Five Personal Branding Tips & Best Practices for Freelancers

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When you set yourself up as a freelancer, you become the face of your business. So, whatever industry you work in, your personal brand will impact what potential clients think of you and affect your business success.

By spending time creating a solid personal brand and following best practices, you can market yourself effectively and draw more opportunities to you. 

If you are unsure how to get started with personal branding, check out the following five helpful tips.

1. Define Your Story

Today’s companies know how important it is to tell their stories to potential customers. For instance, a craft brewery may tell customers what inspired the set-up of the brewery and how its passion for creating unique products and using eco-friendly solutions has always been at the forefront of the brewery’s mission.

 As a freelancer, you can do the same. By defining and telling your story in an authentic and compelling way, you can effectively connect with prospective clients on a more personal level, which can lead to strong and long-lasting relationships. 

On your website, you should tell your story in the “about” section. On social media platforms, you should use shortened versions of your story.

The more you can present who you are and what you and your business are all about in a professional and personalized way, the sooner you can establish a personal brand that will enable you to compete well in the marketplace and gain recognition in your industry.

2. Create a Visual Identity

Branding in any shape and form is largely about creating the right visual identity. So, you need to carefully consider the colors, design elements, and visuals that you use on your website, across your social media platforms, and in your marketing materials.

 You should then use your personal brand’s visual identity consistently. You need to use colors, designs, and visuals that will grab people’s attention but which are also suitable for your industry.

For instance, you could use the combination of red and white colors and utilize illustrations to visually represent your personal brand or you could choose other color combinations and consistently use photographs for your visual content. You also need to pick the right fonts for your content and use them consistently.

Look at the design of your personal branding in the same way that you would look at creating a business brand to come up with effective brand designs that reflect who you are and what your services are about.

3. Create a Professional-looking and Eye-catching Profile Image

A key part of your personal branding’s visual representation is your headshot. By creating professional-looking headshots or avatars for your social media sites, website, and other uses, you can stand out from the crowd and reflect what you and your business are about.

First impressions matter. It can make the difference between being hired by a client and that client choosing a competitor, so do not underestimate the importance of creating the right headshot photo for your branding.

Thankfully, it is simple to create a professional-looking headshot by using an excellent free picture editor online, such as Picsart, which has every photo editor tool you could need to bring your creative vision to life, including a free AI image generator.

4. Solve Your Audience’s Needs

To create an effective personal brand, you should think about the needs of your target audience. 

Do not just focus on the solution that you offer potential customers. Focus on why your target audience needs your services, too. You will then be able to hone your personal brand to attract more customers.

By connecting the dots for your prospective customers, you can help them see how your solution solves their challenges.

 When you focus on their needs, you can make a connection that resonates and ensure your audience sees value in the services that you are offering.

5. Inject Your Personality into Your Personal Brand

To stand out from the connection and make meaningful relationships with clients, make sure your personality is infused into your business and your marketing materials. 

As a freelancer, customers will hire you based on your skills, professionalism, and personality. So, it is important that your unique personality shines through when you post content and connect with your audience.

Begin by looking at what makes you stand out from your competitors and identifying your personal qualities that relate to your services to discern ways in which you can use your personality to your advantage.

Then, make sure you always present yourself in a way that highlights your personality.

The Takeaway

It can take time and effort to come up with effective personal branding, but by following the above tips and best practices, you can create a personal brand that will enable you to stand out, demonstrate your professional skills and personality well, and grow your business quickly. 

If you want more help with personal branding, consider taking part in the Personal Branding for Career Success class, which is held online via Zoom in May.


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