If you missed part 1 of the Building Your Freelance Writing Brand series, you can follow the preceding link to read it.
Before I dive into more information about how to build your brand here in Part 2, I want to point out that years ago, freelance writers had to rely on advertising, direct mail, and word-of-mouth marketing to build their clientele and their businesses. Today, freelance writers have an entire world at their fingertips thanks to the World Wide Web and the tools of the social Web that enable anyone to have an Internet presence with little technical knowledge and almost no monetary investment. Today’s freelancers are incredibly fortunate to have these tools and a global audience of people actively searching for the services and expertise freelancers offer.
Now, back to brand building…
The Internet, particularly the social Web, offers a platform for any freelancer to develop their brand image, communicate their brand message, and develop a loyal band of brand advocates who will talk about their brand, champion their brand, and guard there brand against naysayers.
Furthermore, social Web conversations and publication tools help to level the marketing playing field. Never before has their been a more accessible opportunity for freelancers to compete. At the same time, the Internet has opened the freelance writing talent pool to a global audience of writers who are willing to work for varied pay rates and offer varied levels of experience and abilities. People and businesses who seek out freelance writers have varied needs, and that means there are still opportunities for writers at all levels. The key is positioning yourself and marketing yourself effectively to make you stand out from the crowded talent pool and to ensure potential clients find you.
In simplest terms, participating in social networking sites, forums, communities, blogs, and so on helps to build your online persona — your brand. In fact, the social Web presents an opportunity for brand building and reputation management that is perfect for freelance writers because it requires the ability to write. It’s perfect!
However, your social web activities not only help you to build your brand by enabling you to consistently and persistently communicate your messages (directly and indirectly), but they also enable you to develop relationships with other people around the world. The strongest brands are relationship brands (think of Apple or Harley Davidson), and you can turn your freelance writer brand into a relationship brand, too.
Finally, by participating in online conversations and creating content that helps to build your online platform, you also boost your search engine rankings, and that’s what you can expect to learn about in coming parts of the Building Your Freelance Writing Brand series.
Stay tuned for Part 3 of the Building Your Freelance Writing Brand series to learn about content marketing and the compounding effect of blogging — two opportunities that freelance writers can leverage and benefit from with ease!
Image: stock.xchng
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