Contract and freelance jobs are increasing in popularity, with more and more people participating in the shift of employment, moving away from full-time and permanent roles. The changing attitudes towards work and technological advancements have prompted this shift. Autonomy and other benefits associated with freelance and contract opportunities only increase the competitive nature of these job types. 

To stand out as skilled professionals in this crowded environment, freelancers and contractors must strategically promote their skill sets by investing in developing their branding. It has never been more essential to promote your services and skills in several ways and across a variety of platforms. But where exactly do you begin?

This guide will explore the importance of creating a solid personal brand and how to build one that benefits you as a contractor or freelancer. In addition, we have included five strategies to elevate your personal branding and increase the continual flow of jobs coming your way. You will become a branding master in no time!

Is Building a Personal Brand Important For Career Development?

A personal brand is how you market yourself to your target audience and other industry members. Establishing and growing a personal brand is relevant to every organisation, business, and person aiming to build industry credibility. 

An increasingly competitive market means that building a clearly defined brand is becoming even more crucial for contractors and freelancers who desire a consistent workflow.

What Is Included In a Personal Brand?

A personal brand needs to have specific components within it for success. As a freelancer or contractor, you must market your personality, knowledge, and skill set to remain competitive and get noticed by other professionals. When attracting freelance or contract jobs, a strong emphasis is placed on what you know and why you stand out from the crowd. 

Critical elements of a solid personal brand for contractors and freelancers include:

• Brand values
• Accomplishments and record of your previous work
• A tailored tone of voice that relates to your brand identity 
• Content related to your work, achievements, and industry-related topics
• Your unique selling point (what makes you stand out from the crowd)
• Authenticity and personality

What Can a Strong Personal Brand Achieve?

Working on personal branding isn’t always straightforward, especially considering the changing dynamics of technology and the different needs of clients, but it is undoubtedly beneficial. According to a recent LinkedIn report on the value of personal brands, 70% of hiring managers stated that a solid personal brand is more critical than any CV. 

If your brand remains as clear, in-depth, and updated as possible, you will:

• Establish trust and credibility: Establishing a brand that looks good and reflects who you are will encourage more clients to trust your services. The more detailed your personal brand is, the more likely clients will use and recommend your services. 
• Remain competitive: Your competitors will network, market their skills on social media platforms, and advertise their services. Increasing your visibility by producing consistent content and creating a solid and captivating brand enables you to stand out. 
• Create and retain connections: If your personal brand clearly displays your brand identity, professionals in your industry will be more likely to engage with you and utalise your talent. These connections can be developed until you have created a network of like-minded professionals engaged in your work. 
• Progress in your career development: A strategically planned personal brand can provide you with more opportunities and expand your reach. 

Our Top Five Strategies For Personal Branding Success

1. Define your Brand, Achievements and Goals 

Creating the foundation of personal branding can be the most challenging aspect of brand development, but it is imperative for career development. Before instilling marketing or branding development strategies, a successful contractor or freelancer will establish their specialism. These aspects will be included in every future stage of brand development, so they must be perfected. 

Identify Your Unique Value Proposition 

Whatever your industry or specialism, you will always have competitors. The number of freelancers and contractors has increased in the last decade, with no indication of slowing down. This means securing a steady supply of freelance and contractor jobs will now require a more extensive development investment than simply applying for positions. 

We invite you to ask yourself these questions to determine your industry value:

• What is your unique selling point? Is it your work itself and the positive reputation surrounding your work, or are your personal branding message and stories contributing factors?
• What do you bring to your industry? Think about your services, industry-relevant experience or flexibility. 
• Why are you more likely to get freelance or contractor jobs than your competitors? Is your positive reputation, skill endorsements, or brand personalisation strong enough to stand out?

Providing value to your network and audience is a significant aspect of creating a successful personal brand. You will be lost within the competitive contract and freelance market if you have no unique or in-demand services to provide. 

Along with your services, providing content based on your industry knowledge and your previous work can give your personal brand a competitive edge. This may include appropriate opinions on industry topics, images or examples of your work for previous clients, or snippets of your portfolio. Any unique content or in-demand services you can provide will assist in forming your competitive brand identity. 

2. Taking Branding Personally 

We have established that all branding and brand messages should reflect your work and goals. Personalising all content to mirror you and your brand message is the next step in this process. 

Branding is personal. Every business and organisation has a brand identity and constantly develops its branding to remain relevant. Every aspect of branding reflects their personal or company identity, ideologies, goals, achievements, and vision. As a contractor or freelancer, you are no different. 

What does differ is your overall brand tone of voice. It might seem tempting to mimic how another brand interacts with its audience base, but this would be a grave error. Each aspect of personal branding is tailored around you and your work. 

With 92% of customers preferring to work with genuine and authentic brands due to a desire for relatability,  there is no better time to centre your brand around your legitimate self. 

Tailoring Content To Your Target Audience 

Contractors and freelancers typically identify their target audience very early in building their brand due to the nature of their work. But the projection of this into a personal brand is where many fail. 

Tailoring content to your target audience makes your potential clients or network relate to you. For example, if your brand industry is based on digital marketing, writing content tailored to quantitative analysis will attract an unrelated audience to your network. If you do not usually work within a specific industry, tailor your content to the clients you wish to attract to create a well-structured network.

While working within a specific industry may dictate that you write to a certain level of audience seniority, your brand identity and content should still reflect you personally as much as possible.

3. Utilise Social Media Platforms to Build Up a Network

Technology advancements have given businesses and potential clients a new step in the hiring process: social media. Employers check applicants' social media for typical full-time and permanent jobs to learn more about their candidates and protect their company's reputation. Social media is more than just a pre-employment check for freelancers and contractors; it’s now a representation of their skills and reputation. 

Social media and networking platforms are the key to marketing your personal brand. Social media and online marketing have skyrocketed and are used daily in organisational and personal branding to build a client base. Using social media correctly allows you to tell your story and appeal to a high reach of potential clients. 

Approximately two-thirds of freelancers utilise social media channels to promote their services.  If you, as a contractor or freelancer, are not taking advantage of these platforms' free advertising, you are missing out on an audience base of 4.9 billion people. Here are three examples of powerful social media platforms you should be utilising:

LinkedIn 

LinkedIn can be a great platform to build your brand, promote your services, and create a network. The popular networking service is used by the majority of professionals who are aiming to expand their connections. 

This platform has a high reach and enables all users to make global connections. LinkedIn’s job search tool can allow you to apply for contract and freelance jobs and enable others to contact you via your profile to discuss opportunities. This is why LinkedIn is a pivotal tool in your brand development. A professional and informative LinkedIn page will encourage professionals to contact you concerning career opportunities.

Examples of how you can develop your personal brand on LinkedIn include: 

• Write a short and personalised statement about who you are and what you do to be used as a bio, which every professional looking at your page will see
• Create short and to-the-point video content about your brand as a whole or new projects 
• Share posts and content that relate to your services to support like-minded professionals, create connections, and build up your overall brand reputation
• Complete LinkedIn skill assessments to showcase your skill proficiency 
• Connect with potential clients and businesses who work within your industry to streamline your network
• Endorse clients' or other professionals’ skills to maintain positive work relationships

X (Formally Known As Twitter) 

The platform that is known for over-expressing opinions can actually prove helpful in the development of your personal branding. The latest news travels faster on X than on any other social media platform, allowing you to tailor your content to emerging industry trends and become an industry leader. 

X also provides various tools for your brand to boost your visibility and increase your network, including the ability to post, repost, use hashtags, and monitor business account analytics. But it's how you utilise these tools that counts. 

Examples of how you can develop your personal brand on Twitter include: 

• Create an ‘X for professionals’ account to reinforce your image as a brand and create a positive reputation
• Follow only individuals or groups that you would want clients to associate you with 
• Post only meaningful content and keep sharing any political opinions, unless industry-specific, to your personal account
• Engage with your followers by replying to comments, messages, and requests 
• Optimise your profile to represent your professional brand by using a clear headshot profile photo
• Write a snappy bio that is reflective of your personality and business activities 

Instagram 

Though not a networking platform traditionally associated with building a brand, Instagram's social media platform is growing. Increasing numbers of small businesses and personal brands are becoming noticed by a vast audience due to the platform’s broad global reach. 

Instagram allows you to create a business page dedicated to your work and skill development, retaining your image as a professional brand and keeping your personal accounts private. The platform offers many tools to assist organisational brand development, including stories, reels, posts, comments, and shares. 

Examples of how you utalise these tools to develop your personal brand on Instagram include: 

• Create a memorable username that relates to your brand, specialism, and professional nature
• Follow industry-relevant individuals, pages, and hashtags, and use hashtags to reach your target audience 
• Personalise posts on your profile to reflect your brand’s tone of voice and keep this consistent
• Interact regularly with followers and professionals who engage with your posts 
• Post informative content story posts to give followers and potential clients a short snapshot of your daily work activities 
• Optimise your bio to contain only brand-relevant information, including a brand description, contact information, and links to other platform profiles

4. Be Consistent With Updates and Content 

Unfortunately, no one will know or respect your brand if your profiles are dormant. Fortunately, fixing this and being consistent with content is simpler than you think. 

Establishing a Content Routine 

Committing to a consistent content routine is crucial to personal brand development as a freelancer or contractor. Posting regular content and interacting with followers or connections can establish an image of reliability and trustworthiness for your brand. Developing your online presence enables you to attract a stable network of followers over time, increasing the likelihood of attracting contract or freelance jobs. 

Creating a content calendar can assist with organisation, ensuring all followers have a steady supply of information about your brand activities. Including various types of content and diversifying this regularly will display your skills while engaging a broader audience. 

If you have a portfolio website, your social media platforms should mirror that content. For example, if you have just updated your portfolio, upload similar content highlighting your latest activity with a link to your webpage to strengthen brand connections.

Replying to comments, messages, and requests in a timely manner in line with your uploaded content will enhance your credibility and assist you in network relationship development. If you respond promptly to any activity surrounding your brand, you will take advantage of every opportunity. 

5. Don’t Rush, Remain Focused 

Developing personal branding as a freelancer or contractor is a process that can’t happen overnight. The numerous aspects of each stage in personal brand development are essential to your long-term success. Rushing this process would involve sacrificing the quality of each step, limiting your professional reach, and missing out on opportunities.

Take your time with each stage and create a routine that reflects your services and skill development across all platforms to maximise success. 

The Art and Impact of Personal Branding: A Reflection

The practices and trends around employment are constantly evolving. Mastering personal branding is essential for the sustained success of freelancing and contracting careers in this competitive market. Your personal brand is a powerful tool to display your skills, values, and achievements to potential clients globally rather than relying on traditional word-of-mouth marketing. 

Building a brand is a process encompassing a variety of platforms and content, as well as requiring continual commitment to growth. Take the time to reflect on your desired brand message and determine the unique selling point of your services to improve your audience engagement. 

A robust personal brand can result in various benefits for contractors and freelancers, ranging from increased personal credibility to creating meaningful industry professionals. Personalised and tailored content can inspire growth, especially on social media platforms. 

Rushing this process, failing to be up-to-date with industry trends, and inconstantly posting content will result in the inability to establish trust and rapport with your audience. Refining each aspect and creating detailed content will maximise personal branding efforts and long-term success. 

Experts in the Contract Recruitment Process

Our team understands the challenges contract workers face with the growing competitive nature of the job market. We have a team of specialists experienced in every aspect of contract recruitment, from guiding to matching talented professionals with the latest contract positions. 

Contact us today to find your future contractor jobs and take the next step in your career journey.