The path to freelancing
One of the challenges often faced by freelancers is establishing their own personal brand. If most of your work comes through a freelancing site, chances are this is not going to be a major priority for you. However, if you maintain a website, a blog or even a social networking account such as Twitter, you will want to find a message that speaks to who you are.
Establishing your brand is never easy. You may stumble a bit on the way to finding a brand that speaks to who you are. One of the challenges is finding the right message to send to prospective clients and customers. Failure to send an appropriate message could mean failure to thrive in business.
Establish and promote – Once you have found the right brand, it’s up to you to promote it. Remember, just because you have found something you think works for you, does not mean that people are going to find you instantly. It will be up to you to establish a link between you and your brand. Use consistent logos across all platforms, try to establish your brand by using consistency in your blog and website layouts. Promote your brand as frequently as possible – this will help establish a connection between you and your personal brand.
Stay on message – Rather than trying to chase trends (which change all of the time) do your level best to say on message. Remember, that establishing your brand is going to take some time – it’s not likely to happen overnight. It will take some time to familiarize people with your brand. Until you have been active in promoting your brand, do not give up. It will take some time to make a strong association.
Don’t be tone deaf - One of the ironic things that happen when people establish blogs and websites is they tend to become tone deaf. What might seem like a “cute” option for a template can be off-putting to potential clients and customers. If you want to be treated and viewed as a professional, make sure that you remain professional. That’s not to say that you need to be dry and boring, but being professional is what will attract new clientele.
Testing – Be sure that before you put your brand out there for the whole world to see that you test it among your peers or personal network. Find out their first impressions before you roll it out. Asking for their initial impressions (gut responses matter) will help you determine if you need to massage or tweak your brand.
Summary
Your brand will establish who you are as well as the image you portray to current clients. More importantly, it will tell the public at large who you are and what they can expect from you. Expect more from yourself when you establish your brand.
More From doreenmartel
doreenmartel Recommends
- How to Use Direct Mail for Marketing Your Online Business (Small Business Advice For Today's Economy!)
- Use Your Laptop For Mobile Card Processing (Small Business Advice For Today's Economy!)
- eZine Article – Promoting Your Business (bizniche)
Contently Portfolio
![Recommend [doreenmartel]](http://s3.amazonaws.com/arkayne-media/img/badge/logo-recommend-badge-medium.png){kind=icon}
Thank you for another great article. Where else could anyone get that kind of information in such a perfect way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such information.
Just had to take the two seconds to post a thank you. Read through through your web page and really liked the content, bookmarked and I plan on coming back soon!
I can’t stop laughing when you mentioned ” Don’t be tone deaf. ” Many freelancers out there make a huge mistake of taking self-promotion as something very personal to them. Although, personal branding must speak about you in a genuine tone, you still have to keep it professional ( if you want to be treated as one ). For example, why do businesses love using the color blue? Simple. Color psychology defines blue as the color of trust and businesses on the web need to incorporate the feeling of trust. Nice post!
I’ve just taken a look at your site and noticed that the header area at the upper area is showing as a grey box. Is it supposed to be like that? Good post by the way.
I have no idea what gray box you are referring to. Maybe your cache is clogged
great post thanks, follow me on twitter everyone i follow back http://twitter.com/gr8p
Hey, I just forwarded this to some friends, loving it!
Thanks
I like your post. Your blog is fantastic.
[...] Getting Started – Your Brand | Freelancing and More! [...]
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by doreenmartel: New Blog Post: Getting Started – Your Brand http://freelancingandmore.com/2010/01/20/getting-started-your-brand/...
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by pedro holt, Doreen Martel. Doreen Martel said: New Blog Post: Getting Started – Your Brand http://freelancingandmore.com/2010/01/20/getting-started-your-brand/ [...]