There’s no doubt that some freelancers have created exceptional brands for themselves. Take Neil Patel, for instance – the SEO expert whose name is synonymous with digital marketing. These individuals can charge much higher prices for their services and, essentially, lead the lives that they want to lead.
Branding on an individual level works in much the same way as it does at a corporate level. People are willing to pay more than the going market rate if they believe that they’re getting something of a higher quality. It’s your job as a freelancer, therefore, to find a way of carving out a brand so that people are willing to pay over-the-odds for your services and that you’re able to attract the wealthiest clients with the deepest pockets.
Okay, this sounds great. But how do you do it in practice? Let’s take a look.
Climb The Client Ladder
You might have fantasies of having a Fortune 500 company or a celebrity on your company accounts, but the odds are that you won’t be able to attract this kind of client immediately. However, that should be your ultimate goal. After all, those are the clients that can pay the big bucks.
Building a better freelance brand means climbing the client ladder. You want to offer each person a bespoke and quality service, but you also need to view people as stepping stones to your final destination. If possible, think about the connections that your clients might have. For instance, you might work for a company as a freelance engineer with people who have links to a much larger company that could also benefit from your services. Use these connections where possible.
Create A Brand Around Your Name
Neil Patel managed to craft an SEO empire based on his name. It’s all he needed. You can do the same through several methods, depending on your industry. In some settings, branded clothing is the most suitable strategy. You want to use visual cues to remind people of who you are and what you do. In other sectors, what matters is the authority that your name conveys. You might want to start creating e-books or white papers outlining your thesis or create a podcast with your name as the title.
Pay For More Traffic
Building a better freelance brand can be done organically, but few people use purely unpaid means. Most freelancers have to use paid services to build their brand at one point or another.
The trick to doing it well is to deploy your marketing dollars effectively. Let’s say, for instance, that you think that Facebook is the most appropriate marketing platform for your firm. Instead of paying for a banner ad, use what the research shows works: video. Video, according to data from Facebook research, is the best way to generate engagement and conversions.
What’s more, with video, you can escape the rat race of constant content creation. A single video can go on to produce thousands of views, getting your personality across to many users.
