Hey Serve + Profit Squad its destiny here and today I want to dive into what is Personal branding and how it works for you as a Freelancer. If you want to know more about branding keep reading.
Personal branding isn’t just for companies anymore. With the rise of freelancing, entrepreneurs, and startups, personal branding is essential for generating visibility and getting clients. It’s also an opportunity to build a brand that reflects who you are and what you stand for—and that can last long after your business has changed or even ended.
What is personal branding?
Personal branding is the process of creating a unique image for yourself in the minds of others. It’s not just about your name and face, but also your personality, values, and achievements.
In order to get people’s attention, you need to be memorable and relatable. You’re no longer competing against other freelancers; instead you’re competing against everything else on the internet: Facebook updates, cat videos on YouTube and funny memes. If you want people to choose you over all that noise, then personal branding is an essential part of creating a positive first impression with prospective clients or employers.
Why is it important?
It’s not just about standing out from the crowd. Your brand is your personal statement, and it can help you stand out from competitors in a few different ways.
A strong brand is one of the best ways to ensure that your client knows exactly who they’re working with—and what to expect from that relationship. It doesn’t matter how many people are looking for work in your field if no one can tell them apart. A personal brand that conveys what makes you unique gives potential clients an idea of why you’re right for the job, whether it’s through professionalism or creativity or any other distinguishing characteristic of yours.
Your brand can also help build trust between yourself and those around you; after all, trust is the foundation on which any good relationship is built! If someone trusts what they know about your business (i.e., its voice), then they’ll be more likely to trust whatever else comes along as well: recommendations from colleagues who’ve worked with you before, project proposals based on past experiences together (which may be hard to come by if those relationships were built around anonymity). And if you think this has nothing at all in common with interpersonal relationships…think again! Think about it: people tend not only want but expect this from their friends/partners within their community—as well as strangers
The power of the first impression
The first impression is one of the most important you’ll ever make, and it starts with your social media profiles. The first thing clients will see when they look at your profile is your avatar—and it’s vital that this be as professional looking as possible. It should be clear from the start that you know what you’re doing, but avoid going overboard with flashy designs or logos; this isn’t the place for them (unless they are somehow relevant to what you do). Your avatar photo should show a smiling face so clients can get an idea of who they are dealing with and associate themselves with someone friendly and approachable.
If possible, have both photos taken professionally so they look good on every device screen size. If this isn’t possible or affordable right now then try using our guide on how to take better profile photos here: https://www.dozuki.com/blog/how-to-take-better-profile-photos/.
“If you want to make a good first impression, smile at people. What does it cost to smile? Nothing. What does it cost not to smile? Everything, if not smiling prevents you from enchanting people.”
~ Guy Kawasaki
How to build your personal brand
- Define your brand
- Find your brand’s voice
- Develop a brand persona
- Create a brand identity
- Create a brand story
- Set up a website for your personal brand
- Promote your personal branding
Your brand persona
Once you’ve created your brand persona, it’s time to put it into action. Use the information you gathered while researching your target audience to come up with a creative solution that will reflect your unique strengths and help you stand out in the highly competitive world of freelancing.
What’s a brand persona? A brand persona is an avatar created by combining characteristics of several people who might be interested in working with you—for example, someone who has been laid off from her job as an assistant manager at a hardware store and is eying freelance work as a way to make ends meet while she applies for other positions. The personas should include information about their age range (18–25), gender (male/female), location (city/suburb), education level (high school diploma) and income level ($50K-$75K).
Why use them? Creating personas allows you to create marketing messages relevant for specific segments within one market instead of having one generic message that may not speak directly to customers’ needs or concerns.
How do I create them? By using the information gathered from interviews with potential clients during research earlier in this process—what kind of projects do they need done; what are the pain points they encounter when looking for freelancers online; how much money could be saved by outsourcing tasks traditionally done in-house—you can determine which characters best represent those people most likely interested in hiring someone like yourself
Your author bio
An author bio is a short statement about who you are and what you do. If your book is published on Amazon, it will appear as part of your product page. If people are interested in reading more about you and the work that you do, they can click through to an author page where they’ll find your bio and other information like your website or social media accounts.
Author bios tend to be one to two paragraphs long—longer than a regular bio but shorter than a resume or CV. They’re usually written in third person (“he” instead of “I”) unless it’s been requested otherwise by the publisher or agent representing you—they usually have their own ideas about how best to present authors’ bios online! In this case, I would recommend checking out on the web before committing too heavily into any particular format because there might be slight variations based on what type you want.
The most important thing when writing an author bio is making sure that it highlights both strengths while being true-to-self so readers feel like they know enough about who wrote this book without feeling overwhelmed by too many details right away! This can take some practice so don’t worry if something doesn’t sound right at first — just keep working until it feels comfortable enough before moving onto another paragraph 🙂
Building a portfolio website
- Create your portfolio website.
- Make sure it’s easy to find, and uses a template that is easy to edit.
- Use a tool like Squarespace or WordPress to create it.
Keeping up with your brand reputation
It’s important to keep up with your brand reputation. You can do this by monitoring what people are saying about you, and responding to any negative comments or feedback.
Social media is an easy way to stay on top of what people are saying about you. Make sure that your social media accounts are easily accessible, and be active in them.
You should also have a clear online presence with a website or blog where people can find out more about you and what services you offer as a freelancer.
Your personal brand is the core of your business, so it’s important to keep it consistent, align it with your values, and allow it to grow as you do.
Your personal brand is your reputation, and it’s the first thing that potential clients and customers see when they look for you on the internet. It’s also what they’ll remember about you if they’re not sure of your name. Your personal brand is more than just a logo or business card: it’s a consistent set of values that make up who you are as a freelancer, an entrepreneur, and an individual.
Your personal branding should stay aligned with your own values at all times—but that doesn’t mean that it can’t grow over time as well! As long as your core message stays consistent, then any changes in what kind of work or clients you want will be easily explained by referring back to those core values.
Now Don’t Forget!
By developing and maintaining a strong personal brand, you can better position yourself as an expert in your field. In turn, this will help you attract the right clients and gain access to more opportunities than ever before. Remember that it’s never too late to start building your own personal brand—and it doesn’t have to be difficult either!