7 steps to building your brand as a freelancer
Branding is not a new concept, it has been around for a very long time. When people hear about branding, they think a company does it.
But there is another branding concept, namely personal branding. When someone wants to present themselves to the world as a brand, it is called “personal branding”.
What is personal branding?
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, once said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Your personal brand will be defined by how you present yourself to others.
If you present yourself to the world as a sketch artist, your personal brand will become that of the sketch artist. And if you present yourself as a sales expert, your personal brand will become the sales expert. How you present yourself to the world is up to you.
The importance of personal branding for freelancers
Whether you are a student, employee, entrepreneur, job seeker, or looking for a job, or other, personal branding is important to you. The chances of finding a job increase if you have a strong personal brand online.
If you are a business owner or entrepreneur, your personal brand will help you grow your business faster. If you are a freelancer and provide various services, you can easily get incoming leads and projects.
For a freelancer, the greatest success is the day he starts automatically receive customers who are willing to pay for the service as much as they want. And this is only possible through strong personal branding.
The steps to build your personal brand if you are a freelancer
Let’s see what exactly you need to do to build your personal brand if you are a freelancer.
1. Identify your niche (Determine what you want to be known for?)
If you’re a freelancer and want to build your personal brand, the first and most important step is to “determine what you want to be known for.” Until you know that, you can’t build your personal brand. You cannot be an expert in all areas.
Most freelancers offer multiple services. But you can’t build your personal brand with this. You must present yourself as the master of a single skill.
2. Create your personal portfolio website
Once you have decided what you want to be known for, you need to create your personal portfolio website. This is an obligation, you cannot consider it optional. A personal portfolio website lets others get to know you, your work, and present you as a professional person.
But if you don’t know how to code and don’t know how to build your personal website, don’t worry. Because there are multiple portfolio website builders available and you can choose a simple website for your personal portfolio using Wix
3. Publish at least two articles per month
Articles show your knowledge and experience in your industry and build your authority. Along with articles, also write guest posts on websites that have your audience and are not your direct competitors. This will help you get your brand in front of more people and get more projects and opportunities.
4. Post regularly on your social media
Social media is not a hobby. It is one of the most powerful tools that bring you amazing opportunity. Most freelancers use it smartly and get amazing results. LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram are the three most powerful tools.
5. Start posting high value videos on your YouTube channel.
People see YouTube as just one more social media. But the reason we don’t mention it in the fourth point is that it’s more than a social media channel. YouTube has a very large audience with a higher attention span than other channels, which makes it a more powerful tool than others.
Start creating video content around your topic and post it to your YouTube channel. At first, you may feel shy or hesitant to record videos, but over time you will get better at it. And remember, you’re doing this to build your personal brand as a freelancer, so you need to show off.
6. Be part of different communities and share the value there.
There are many online communities on different social media channels and these communities have many amazing members. You need to join the communities related to your niche. Just go and be a part of these communities and start sharing valuable content there.
If you share valuable content on a regular basis, you can lose a lot of customers for your freelancing service from there too.
7. Attend physical events related to your industry
Research the different physical events happening in your city. And start being part of those events that are directly or indirectly related to your industry. You can find many opportunities and interesting clients for your freelance work there.
These are the exact 7 steps you need to follow to build your personal brand if you are a freelancer. If you follow these steps, you will achieve extraordinary results and you can take your freelancing journey to the next level faster than others.