You Can Win At Freelancing Beyond Personal Branding
Lately, I’ve begun to hate Twitter. No, I haven’t tired of submitting my own tweets or retweeting those messages worthy of passing along, rather I’m directing my hatred toward the increased number of personal branders who seem to be pervasive on this popular micro-blogging site.
I don’t hate these people personally. How could I? I don’t even know them. What I don’t like is their marketing methodology which is designed to elevate them well beyond what they think they are worth. In other words, these kinds of marketeers imagine that they are the be-all and end-all of problem solvers, claiming to present solutions we need in order to succeed at what we do.
Crazy Self Promotion
Many people clown around online, spending way too much time in personal marketing than actually getting some work done. Deliver a solid product and your customers will return for more, allowing you to keep your marketing efforts to a minimum.
I can’t give you an actual example of this kind of person because I immediately block Twitter followers whose self promotional efforts seem to trump the very services they claim to offer. But this problem isn’t peculiar to Twitter users alone – I still come across a good number of freelancers who get carried away with self promotion, placing too much emphasis on themselves at the expense of their actual services.
Many of us are fairly new to personal branding, with the older freelancers part of a generation of people who were taught that self promotional efforts were almost always wrong. In many ways our parents and grandparents were right – who we are is of less importance than what do. Actions do speak louder than words which worked quite well before the emergence of the internet. Today, you have to learn to promote yourself online or risk being missed in a sea of people – nobody knows who you are unless you tell them.
Personal Branding Advocates
While the internet has turned many a trusted standard upside down it has also opened up a world of personal branding advocates who forget that the service offered is of more importance than the person delivering it. When we tend to get so wrapped up in ourselves, we begin to believe our own hype – that nobody else can do the job that we do. Or at least as good as we do.
Friends, that kind of thinking is false. While you may believe your own press, potential customers won’t. Moreover, they’ll look past your hype to the person who seems more likely to make good on their deliverables then you.
Extending Reputation Management
The key to success in any business is your reputation. Your reputation isn’t built on what you say you can do, but on what you have already accomplished. Customers trust that you will follow through and deliver an expected end product. While they may sing your praises personally, it is what you do for them personally that matters the most to them. If you can’t or won’t deliver, they’ll be force to go elsewhere.
Why is trust so important? For one big reason – people who trust you will continue to tap you for their projects. Which means you’ll need to spend less time marketing yourself. Which also means you won’t need to look foolish (or desperate) on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or wherever.
Trust also brings freedom because when you become a known quantity, you’ll get tons of repeat business. You’ll be richer, happier and more satisfied too, maintaining your dignity even while your competition loses theirs.
Photo Credit: Miroslav Nagy
See Also — You Must Brand Yourself Or You Will Perish
Tags: branding, Facebook, freedom, LinkedIn, Marketing, personal branding, reputation management, social media, trust, Twitter
Marketing | Matthew C. Keegan, 24 Sep 09
By LarryJackson, September 24, 2009 @ 5:35 am
I’ve said it before, but although I use Twitter and Facebook to promote my articles, I don’t spend a lot of time on either site. That includes Stumbleupon as well. I have found I can spend a lot of time on those sites and wind up getting nothing done on my own. That is counter productive to what I want to achieve on My Take.
Good article.
LarryJackson´s last blog ..Is Middle East peace up to President Obama?
By Matthew C. Keegan, September 24, 2009 @ 5:44 am
@LarryJackson
Larry, I’ve cut back on my social media activity as well. I simply don’t have the time to tweet, stumble or link up to people as much as I used to. Besides, as you mentioned, attending to our own blogs is critical, otherwise that neglect will show through.
By LarryJackson, September 24, 2009 @ 6:45 am
@Matthew C. Keegan
Amen to that. I work hard at keeping My Take relevant to current events and I still have trouble keeping up. We have to be very selective in how much social media we indulge in.
LarryJackson´s last blog ..Nancy Pelosi – Doing it her way!
By Matthew C. Keegan, September 24, 2009 @ 8:00 am
@LarryJackson
I think because “Super Obama” is in the news so much, people realize that the news cycle has been sped up to hyper drive. I’ve never heard someone speak so much without offering much of substance.
Now how did this conversation turn to politics?
By Laura Spencer, September 24, 2009 @ 9:08 am
I think that you have a point. The purpose of social media is to “socialize.” Some Twitter users (and as you point out users of other services as well), seem to use it as a type of RSS feed – simply loading all their links and not interacting with anyone at all.
Of course, one of the strengths of Twitter is that you choose who you will follow and those should be the only tweets that you see. I don’t automatically follow someone who follows me. Rather, I wait to see if they will interact with me first. Also, I look to see if they have a blog or website listed in their profile and I check that out too.
If you find yourself following the wrong type of person, simply unfollow or block that person.
The second point of your article is also valid. Branding should never replace quality of work ever. Period.
Good post!
Laura Spencer´s last blog ..Professional Writing – A Key Component to a Professional Image
By Matthew C. Keegan, September 24, 2009 @ 10:02 am
@Laura Spencer
Thank you for your comments, Laura.
Yes, I’m very particular as to who I will follow on Twitter as well as on StumbleUpon and elsewhere. No photo or no link to a website and I won’t follow you.
I block as many people as I follow these days for the simple reason I don’t want to have to mine through a lot of useless hype. The occasional pitch is fine — I’m “guilty” of doing as much myself — but not when it is an end to itself.
By Dominique, September 24, 2009 @ 10:54 am
Well you know I love Twitter, SU and FB! Having said that though, I have grown weary of the self-serving promoter as well. I block or delete them as well. I have actually stopped stumbling my own articles and I only Tweet my articles once. I finally decided I would sink or swim.
There is this great book out by a Director Friend of mine in Hollywood, Phil Cooke. He is a Christian and recently wrote, Branding Faith. I have never heard of branding so it was an eye opener. But he really explains how to do it and why to do it. I learned so much from his book. It actually helped me come up with the tag line for my blog: Write, Observe, Respond, Defend, Shape (words). It gave me a focus to my work and when I get lost I remember my vision is to “use my w.o.r.d.s to Write, Observe, Respond, Defend, Shape the current conversations taking place in America.”
It makes my life so much easier when I know where “north’ is, you know.
Anyway, here is a link to Phil’s blog and his book. Highly recommend it.
http://www.philcooke.com
Dominique´s last blog ..could the REASONS Canada became a WELFARE state be the same reasons AMERICA might?
By Matthew C. Keegan, September 24, 2009 @ 11:17 am
@Dominique
Thanks for the link to Phil’s site, Dominique. I know you’ve mentioned him on your blog previously and/or I have read his comments.
I’m thinking that a lot of our social media methods are played out as in over done, tired or just plain useless. I don’t plan on leaving the social media world, but I constantly monitor its usefulness with what I do.
Branding is still important and like your W.O.R.D.S. tag line — well thought out and highly memorable.
By LD Jackson, September 24, 2009 @ 11:56 am
@Matthew C. Keegan
For me at least, politics has a way of dominating the news, both on and off my blog.
LD Jackson´s last blog ..Nancy Pelosi – Doing it her way!
By Mario Bonilla, September 24, 2009 @ 12:13 pm
Matt you make some very mature comments. I also read your post about the need to brand yourself or you will perish. In the hopes of adding to the conversation let me speak about 2 tactics that could help us all be more productive. Organize your ‘branded’ content in a manner that allows searchers to find and use it easily. Consider using http://www.naymz.com , http://www.Nombray.com , http://www.retagger.com or our http://www.peoplepond.com services to establish a profile that can be promoted with only the occasional update from you, thus saving some time. Matt, you also talked strongly about trust. While earning the trust from an end user of your service is important we need to realize that an increasing number of potential customers use SERPS to make choices. Attaining ‘Google Trust’ is not as hard as it may seem. Using the basics of Search Engine Optimization in writing your content will go a long way toward earning an opportunity to serve more customers.
By Matthew C. Keegan, September 24, 2009 @ 12:41 pm
@Mario Bonilla
Thank you, Mario. I’ll check out these sites to see how I can use them to help me push my own brands.
Yes, SERPs — rightly or wrongly — is the way some people determine trust. While I don’t dispute that, trust is best developed by consistently developing and delivering a product to your customers. Once you reach a certain trust level, then personal marketing can be eased.
Personally, I would much rather spend my time writing for my customers then putting excessive time into social media.
By Mario Bonilla, September 24, 2009 @ 2:07 pm
Amen brother. @Matthew C. Keegan
Mario Bonilla´s last blog ..Carol Raffo – Ms. Carol Raffo, a resident of New Jersey, is an advocate for the greater New Jersey community and gives back as often as she can.