As a freelancer or contractor, you are the brand. It’s a horrible word and nobody wants to refer to themselves as a brand – it makes you sound like a brain dead idiot from The Apprentice – but unfortunately that is what you’ve become.
And, as with any brand you need to ensure that it’s alive, easy-to-find and well maintained in the online sphere. In other words, the two PR’s are essential – public relations and personal reputation.
### Understanding your brand
Define exactly what it is you do and what sets you apart from the competition. If you’re a writer, perhaps you’re particularly brilliant at providing jargon-busting articles about small business. If you’re a web designer, maybe you have a real flair for creating original and interactive interfaces with a certain flourish.
> Whatever line of work you’re in, try and indentify what it is that makes you unique.
When you have a thorough understanding of your brand, you then have to make it noticeable. Ensure that you give yourself the biggest possible presence on the web – and the opportunities are limitless, hopefully you’ll have at least one of these already…
### Establish a landing page/website
This really should be the bare minimum for freelancers. Your brand should have a website which has basic features – a personal business domain, a nice clean looking front page with your brand prominently displayed, clear concise contact details, a relevant biography, and examples of your work/clients.
In summary, the website should say: This is who I am, this is what I do, this is how I do it, and here’s how you can contact me.
The advantage of a website like this (as opposed to a blog) is that it’s very low maintenance – once the site is done it will do most of the work for you.
### Write an ‘expert’ blog
A slick, well targeted blog can be a great way of establish yourself as an expert in your field. It’s particularly recommended to writers, but is also suitable for anyone who has the will to show off their expertise to others on a regular basis.
The only issue with blogging is that:
1) You need to be a decent enough writer – i.e. pretty good grammar and excellent spelllling.
2) You need to be able to regularly update – for it to work, you need to work.
A blog will make your brand more human – in other words, alive and kicking and not just a rigid piece of text on a computer screen. Blogging also ensures more regular traffic.
One more thing: just ensure you know who the blog is targeted at and that you know exactly what you wish to write about.
### Get hooked on LinkedIn… and other social networks
LinkedIn is undoubtedly the premiere business network and many people search for professionals via this service (even if they’re not signed up themselves), so for you not be on there will be a disappointment. To not be there is to be invisible.
It’s a really easy way of getting yourself online, and the only information you really to need to update is the work you are presently doing. It’s just an online CV after all. Cue LinkedIn fanboys sending abusive messages which we can’t publish below.
Of course, there are a whole range of different social networks and website you can sign up to. Twitter has become increasingly prevalent and many small business owners and freelancers like to tweet about work and issues relevant to it – and some not so relevant.
####Arguably the two essential elements of your online presence are the landing page and LinkedIn profile whilst anything over and above this is a great bonus which can ultimately attract more potential custom. However small or large your presence having a consistent brand identity is crucial.
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Photo by Francisco Diez – CC
