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The moment an entrepreneur decides to launch a side gig, it’s rarely on a whim. The decision to launch a business might be sudden, but the driving force behind launching that business didn’t come overnight. Usually, they’ve had an idea cooking up for some time and finally decided to shoot for the stars. 

While most of us visionaries love to dream, most of us are pragmatic enough to know that a brilliant idea alone isn’t enough to ensure success. Changing the world with your product, service, or message takes some deliberate developments. 

Brand-building has a reputation as one of the most important components of a business, and it’s not without merit. Building a brand can make or break your side gig—it’s essentially what determines its reputation to the average joe. It’s why people associate certain services with your business. More importantly, it’s the difference between a prospect choosing you over your competitors. 

So, let’s get into it. How do you build your side gig’s brand?

Consistency is Key!

In this day and age, we all need to be building our online presence. Digital marketing is one of the biggest assets for any business’s brand. 

If you’re reading this, you’re savvier than most entrepreneurs. I’m going to assume you’re sending content out to your followers (or, at least, I really hope so). So, we’ll skip the whole spiel about increasing online engagement and establishing an online presence through effective marketing. If you’re interested in that type of content, you can poke around my social media channels, surf this website, or buy my book…

I strongly recommend getting your followers on a regular schedule. If they can expect a video or a blog post weekly, then they’ll be prepared to tune in or read when you post it. 

There are two types of habits that your followers will take up if you offer a regular schedule of valuable content. First, if they really love your content, every notification will garner some attention from them. Second, if they’re busy bees, they can’t tune in to each post. But they’ll know that you’ve posted it and they’ll look at the post later.

Habits aside, consistency is going to get your content in front of people. You don’t want to spam people, but a steady stream of valuable content is a sure-fire way to bolster your brand’s visibility and increase brand awareness. Your followers will be more likely to come across your post—even if they aren’t actively seeking it out. 

If you’re posting on a Facebook group, for example, consistent posts are going to show up on their newsfeed at some point or another and they’ll see it. If it’s a blog, people are more likely to see your posts when they search on Google (trust me, Google loves putting new content up at the top of the search results).

Be Helpful!

The difference between a side gig and a hobby is that a side gig services others—not just yourself. So, it goes without saying that your side gig is helpful in so many ways.

However, it’s important to play upon your helpfulness if you want to position your brand in the best light. If you can establish yourself as a person who can offer much-needed insight, it’ll do wonders for how others perceive you. It’ll create a heartwarming connection that goes deeper than networking. People will see you as focused on more than selling—they’ll see you as a resource, a person of value, and more.

For example, you can actively post advice on social media pages. Becoming a consistent source of helpful content just requires racking your brain and thinking of unique tips and tricks you can offer to other like-minded professionals. If you do, people will think of your brand as actively helpful which will, in turn, bolster its reputation.

Make sure the advice and tips you are active with aren’t vague and irrelevant, though. Be thorough and take your time to try and help people out with your knowledge. It shouldn’t take long. I’ll come up with three examples of Twitter posts—right now—just to set an example: 

• If you can become a consistent source of helpful advice by posting valuable content frequently, then people are going to associate your brand with helpful content that they can confide in for advice. (199 characters)
• Building a personal brand enables you to grow your audience, establish yourself as an expert, and get more clients. Without a personal brand, your business wouldn’t be distinguished from other businesses in your industry. A personal brand is how you stand out. (260 characters)
• Work alongside other influencers to build your brand. If you have a podcast, blog, or group, then invite other influencers to build their brand on your platforms and they’ll invite you to do the same. You’ll expand your reach. (226 characters)

These are tips that sit in the back of my mind as an “industry influencer,” but they might be helpful tidbits to you. See how it works?

The more helpful you are, the more people will know, like, and trust you. Their friends and family might even start following your blog or your podcast. Maybe they’ll rave about you to a friend. Maybe they’ll hire you for your services or buy your products. Either way, helpful content means you’re building your brand for the better.

Be Visible to the Right Audience

There’s a difference between being consistent and spamming folks. It all boils down to the audience. Before you start getting in front of people, it’s imperative to make sure you’re getting in front of the right people. 

You can put your brand in front of a million people but if they aren’t going to be interested in what products or services you offer then there’s no point. They’ll probably just think of your content as spam and ignore it.

Be selective with who you get visible to. Put yourself in front of the right people who will be interested in what you’re offering. If you do that you’ll build your brand with an audience that will be receptive to it. 

For example, I built my side gig—Nifty Thrifty Dentists—into a booming enterprise by getting deals in front of the faces of fellow dental professionals. If I came to a Real Estate Facebook group and started posting content about Conebeams or Bitewings, however, it’d be a different story, wouldn’t it? 

Start Getting Visible and Build Your Brand!

Building your brand is about communicating value so well that your company becomes the knee-jerk solution.

If you’re posting your content to the wrong people then being consistent and active will be annoying to them. If you put yourself in front of the right audience, however, they’ll be much more receptive to whatever you’re posting. Follow the advice, above, and you should be able to overcome those factors.

You don’t need to post everything yourself, though—in fact, I’d strongly recommend outsourcing any low-level stuff like that. I’m a big fan of All-Star Outsourcing, where A-player team members can be hired on a project-to-project basis to deliver stellar results. Give them a try!