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An Easy-to-Follow Guide to Create Your Freelance Brand

Home Blog COVID-19 Resources An Easy-to-Follow Guide to Create Your Freelance Brand
Today, it is important for every business to have an active online presence. This is especially true if you are a freelancer, or you do not operate from a brick-and-mortar store.   Even if you have a dedicated page in multiple online directories or social media accounts across platforms, you will need a well-designed website to attract clients. What differentiates a successful business from an average business is a website that brings in customers and spreads the word about the brand.  Therefore, as a freelancer, you need to create a website that showcases your amazing work. With the right set of tools, you can easily create your stunning online portfolio. 

1. Identify your strengths as a freelancer 

If you are a new freelancer, your first step should be to create a list of your expert skills. Even if you are an experienced one, quickly listing down all the skills that you can offer to your customers can be helpful.  Now, see what makes you unique and differentiates you from other professionals in that field. For example, a U.S based freelance website designer who is fluent in Portuguese can brand their services for Brazilian companies aiming to expand into North America.   Or, if someone is a great photographer with a strong background in set design, they can create amazing backdrops for their client’s photo shoots.   Keep your unique skills mix in mind while developing your brand. 

2. Define your ideal customers  

Your services plus messaging, logo, marketing, and pricing, all need to be in line with what your ideal customers may be looking for. Therefore, your ideal customers and skills are equally important to your brand.   Every freelancer has a different set of ideal customers, even if they belong to the same niche. We’ll quote two examples here,  

  • Freelancers belonging to different niches

The ideal customer for a freelance wedding photographer will be someone who is engaged and has a reasonable budget for good photography. It will be even great if they have connections who may also get married soon as they can turn into referrals.  On the other hand, a freelance marketing consultant will look for growing companies or maybe startups that need to build and deploy a marketing strategy.  

  • Freelancers belonging to the same niche

A copywriter that likes predictability and structure in their work may look for freelance clients who have their ad copy needs planned out months or weeks in advance.   In contrast, a freelance copywriter who goes with the flow and thrives on adrenaline specializes in rush work projects for clients who pull their campaigns at the last minute.  So, once you have your ideal customers’ clear picture, you can develop and shape your brand accordingly. This should include messaging about what you can do for your ideal customers.  

3. Analyze and decide the problems that you can solve for your customers 

Once you are clear about your strengths and ideal customers, you need to decide what you want to offer them based on the problem(s) they are looking to solve.   For example, wedding photography clients usually want great photos, which any photographer with basic skills can provide. But the things they also look for are gathering families for photos, helping everyone look their best in the shots, organizing photos, and delivering the best quality images the couple can cherish for years.  

4. Calculate your rates 

Unless you want to compete on the price instead of value, rates shouldn’t be a part of your branding. Moreover, it isn’t even recommended because – firstly, clients with money tend to avoid discount-branded services as they are more concerned about the quality, and secondly, your competitors can undercut you just by a few bucks and woo your customers.   Therefore, focusing on the value that you offer is a preferred long-term strategy.  

5. Build your brand identity and messaging 

Now, you need to focus on the branding elements that your customers will observe – your brand messaging and brand identity. 

  • Brand identity

Your brand identity is inclusive of colors, logo, and fonts. It is important to use them consistently on your social media profiles, website, and your ads.  
  1. The colors should stand out, however, they shouldn’t distract from your brand messaging 
  2. Your fonts should make it easy for people to scan your brand message and name quickly, without having to spend time understanding hard-to-read fonts.  

  • Brand messaging

Once you have decided on your business name, now you need to write your elevator pitch, tagline, and a summary paragraph.   Tagline: Summary of what you do and with whom you work, like “Custom web design for small e-commerce businesses.” Put it under your logo on your website, business cards and others.  Elevator pitch: This is a bit longer summary of what you do, like “I bring 15 years of experience in designing living rooms to the homeowners in Delhi across locations”. Add this to your social profiles too.   Summary paragraph – It is a little more about your brand, in terms of showcasing the value your brand brings to the clients.  

Get started and promote your brand 

Once you are ready with all the essentials mentioned above, buy a domain name (this should be preferably your business name) and web hosting that fits your business needs. You can explore the reasonably priced domain and web hosting options from Bluehost. You can choose any of them depending on your budget and business needs and start building your website.  Once your website is ready, start promoting your freelance business, connecting with your ideal customers, and building your professional portfolio.    
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