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According to Freelancers Union’s 2015 “Freelancing in America” report, nearly 54
million people are freelancing in America. That’s 34% of the American
workforce….54 million.
Sure, when all of your friends are punching a clock, it’s easy to feel isolated and
alone… but the truth is that you’re actually floating in a giant sea of similar
workers, and a lot of them are your competition.
Think of a ball pit (you know, those multi-colored pits of germs and fun?) the size
of a football field. Now, imagine someone telling you to pick the best ball out of it.
What would you do? If it were me, I’d probably look through the pile for about
five minutes, and pick the best-looking one out of the group closest to me.
People looking to hire a freelancer are put into the same position; they don’t have
time to individually examine each qualified person for an extended period of
time. They’re going to pick the one who stands out the most.
So, what’s the defining factor between a successful freelancer and one who
finally just decides to go back to his or her day job?
Obviously, luck and talent have something to with it, but oftentimes the real
difference comes with marketing and personal branding. You’ve got to put
yourself out there if you want to get noticed. Clients are not going to hear your
name on the wind and follow it to your doorstep.
The thing about marketing is that you’ve got to have something to market, and
when you’re freelancing, that can be a little difficult. How do you market
yourself? You’re a person, not a big company!
You may not be a corporation, and you are definitely a lone human, but as a
freelancer, you’re also a brand.
The water can get a little muddy and confusing when you start throwing out the
word “brand.” Some people think a brand is a product, others think it’s your
logo. I think the ever-wise marketing guru, Seth Godin, says it best:
“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that,
taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or
service over another.”
Everything that makes up the identity of your freelancing business is your
brand… from the service or product you provide to the signature at the end
of your emails.
So how can personal branding bring you success? We’d love take a few
moments to teach you how to market yourself right to the top of the giant
ball pit that is the freelance life.
Freelancing is not for the faint of heart.
A successful freelancer is one who can bring in enough business to support
him or herself, but without booking so many gigs that the quality of that
work is diminished.
The only way to pull that off is to have a solid identity; an unwavering feeling
of what you stand for and value. You need to be able to get your name out
and into the public in a way that’s recognizable and memorable.
In other words, you’ve got to build yourself a brand, baby.
Start with the basics and work your way up.
What’s at the heart and soul of your freelance business?
Why it’s you, you crazy kid.
Your personal brand should be a clear blend of your talents, skills, and
individuality.
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You want to showcase the services you provide while also highlighting
something memorable about your personality.
From here, you’ll be able to create a business name, find a catchy tagline to
match it, and create an ecosystem of mission statements and branding
merchandise that will hold you and your freelancing work above water.
Michelle Schulp, WordPress designer, creative extraordinaire, and owner of
Marktime Media, has crafted an extremely effective brand for herself. From
her design and presentation prowess right up to her vibrant pink hair, she’s got
a recognizable brand that works. She’s also got some great advice on getting
started:
“Your voice: who are you? What makes you awesome as a freelancer? Are you
fun? Easy to talk to? Super smart and specialized? Relaxed? Obsessed with
deadlines? How do you want people to interact with you? If you can put some
thought into that part of it, everything else will start falling into place.”
So, let’s start with you. You’ve got your home office, a handful of clients, and a
few finished products that you’re especially proud of. This might not feel like a
gigantic mountain of assets, but the truth is that you’ve got all you need to
work on your personal branding.
First, write down your creative process. I’m serious: write out the entire
process as though you were explaining it to someone who doesn’t live inside
your head. What parts of your process would seem appealing to potential
clients? What tactics jump out at you? Are you extra-thorough? Do you
employ surprising methods to reach your end-goal?
Next, take a look at your portfolio. What are the common, positive factors
shared by all of your finished projects? Choose a few descriptive words based
on what you see in all of your past work and use them to build a personality
for your brand.
What are your strengths? What is unique to you? How can you craft an
identity that communicates to a potential client what your skills are, and what
sets you apart from others in your field?
Focus on your clients.
While representing yourself is important in personal branding, you’ve also got
to keep your potential and current clients in mind. The meat of your brand
has to revolve around the services you provide to the people who pay you
money. This means you need to do some serious thinking about things like
your mission statement, elevator pitch, and tagline.
When it comes to naming your business, you can be as concrete or abstract as
you want… as long as it matches your target audience.
If you choose to take a more abstract route, you’ll need to ensure that the
heart of your business and the services or products you provide are clear and
easy to understand. This can be done through methods like elevator pitches
or a tagline, which will help you stick to your creative decisions while
communicating important information to your potential clients.
Even if you choose to simply use your name as your brand, a tagline is
especially important. Something as basic as your location and occupation can
be enough to communicate just what it is that you do, but something catchy
and creative is ideal. Take ApproveMe, for example. It’s a title that embodies
what we do, but doesn’t say it explicitly. If you head to our website, however,
you’ll see the headline “Use Your WordPress website to Sign Documents.”
Clean and to the point.
An elevator pitch is a way to succinctly explain the mission of your business
in a compressed amount of time. Not only will this come in handy when
you’re networking, but it will also force you to boil your ideas down to the
basics.
A mission statement will be longer and more thorough than an elevator pitch,
and is great for the “About Me” or “Services” portion of your website. This will
give you a chance to elaborate on how your services or product will not only serve
your potential clients, but also set you apart from the competition.
Gather your building materials and get visible.
This is the part that can get overwhelming. There’s a small chance that you’re a
branding or marketing expert, but there’s a bigger chance that you’re a different
kind of freelancer who simply wants to get your name out there. How do you turn
your brainstorming into branding reality?
Michelle’s got more wisdom on this intimidating part of the branding process:
“…the most important part of freelancing is people being able to get a hold of
you, and seeing you’re good at what you do. So, you probably need a) a website,
and b) some sort of thingy to give people when they meet you. But how much
effort you put into that stuff depends on what you actually do for a living.”
She goes on to explain that a web developer should focus on a clean website
that showcases their coding abilities rather than worrying too much about
impeccable graphic design, and a writer might be better off with a template
that allows them to concentrate on the words they fill it with.
So what about you? A website with a recognizable logo would be a good start,
along with a few things that get people to that website. Look at your business
and your audience to decide what would work best for you. Business cards? TShirts? Stickers? Skywriting?
Bottom line: evaluate your business so that you don’t waste money on
unnecessary marketing materials.
A few tips:
-Market within your means. Remember, you’re building a brand. If you
can’t afford a super-fancy custom website right now, find a satisfying
WordPress theme and make it work for you.
-There’s no shame in using your name. If you simply can’t come up with a
good business name, it’s okay; it’s better to use your name than picking
something on the fly that you’ll regret later. It’s a good idea to buy a domain
with your name anyway, so that you can use it to redirect people to your official
URL if you think of something later on.
-Pick your best traits and push them. Take a look at yourself, your process,
and your work. Write down all the descriptive words you can think of that
consistently crop up in this reflection and weave them into the fabric of your
personal brand.
-Ask satisfied clients for testimonials. Potential clients are especially
interested in what former clients have to say about you, and the satisfied
clients who love you the most will be more than happy to provide a positive
testimonial.
-Give a blog a chance. It’s rare to encounter a business that won’t benefit from
a blog. It’s a good way to provide brand-related information to your followers
and keep you visible, all while boosting your page’s SEO through frequent fresh
content.
-Find your favorite freelance resource. For more help with branding and
freelancing in general, Michelle suggests Freelancers Union, Envato Blogs,
andBidsketch Blog. (We, of course, have to throw ApproveMe’s growing freelance
blog into the hat of resources, as well.)
A solid brand will set you apart and push you to the top.
Having a defined brand when you’re freelancing shows that you’re invested in your
business, and that’s a trait that instills confidence in potential clients. If you can
learn how to brand yourself and collect enough of that confidence, you’ll be
working away for years to come. Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to buy yourself
your own damned ball pit one of these days.
Article Resource: https://www.approveme.com/freelancing/brand-get-freelancingbusiness-garage/