A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Own Personal Brand
A personal brand is essential for freelancers. Making your own is a bold endeavor that doesn’t have to be daunting!
A brand may seem like a luxury only big companies are capable of creating. But a personal brand is not only possible for your everyday freelancer to develop–it is essential. Making your own is a bold endeavor that doesn’t have to be daunting! We’ve broken the process down into an easy, step-by-step guide for you. First, we have to take a second to understand…
WHAT IS A PERSONAL BRAND?
A personal brand is more than just a logo or a catchy tagline. It is your unique fingerprint. Your vision for how you want the world to perceive you and your business. Your authentic identity that sets you apart from the crowd and communicates your value to potential clients.
WHY IS PERSONAL BRANDING IMPORTANT FOR FREELANCERS?
In today’s crowded market, personal branding is more important than ever for freelancers to stand out from the masses and open doors to new opportunities. A well-defined and consistent brand can differentiate you while building trust and credibility with clients. With a compelling brand, you can provide a foundation for expanding your services and increasing your rates, attracting clients who align with your values and vision and will help propel you forward.
Example: A freelance artist prioritizes sourcing materials in a sustainable way. By highlighting their priority of eco-friendliness in their advertising, they will attract clients who also place a high priority on that goal and are willing to pay more to make an ethical choice.
1. Identify Your Unique Selling Point (USP)
What do you have to offer your customers that no one else is? Your answer is your unique selling point. You may have to do some restructuring to shape your initial ideas into a strategy that is both in demand and marketable. Conducting a SWOT analysis can help pinpoint your USP:
Strengths: Identify what you do best. Where do your talents, purpose, and passion intersect?
Weaknesses: Recognize areas for improvement. Where will you need to improve your skills, or potentially outsource or partner with others to best serve clients?
Opportunities: Look for market gaps you can fill. Opportunities can often disguise themselves, so actively search them out and be creative!
Threats: Be aware of potential challenges so you can be as prepared as possible to face them.
Example: Don’t just market yourself as a wedding photographer when there are hundreds of other photographers for clients to choose from. Differentiate yourself by highlighting that you specialize in vintage styles and candid shots as opposed to traditional poses.
2. Research Your Competition
Being aware of your competition is important. Get familiar with who is in your corner of the market. You will gain a better perspective on how to differentiate yourself by looking at those around you. Often, you can learn from the strengths and weaknesses, failures and success of others who are in the same sphere of business as you. Study your competition so that you don’t have to learn so many lessons through your own trial and error.
3. Define Your Target Audience
Psychology in business is a very extensive and interesting topic to delve into. Suffice to say, to get people to make the decisions you want them to make (purchasing your product or services), you need to understand them. Develop detailed profiles of your ideal clients, including their needs, preferences, and behaviors. Then tailor your brand message to resonate with these personas. Market to your ideal clients and you will attract your ideal clients.
Bonus tip: Use social listening tools as part of your continuous research. Pay attention to what your audience is discussing online. Use your brand to address the questions and concerns that your target demographic is thinking and talking about.
4. Create a Brand Story
People are driven by stories. Crafting a compelling narrative for your brand is a relatively new buzzword within the marketing world, but people being inspired and motivated to make decisions through storytelling is one of the oldest tenants in the world.
Creating a narrative may seem excessive, but you only need to:
Define Your Values, Mission, and Vision: These elements form the foundation of your brand story.
Focus on Engaging Your Audience with Authenticity: Share your journey, experiences, and the passion behind your work.
Consistently Share Your Story: Use your website, social media, and other platforms to communicate your brand story.
5. Build Your Online Presence
Design a professional website that aligns with your brand identity and reflects YOU through the work you showcase. Build an email or subscriber list for people who want to stay up to date on your journey and business offerings. Regularly create valuable content for your target audience through blogs, videos, or articles. Optimize social media profiles such as Instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok to link back to your website. Create a strategy that utilizes every tool at your disposal to get your message in front of people.
Example: A social media consultant might use their blog to share insights and tips on digital marketing strategies, helping to establish themselves as an authority within their niche.
6. Network and Build Key Relationships
You won’t become successful without a village of people who can open doors for you or give you a boost up. How do you find your village?
Join Relevant Communities: Participate in online and offline groups related to your industry. Surround yourself with people who are on the same journey as you and can offer encouragement, support, and share leads.
Engage in Meaningful Conversations: Be active on social media and at industry events. Connect and engage authentically. You reap what you sow–invest in others so that they can invest in you.
Offer Your Expertise: Contribute through guest blogging, speaking engagements, or webinars. You have important experience and insights to share, too!
7. Measure Your Success
Once you’ve started your momentum, it’s important to keep it going. Set measurable goals for yourself to reach for. Track your brand’s progress across platforms so you know how effective your marketing is at reaching the right people. Continually adjust and refine your plans based on the data.
Example: Use analytics tools to track your blog traffic, social media engagement, and the conversion rate of subscribers to measure the impact of your content. Use A/B testing pages or posts so you know what resonates.
8. *Biggest Tip* Gather Feedback Along the Way
At each of these steps, conduct what is called “demand validation.” Ask for specific and detailed feedback to make sure your researched assumptions of the market and your audience are, in fact, correct. Get people to tell you what they like and what they don’t, and let those suggestions guide how you move forward in the next step. Marketing is a science with an ever-evolving hypothesis, and you must stay humble and fluid to keep up with the dynamics of your customers.
WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE?
Now it’s time to take action. Start implementing these steps today and watch your personal brand — and freelance career — flourish.
At Oba, we are dedicated to empowering creative freelancers like you. Stuck at any one of these steps? Interested in more tips and strategies? Join our community of creative freelancers and share your journey. Let’s grow together!