Personal branding
How much thought do you give to your personal branding?
You can build your personal brand in different ways - from creating content and utilising social media channels to attending face-to-face events and networking.
The bonus comes from utilising your personal brand to support your marketing objectives, elevate your company brand and drive employee/associate engagement.
Here are my recommendations and quick wins for anyone new to self-employment or those more experienced and looking for some fresh ideas.
Time is on your side
When I became self-employed, I was given great advice; I was told that time would be my most valuable asset.
As a small business owner, how you utilise your time is very different from how you manage your time when you’re employed. Whether you run a limited company or are a sole trader, you juggle client relationships, paid work and travel/meetings. In addition, you manage your admin/finances, accounts, leads and sales. If you have a team, you wear a whole host of caps. And bringing it back to you, you’re also your own Manager, Leader, Coach… and Marketer.
Your personal brand
Personal branding is the practice of building a brand around you and your career/business. Doing so is an important and valuable activity, whether you’re employed or self-employed. As a small business owner, the process of marketing your business - and, importantly, you as the owner - to people who, in turn, invest in that – and want your time – can make all the difference.
There are several definitions in that old Google when you search for “What is marketing?” I define marketing as effectively sharing what a business or person does and why their product or service is of value.
There are many ways to market yourself and raise your brand awareness, depending on your time, budget, resources, and audience.
I offer five recommendations to kick-start your personal brand refresh:
1. It’s all about you
Set aside a good amount of time to review your ‘About us’ on your website, your LinkedIn account, and anywhere your profile/portfolio is listed. Is it accurate? Is it up to date? Does it easily communicate what you do, what you offer and why?
Your LinkedIn profile is key. Start at the top and work your way down. Ensure you can successfully showcase your clients, and that every role you’ve had includes a clear description of your responsibilities and achievements. Can you attach media?
Do you have any projects you can share? Similarly, do you have relevant and recent recommendations? If not, reach out and ask clients and colleagues to write a few words (most people are happy to do this).
Are your profile images a good resemblance to what you look like today? If not, update them. If you attend a meetup, spend time in a co-working space or go to an industry event, you want to ensure people recognise you, so you can connect with them online.
2. “Get on your socials!”
^^ I’ve heard them say this on Kiss FM. It means: use your social media channels and actively post. Having a good-looking profile is one thing but there is a real benefit in using your accounts to network, share relevant articles/news stories and contribute to the conversation.
Consider your audience for each account and post content that not only interests you but also aligns with their interests.
I’d add - do you need multiple social accounts? Where are your clients ‘hanging out’?
My three rules of thumb when it comes to posting on social media:
Don’t post anything your Mum wouldn’t be happy to see.
Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want a client/your boss seeing.
Don’t post for the sake of posting.
You can share updates throughout the week of things you’re doing – meeting a client (post a picture of the café, say, and ‘mention’ who you’re meeting), attending an event (take a picture of your badge, use the event hashtag and ask who else is going) or reading a book to support your L&D (post a picture of the front cover, ‘mention’ the author and what you’ve learnt to date, and ask if any of your network has read the book).
What can you share to showcase your work, your product, how proud you are of your team, and how you fit into that?
These suggestions create engagement and provide you with fodder to reach out to your network and raise your profile.
3. Post original content to market your expertise
What does content look like? What could you create? What is the best form of content to promote what you do?
The word “content” in marketing is a big catch-all. As well as posting your thoughts/ideas, a discussion topic, news story or article, consider creating/sharing:
Videos
Podcasts
Your designs/sketches/storyboards
Photos
Vlogs
Articles
Blogposts.
At least one format will appeal to you more than others. If you’re not sure where to start, begin with creating a Blog. LinkedIn Pulse provides a good platform if you don’t have a website or an area to host your blogposts. Don’t worry about SEO, keywords or any of that jazz (that can come later), work towards a 400-600-word blogpost and a relevant image.
A blogpost can be reflective, informative, emotive… You may want to reflect on an event you attended and what was great about it, what you learned and how it supports the work you do (and how clients benefit from working with you). You may want to produce a case study of how you’ve helped a client that in turn showcases your expertise or want to share thought leadership around a subject in your field of work.
4. Networking
Not everyone loves to network; it’s a bit like clothes shopping. As a freelancer/solopreneur or small business owner, it’s a great way of meeting people, building contacts and learning from others.
If you meet someone and hit it off professionally, connect with them on LinkedIn and include a personal note with your request so they remember who you are.
5. Coffee and a catch-up
During the downtimes, contact your colleagues and past clients and take them for a coffee - or a have virtual coffee over Zoom! Use the time to find out what is happening in their world and share your other work/projects, if you have permission to. It’s a great way of retaining relationships, keeping up to date on what is happening in your network and ensuring you’re at the forefront of your colleagues’ and clients’ minds.
Your positive mind
An additional point for those self-employed: there is an important parallel to keep in mind (no pun intended). Focusing on your personal brand promotes you and your expertise and contributes to a positive mindset.
If you work from home or work in a solo capacity, consider days when you’re busy. You have structure, tasks ahead of you and a feeling of achievement at the end of the day. When you’re less busy you don’t have a framework and, in turn, you start overthinking, doubting why you don’t have any work, considering your worth and feeling you’re not good at what you do, which leads to low self-esteem and confidence. This is more prominent if you work from home.
Yet by blogging, networking, meeting clients, posting on social media and engaging with people online, you learn from others and remind yourself why you do what you do, that you know your stuff and you’re good at it!
Your time
How do you keep up with all this activity when you’re busy? How do you maintain a similar level of engagement online? How do you keep your personal brand looking fresh and consistent?
Here are my three quick wins to ensure your personal brand and marketing-led activity doesn’t fall through the cracks when you’re prioritising paid work:
1. Take 10 minutes to top-up
Carve out ten minutes in your working week to top-up your LinkedIn profile - featured sections ect. Can you update your client list, is there a piece of work you can showcase or a project you’ve undertaken you can share via your profile?
2. Schedule your social posts
Technology is available to help you post when you’re busy.
Buffer, Hootsuite and TweetDeck are good platforms (free) to use. If you’re a busy bee but have an hour on Friday morning to spare, schedule your tweets/posts for the week ahead.
In addition, at the very least be present on social media; like, engage and share posts that you find of interest, and more importantly engage with others with comments. Be clever with the time you have available – when you’re making a cuppa, queuing for a coffee or waiting for the train.
3. Don’t underestimate the ‘burden’ of blogging
It is often hard to carve out time and the mental space to write a blogpost after a busy week – I speak from experience. If copywriting isn’t your strength, even using your own words, start with a monthly round-up that requires you to blog once a month (what you’ve done, who you’ve seen, what you’ve learned etc.) This way you can also break down the elements of the blog post and use them to feed your social posts and promote your content.
If you’re a solopreneur or small business owner looking to build your personal brand and want some bespoke guidance and direction, get in touch - I’d love to help you.
To note
The original version of this blogpost first appeared on Wired Sussex’s site in October 2019. I have edited it since then.
Wired Sussex was founded in 1996 and closed in 2023. It ran a programme of events - including Breakfast sessions #WiredBrekkie - for its members. To support Wired Sussex’s freelance members, I was invited to contribute to a panel session in 2019 on how to cope with the feast and famine of freelancing.
The expert panel explored a range of subjects, with me sharing my knowledge and expertise to help freelancers use their time effectively to build their personal brand and market what they do. This blogpost is a summary of my session made more bespoke for my audience.