As a freelancer, you are your business. Sure, your clients are hiring you for the work you do and what they think you can do for their brand. They’re assessing your understanding of their company, your communication skills, and how you present your work. But they’re also hiring you because they think they’ll like working with you – they’re hiring you for your personal brand.
Communicating your personal brand can seem like a delicate balance. You want to be yourself while maintaining professionalism as a freelancer. But too often, we see professionals establish a brand that’s not true to who they are – to their personality and core values. This typically leads to unstable client relationships, lost trust and potentially a negative reputation.
With an authentic personal brand, on the other hand, you’ll attract clients whose values and interests align with yours. And by embracing your uniqueness, you’ll stand out among the competition. You’ll also have a lot more fun being yourself and talking about the things you love.
Here’s your guide to building your personal brand authentically.
1. Use the Channels That Come Naturally
Sharing your knowledge through writing is a great way to build a personal brand. But if you’re not comfortable writing (and if you’re not selling writing services), your time is better invested elsewhere.
Find the outlet that’s the best fit for expressing yourself authentically. If you love to write and have plenty of time to do so consistently, then use a blog or Medium to build your personal brand. If you’re great at taking short, entertaining videos, then consider Snapchat, Tiktok or Instagram. If you’re awesome at making long, educational videos, then YouTube could be perfect for you.
When deciding where you want to present your brand, think about where your most ideal clients hang out online; what services you’re selling (where will clients be looking for your services?); and what feels most natural to you – what’s going to be the most fun.
2. Be Real, Be Heartfelt
To truly connect with your audience, you need to seem like a real person, not robotic or fake. By speaking and writing from your heart, you become more relatable. And by being relatable, you will foster deeper, more genuine connections.
You can’t fake authenticity. It’s hard to open up, to be real, to feel raw, and to share things that are, well, heartfelt.
3. Give a Glimpse Inside Your Life
Let your audience get a glimpse of what your real life looks like. Share photos of you doing something outside of work – a hobby like ceramics, travel photos, you doing something active or cool, etc.
Much like speaking from your heart, this allows your potential clients to get to know who you really are. People like working with people who they have something in common with or who they admire. The more you let your audience into your life, the more opportunities you’ll create for deeper connections and stronger relationships.
4. Share Your Struggles
With the good and the fun, comes the challenging, less glamorous aspects of our lives. In the spirit of being real, share your struggles and challenges. This lets your audience get to know your character and better understand the work you do and the effort that goes into it.
5. Be Bold to Be Memorable
There are many ways to be memorable. If you wear bright colors or write frankly without a filter, you will be memorable. If you create beautiful designs or take stunning photos, you’ll create a lasting impression. If you educate and share experiences, you’re going to be remembered. If you’re consistently helping people, they will remember your kind acts.
Being memorable is all about having an impact. And having an impact takes being different, which usually means embracing and highlighting what’s unique about you. Have unique taste? Curate the things you love on social media. Know a lot about music or cooking? Make a playlist or recipe blog for your audience. Show them that you care about them by sharing what you’re good at.
The gist here is to be yourself and to share your passions with your audience. By doing so, you’ll not only be memorable, but you’ll also be approachable. And by being approachable, you’ll build meaningful connections.
Striking the Balance Between Bold and Professional
Being bold and being yourself will make you memorable and will help you build important, lasting relationships with clients and colleagues. But it’s important to remain professional as well. That means being a respectful and responsible business owner.
Being quirky isn’t a free pass to miss deadlines or breach contracts. You can be yourself while maintaining a necessary degree of professionalism.
Whenever you’re putting something out to the public, we suggest asking yourself: “would I hire me?” If the answer is no, you should probably reconsider how you approach that specific topic.
