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