super in order to give investors full confidence in the system - and the impetus to invest more with certainty.

Short term, it sounds as though the Government plan is to let the dust will settle.

I'm sure I heard an assurance there would be no more changes to super in next week's Federal Budget.

Longer term the promise is for "a fair system" that is "simpler and more efficient".

And I'll still be interested to see if that much-written about long term deposit product appears on Tuesday night in the Treasurer's speech.

Financial institutions' exponential online growth - 54 on twitter to over 600 in less than 6 months??

Now here's a really useful blog for anyone interested in financial services online pr and social media. Visible-Banking, out of the UK, tracks, among other things, the growth of financial institutions (FIs) online.

From a mere 54 in March 2009 to a whopping 606 more recently!

We are talking here about banks, credit unions, fund / asset managers, insurers, credit card issuers and others who maybe:

• blogging
• on Facebook
• posting to YouTube
• running online communities
• providing podcasts
• launching innovation labs
• maybe have RSS feeds
• providing webcasts or TV
• have a wiki....and more.

Another blog to watch, this time from the US, is Rock the Boat Marketing, a social media directory of asset managers, broker-dealers, financial advisers and media.

Ethics in PR (now stop laughing!)

Today the Public Relations Institute of Australia sent out a link to the PRTV edition about ethics.

It's easy to laugh when the concepts are linked - "PR" and 'ethics'.

My second, more sombre reaction (as when interviewed) is that ethical behaviour by PR people is impossible if they don't really know what they're communicating about.

How do I know? Let's call it bitter experience...stories for another time.

The short version is that as so-called professional communicators we have zero credibility if we don't really know what we're talking about, trust the people we work for and ultimately, take extreme care in how we present facts AND nuance.

Yes, we should follow a code of ethics.

Yes, we should "do the right thing", meaning be honest and truthful.

More than those things we should question whether or not what we're asked is right.

And ultimately satisfy ourselves with an answer we can live with.

I certainly can't claim the moral high ground - as a younger PR I sometimes felt very uncomfortable with the "party line". It's career threatening to say "Excuse me Chairman, are you entirely sure we should present things as you've just described?".

More recently we've walked away from several potentially great (exciting, newsworthy) jobs when we felt unsure of the merits of our client's story, or just had a feeling that 'something wasn't right'.

This is not an argument that PRs need forensic accounting skills. However it is reasonable to expect that senior people in our profession can read both people and data, pay attention to the P&L and do a little due diligence on potential clients and employers.

Long term, if we believe our own mantra, our personal reputation is our most valuable asset.

Perhaps in PR the universal ethical guideline is simply enlightened self-interest.

GFC + social media = new religion

How financial services players are turning to social media

With all the hubbub about twitter in conventional media, financial services execs seem suddenly to have found religion. Or at least, the curiosity to search for their social media spirituality.

Shrinking budgets and greater public scrutiny - thanks to the global financial crisis (GFC) - have helped send many of our financial services clients, and their audiences, online.

As investors open superannuation emails or statements, many feel cold hard fear. The fear is that they’ve lost a large amount of their life’s savings with anxiety over whether their super will recover. In such a time, some institutions stand out as using social media well - to contact, educate, reassure or interact with nervous clients and customers. Success of these efforts will partly be judged in the long-term by how many investors stick with their investment strategy, riding out the cycle.

Within the finance sector, Australian banks, perhaps, have least to lose by taking their PR and marketing online. This could be why they’ve made significant steps to do so, fast followed by others such as fund managers and financial planning firms.

So what’s new in financial services online communication since the GFC hit home?
Interactive newsletters and investor reports, weekly email investment updates, bank blogs, regular fund manager video updates or podcasts, ever-better online media centres and far, far better content. There’s a growing realisation that home-grown content must be as good, or better, than what mass media produce. This is particularly important as online communication deals direct with a real, live and sometimes vocal public.

Beyond monitoring social media, the financial services industry is more active in protecting and managing their reputations online. The GFC has been responsible, in some part, for a more sudden shift online.

Streakers, strollers & scholars...yes they all read

Writing for three audiences in every document

EVERY document (well nearly) should cater for three levels of readers. Some will glance, some will skim read and some will study every word.

Also known colloquially as streakers, strollers and scholars.

So how to talk to them?

Headlines and big pictures for the streakers.

Sub-headings and pullout text for skim readers - our strollers.

And the full treatment for scholars - every word carefully placed and thought through in a logical order, supported by images and headlines that make sense.

Why? Because we're going online, getting news in ever shorter, shaper blocks of copy & becoming overwhelmed by GFC markets info overload.

Simple, clear, compelling communication matters more than ever.

Welcome....what do you want?

Welcome! This blog is about financial services communication and PR - more specifically, the industry's reputation.

If you're in asset or wealth management, banking or similar, this is for you.

It's about ideas as well as proven approaches that drive reputations in financial services pr. The content is based on the successes I and my colleagues have had, but also the mistakes - what we've learned in our decades as financial services PR practitioners or journalists.

I'll also share the best ideas about how apply social media & online PR to the finance industry.

Future topics will include:
- Leadership post-GFC
- Communicating in difficult times - how PR needs to change
- Effective wealth management CEO communication
- How to use online PR to get real results - fund inflows & retention.

Carden