When I started actively posting on LinkedIn 18 months ago, I had no idea what personal branding was.
I just knew what I had read from a successful writer, Tim Dennings. He said, “If you’re not creating and posting on LinkedIn as a writer, then you’re missing the boat.”
So I thought, “Ok, well, it’s time to dust off that old profile of mine and be brave.” And in February 2023, that’s what I did.
I updated my LinkedIn profile to market myself as a SEO writer. And I started posting about SEO and my experience leaving the 9-5 to pursue a path of building a freelance career.
What resulted is that I landed two clients at the end of two months. But it took five days a week of posting and engaging. In those early days I had kicked off my personal brand by making a commitment to myself to be open and helpful.
There’s no question how your personal brand can be powerful for building your freelance business.
In this article, be prepared to dive into what a personal brand is, how to craft one of your own, and enjoy an exercise to help with future conversations.
Table of Contents:
What Is a Personal Brand?
Personal branding is a marketing term often discussed on social media platforms. But it’s really just a new spin on good old-fashioned “brand building” that marketers may be more accustomed to. This time the focus is on the individual vs. the business.
The definition of a personal brand continues to evolve.
But if you were looking for more explanation about what a “personal brand” means, I like Philip VanDusen’s description in this video.
He describes a personal brand as…
The widely held perception of an individual based on their experience, expertise, competencies, actions, and achievements within a community, industry, or the marketplace at large.
Long-winded, maybe, but the keyword to pay attention to is “perception.” How do others view you based on the content you’re sharing, which involves your story, experiences, and expertise?
Breaking Down a Personal Brand
When I think of a personal brand and those who’ve done it well, it breaks down to…
- What you do (what you want to be known for)
- Who you are (faces tend to be more relatable than company names)
- Who you associate with (the crowd of smart people you talk to)
- What you believe in (your core values)
- How you show up (where and how often you share content)
The market is pretty saturated.
As a freelance writer, you have a lot of others to compete with. So, how are you going to differentiate yourself? What will set you apart and help you stand out from the crowd?
In short – when someone sees your face or hears your name, what’s the “thing” that will come to mind for them?
Personal Branding Goals
Now, going back to that important piece of the personal brand definition – perception.
What actions will you take to ensure that how others perceive you is how you want to be perceived? What do you want your individual brand to represent?
This isn’t about being inauthentic to get attention—completely the opposite.
It’s about ensuring that what makes you YOU comes across.
Personal Brand and Your Niche
Another freelance writer asked me, “Do you need to know your niche before kickstarting your brand?”
And it’s a great question. I wondered the same thing starting out. What’s also a little more complicated is that niching down can mean different things to different people, which I talked about in this issue of my newsletter.
Does having a niche help? Yes. It can absolutely help narrow down who it is you want to be talking to.
But is it a must-have requirement? No. And here’s why…
At some point (or a few times) in your freelance journey, you will need to pivot your strategy. That’s what I’ve gathered so far in my own experience and what I’ve seen with others on this freelance and creator path ahead of me.
While I first started marketing myself as a SEO writer, after a year of working with clients, I saw the bigger need to provide an overall content strategy and writing package dependent on client needs.
So, even if you know your niche now, you may have to adjust later.
If you always wait for your niche to be perfectly aligned, I think you’re wasting a lot of time. Instead, focus on creating helpful content and experimenting to find what resonates most while best representing your brand.
Personal Brands and Connection
Once a freelancer and now a full-time creator, Jay Clouse made the statement, “A personal brand creates an emotional irrational connection.”
And I know exactly what he means.
There are certain content creators and other freelance writers that I naturally like based on their content, how they’ve engaged with me, and the general vibe I get when I read one of their blog articles or see them on video.
When paying attention to others’ perceptions of you, you should, at the core, be trying to connect.
How you achieve this connection is by…
- Being authentic
- Building trust
- Engaging
- Showing social proof
- Consistently delivering
A Strong Personal Brand Can Build Your Business
I’ve seen it over and over.
Creating a personal brand no longer feels like an option but rather a necessity.
This is especially true if you want to grow your business (attract clients to keep your funnel full) or continue building relationships and creating a community that comes to know and trust you.
How to Create Your Personal Brand
I think of this process in five separate stages.
#1. Clarify how you want to be seen.
For example, if your team or customers were to think about you, what expertise or qualities would you want them to reference?
For myself, I would want others to say I’m:
- Highly knowledgeable in content strategy and SEO
- Exceptional in delivering high-quality experiences
- Helpful with consistent and actionable content
- Always aiding others to reach their desired outcomes
This helps shape the content you want to create for your brand.
#2. Identify “the miss.”
Knowing how you want to be seen, gather evidence of how others view you today.
How do you do this?
- Send a survey to your existing clients/audience.
- Have coffee chats and ask for feedback.
- Send a one-off email asking, “How would you describe what I do or how I help other people? What qualities about me come to mind?”
This is an information-gathering phase, where you want to determine the current perception others have of you.
#3. Create your plan moving forward.
After gathering your data, compare it to how you want to be perceived.
Does it match with how you want to be viewed? Or is it off?
This is also the time to create a plan for what you want to change moving forward.
For example, if others don’t think of me as being known for content strategy and SEO, then I need to make that more apparent in my content.
If I want others to be overjoyed with the experience while working with me, maybe I need to ask them more about what stands out about my style and where communication could be better.
#4. Be repetitive.
It’s when you feel like a broken record that you start to resonate with your target audience.
This goes back to the marketing rule of 7 principle.
Most individuals must hear your message multiple times before they feel inclined to engage with you more. This principle is all about consistent exposure.
Say it once.
Then say it again.
And again. (Maybe in a different content form or slightly different angle.)
Yep….you know where I’m going.
Repetition, repetition, repetition.
#5. Have patience.
To build an audience that engages and are true loyal supporters, it takes time.
So be patient. Have faith in the long-game.
A successful personal brand is typically years in the making. Overnight notoriety usually doesn’t happen. And if it does from something that’s gone viral…you don’t typically attract the ideal audience members you want.
This is where making small actions, reflecting on how far you’ve come, and reminding yourself that good things are yet to happen really helps.
Have faith.
Brand Building Exercise
To challenge yourself on your personal brand, there’s a brand-building exercise you can do. It’s called the 30-second elevator pitch.
This was something I became acquainted with in my 9-5 that a mentor at one point had passed on to me. And now, as I build my freelance business, it still applies.
What is a 30-second elevator pitch?
If you had only 30 seconds with someone riding on an elevator and they asked, “So what do you do?” What would you say to them in 30 seconds before they jumped off?
As you can imagine, this requires you to get straight to the point with no fluff.
What to consider for your 30-second elevator pitch.
There are 4 things to consider while thinking through this quick interaction between you and someone else.
- Who are you speaking with?
- What value do you provide?
- What’s your brand promise?
- How are you different?
I could also see your personal brand statement evolving from this exercise.
For example, if I were at a conference with other freelancers, my elevator pitch would potentially play out in real life like this…
Me: “Hi, I’m Allison.”
Other Person (OP): “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Steven, what do you do?”
Me: “I’m a content strategist and writer helping organizations know what to write about online to build their brand. For 15 years, I worked in the 9-5 in digital marketing. It’s been an interesting transition, but I also currently write a weekly newsletter for freelancers, which is one of my favorite parts of the week.”
OP: “Nice, what’s it about?”
Me: “It has a few things in it, but it mainly focuses on how to create more strategic content (think research insights, best practices, SEO, things like that) and lessons on what’s helping me build my content creation business.”
In this example, I know I’m talking to another freelance writer, so mentioning my newsletter would be important, given that it may be more helpful than going into detail about my services.
Mentioning my 15 years in digital marketing helps me stand out and gives me credibility.
My brand promise is that I help organizations understand what they need to write about online to build their brand. In truth, this could probably be stronger. (I’m working on it.)
A Great Personal Brand Takes Time
Finding your brand voice is a process. 18 months later, on my journey of building my business, I still feel like I’m continuing to fine-tune my brand voice.
Without hesitation, I would tell any freelance writer they must start building their personal brand today.
The opportunities and partnerships that have resulted from my time creating and posting on LinkedIn are never what I expected. My success today is a result of prioritizing my personal brand.
In short my advice would be….
- Set time aside every day to establish a social media presence. (Here are LinkedIn post ideas to get you started).
- Invest in engaging with your desired audience to build relationships
- Be clear about your brand’s purpose
- And always focus on creating content that’s truly helpful
If you do this, you will build a solid personal brand that continues to help you meet your goals in the coming days!
