You The Brand

Posted on 12. Feb, 2010 by Chris Green in Money

In the past, Freelancing has often been seen as an ‘in between’ job. People assume that you aren’t really a business, you’re just getting by doing work for other people. Unfortunately, this can very easily be the case and you can become enslaved to your client’s demands.

But be encouraged, there are also some very successful freelancers running great businesses.

The difference? Well, there are many and if you look around the blog you can find a load of ways you can be more successful. But for the purpose of this post, I am going to suggest that great freelancers understand personal branding.

Branding a business, even if only a one person operation, can do a lot of things in terms of the business’s sucess. A good brand builds credibility, client loyalty, delivers a target message to clients and other businesses, and even helps in your marketing strategy.

There’s many components that make up a brand, so we’ll start with one of the first considerations and that’s your company name.

What’s in a Name?

Just like your own name, your freelancing business name is significant.

As a freelancer, you really have two main options.

  1. Use your full name as the brand name.
  2. Create a specialized brand name.

This choice should be made with the future in mind. Don’t be flippant and assume you can just change the name at any given point.

If you plan to turn your one man show into a firm one day, you need to weigh up whether ‘Your Name’ will work as an appropriate business name. Just think about Adidas, Johnson & Johnson and Ogilvy.

On the other hand, a very clever brand name can be very memorable. When I first started as a freelance designer, I used the name Breadlegs. Nearly everyone asked me why the business was called Breadlegs and I made up a different story each time. I haven’t traded under that brand for over 5 years now, but I still get people asking.

So to summarize, there is no right and wrong. You will, however, need to refer to the name a lot in your day to day activities, so make sure it’s pronounceable and clear.

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