When it comes to freelance writing, whether you know you have the skills or you just bumped into this field, it is something that is exciting to start. However, it does not mean the road will be smooth. When you become a freelance writer, building your portfolio is important, engaging clients and managing the financial side of things requires another set of skills. In other words, you have to be an all-around person in the field of freelance writing. Even though there are tools that might help you with the managerial, marketing, customer service, and payment tasks, building your brand narrows down to you.
As such, you have to strive hard and look for available jobs regardless of the pay or topic. You can become more successful in freelance writing and earn more extra dollars when you create a brand that attracts clients.
Rudiments of branding
Creating a personal brand is not hard if you understand the basic principles. You can research and write articles for different clients as you acquire more experience in the field. Every business has a brand that is distinctive of other businesses. This brand transcends logos and taglines and must show prospective clients what the business does best. Different organizations have tried to match their branding success to the leading entities in the field. Some of these strategies have worked, and this success goes back to branding which transforms their business from good to great. Branding is not a reserve of major companies, and different businesses can compete with them. Individuals can also adopt branding.
Those people that have worked outside freelance writing can attest that there are workers who are known for their input especially when needed. They have a good reputation, and that goes to their personal brand. When you become a freelance writer, you are running a business of one. As such, your personal brand is important if you want to maximize on the long-term success.
Look at some of the prolific writers like Maya Angelou, or Stephen King. Angelou is a poet-activist while Stephen is the master of horror and those are their brands. This is what clients need to know in terms of what you can offer. Identify your area of expertise to create your personal brand and strive to deliver excellent results. The next step is to use the available tools to create an attractive profile that will pique the interest of the clients in your area of expertise.
Building your freelance writing success through personal branding
When it comes to your personal branding, your profile matters a lot. You can consider the following pointers:
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Professional image
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Detailed bio
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Links
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Writing samples
While a phot may not be much of a necessity, it goes a long way in building good relationships. It helps in letting the client get an idea of who they are working with and your picture can make the first proverbial impression. You need not hire someone to take a good headshot; you only need to choose the one that represents you professionally.
Some of the freelance writers do this as a side gig, while others are in this field full-time. Either way, having a detailed bio goes a long way because clients are looking for expertise in their subject matter and commitment to quality output. Do not list every topic that you are comfortable writing about but you can select two or three that you feel you are highly confident to hack. Use them to show why you are the best writer for the project. In case you have worked in the industry, it is better to include your years of experience. If you have relevant education, include it in the bio and then show clear that you are committed to providing the best results.
Add links to your website, your Twitter, or LinkedIn pages. However, you have to think and establish if it makes sense. If they support what you do, please add them to your profile. On the other hand, if your twitter is only meant for chatting with friends and family, it does not bother encouraging your clients to visit your page.
Any works that have been published can help in attracting more customers to your site. This should happen especially if you are starting in this field. Consider specific content for the samples that you want to use. Ensure they demonstrate the type of work you will be doing form the client. Keep off anything that is not in line with the expectations of the target clients.
Remember that your profile is the first step in creating your personal brand especially because you want to establish a long-term working relationship with them. Other characteristics that are essential in creating your brand include:
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Reliability
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Customer service
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Excellent writing skills
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Develop a tagline
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Guest blogging
Clients always want to work with a freelance writer who is committed. You have to ensure projects are done on or before the actual deadline. This shows the client that you are dependable and can deliver excellent results in record time.
Communicating with clients is effective, even though sometimes it can be challenging. You have to clarify requests, manage excessive demands, and deal with some level of unpleasantness at times. However, you have to develop your reputation as a problem solver who minds about the needs of his customers. This will earn you an excellent and loyal legion of clients
Irrespective of the magnitude of the job, every client places a lot of importance in every project that he gives you. If you offer consistence excellence through these jobs, it speaks a lot about your personal brand.
You can come up with a tagline and then publish it everywhere on social media. This should be a representation of what you want people to say or think about when you are not around. Even though it might not be as important, it is a better way to spice up your personal brand as a writer.
When you share your content in the highly visible blog, you reach a wider audience, and even if you are not paid for it, you can link back to your site. This will help the audience track your work, and you never know, some people might try to reach you.
Not most writers understand personal branding. Some underestimate its power whereas others use it interchangeably with the idea of logo design. The rest think that branding is only for big boys in the industry. Branding is all about every aspect of the business personality, if you will how it communicates to its customers and how the public perceives it.
However, with the above steps, you can enhance your brand as a freelance writer and reap with benefits that follow you later. Patience is one virtue that you have to possess and consistency in excellence is mandatory. The success of personal branding in the freelance writing field goes beyond landing gigs and extends to how you handle these assignments, and what you are known for. You have to work hard and make your make in the field because it is the only way you will be noticed. Starting today, you have to start living as a brand in this field.
