You create marketing strategies to launch products and services for other people and businesses. Do the same to impress hiring managers and land more job offers for yourself.
When was the last time you converted a website visitor or new social follower into a paying client or employer?
If you’re in the marketing world, chances are you’ve created successful campaigns with customer conversions like these for other businesses.
But what about for yourself?
Since more businesses are hiring remote, your website and social media platforms need to market your brand and sell your skills to potential clients and hiring managers before they ever meet you.
Do this right and you’ll have gig requests and job offers filling your inbox rather than pitching your services to cold leads.
The Marketing Strategy to Brand Yourself Online
To outshine your competition and stand out, you’ll need to do more than fill out the basic requirements of your profiles and website.
You need a strategy to launch yourself as a product a company or client can’t be without.
Follow these tips and you’ll have more work headed your way:
Figure Out and Promote Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Your value proposition, also known as your USP, is what differentiates you from your competition. Think of it as your own unique selling point decision makers will remember about you.
Your USP needs to be the foundation of your marketing strategy.
It should give visitors an idea of what you’re like and what you’d be like to work with.
To find your USP:
- Identify your niche, or what you’re passionate about
- Determine the specific value you provide to your industry, and to a company
- Think about what people say you’re good at
- Figure out what makes you different from your peers
Answering these questions will help you phrase all the copy on your website and social media pages to reflect what makes you special.
This isn’t the time to be shy about your achievements; banish your imposter syndrome and show off all the traits necessary for the jobs you’re seeking.
Blank page syndrome?
Follow this next tip.
Identify and Learn from Your Competition
The more you understand your competition, the easier it will be to stand out from the crowd.
So research and check out the people crushing it in your niche.
These are who you’ll be competing with for gigs.
When you find peers with similar experiences and skills, perform a SWOT analysis to determine how your traits compare to their:
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Opportunities
- Threats
These will help you position yourself as a better candidate.
And if that means leveling up your skills, start sooner so you can advertise them later.
As you get more comfortable, you’ll start to develop your own brand voice readers will connect with.
Establish a Consistent Brand Voice
Your website and social media pages should create a cohesive picture of who you are.
Visitors will immediately know when you’re not being genuine or authentic so write all your copy in your own, natural voice.
Let your personality shine through and you’ll establish trust and credibility with your audience right off the bat.
If you try to sound like someone else, visitors will never get a true sense of who you are and why you’re different.
This consistency should also carry over to the aesthetics of your platforms; try using the same color scheme, logos, font, bio pic, etc. to tie everything together as one cohesive brand story.
Understanding your audience, or the companies and people you want to work with, will also help you speak directly to them.
Know Your Customer (i.e., Companies, Hiring Managers, and Decision Makers)
Just like the best products serve a specific type of customer, your skills should be a valuable piece of a client’s puzzle.
The trick is finding that niche and showing decision makers you’re the missing piece.
So think about what your ideal company looks like:
- Are they a startup with a limited budget or a huge company with lots to spend on your marketing ideas?
- Do you want a solo gig or do you like brainstorming on a team?
- Would you rather work remotely or in a swanky office with lots of perks?
When you know who you’re writing for, you can research where these types of decision makers typically hang out and the type of content they’re engaging with most often.
Then you’ll need to choose your digital channels wisely to make sure your content winds up mingling in the same online circles.
Pick the Best Digital Platforms In Your Niche
If you’re on every social media platform indiscriminately, it’s going to be impossible to actively engage without spreading yourself too thin.
Part of the secret to using your social media to land gigs is knowing where to invest your valuable time.
And that comes down to knowing:
- Where your audience is most likely to hang out
- What your competition is using
- The type of content you like creating (i.e., tweets, vlogs, micro-blogs, etc.)
- The type of content you’re good at
- What followers connect with
You should participate in at least two different social platforms: one for your content and another for promotion.
Before you start creating content, you’ll want to give visitors an idea of your industry experience first.
Create a Clickable Portfolio of Projects
After reading your bio or brand story, visitors (especially hiring managers) will want to see your real-world experience before spending their time on your content.
So create a portfolio visitors can click through and see all your accomplishments and achievements.
If you’re just starting out, this may mean adding all the projects you’ve worked on so far. This should include the client’s ask, your plan, the results, visuals, links, a small write up about what you learned, etc.
If you have more experience, you’ll want to add projects to your portfolio more strategically.
Highlight the most successful ones first and then add projects to diversify your skillset or give visitors an indication of what you’re currently interested in.
Check out these tips for creating an awesome portfolio later for more inspiration.
When visitors see you know what you’re talking about, they’ll be more eager to tune into your content.
Create and Share Relevant Content
While your portfolio will show visitors what you get paid for, your content should display what you’re interested in and what you think others in your industry may also want to learn.
This relevant content won’t just drive organic traffic to your site, it will also position you as someone in-the-know within your niche.
Knowing what to share takes a bit of research and experimenting, but once you learn what your audience connects with, it will be easier to create content to keep them coming back for more.
Whether that’s sharing work challenges you overcame, your own hacks for greater productivity, or insight about emerging trends in your niche, your content will represent your own ideas and brand voice.
This goes a long way with hiring managers; if you’re willing to put in the work to get your content out there (for free), you’ll probably go above and beyond when you actually get paid to share and promote products, right?
Unfortunately, posting and sharing isn’t the final step of your content marketing strategy.
You also have to engage with your followers and community.
Start conversations and network with people in your industry.
Respond to readers who message or comment on your posts, tweet back if you’re retweeted, and reply to content posted by other influential thought leaders.
The more you get your name out there with valuable dialogue, the greater your chances of widening your network and landing more work.
Include Links to Your Sites When You Apply for Jobs
Creating your online brand will pay off when hiring managers, recruiters, and clients start offering you projects.
So whether you want to transition from full-time work to contract gigs or find a position at a large company, always include links to your website and social channels in your application, resume, and prospecting emails.
And don’t forget to check Fresh Gigs for the newest jobs in marketing, design, and technology in Canada.
Follow these tips and you’ll be miles ahead of your competition vying for the same in-demand positions.