‘Rubbish’, I hear you say.

Well, you might think it’s hyperbole. But, before you run off and miss out, consider this…

FACT: There are people in the web design industry, and they need to do very little marketing. They don’t need to cold-call, print flyers, buy advertisements, or invest in PPC.

Why? Because, people go to them desperate for them to take on their project (take their money).

But, how do these web designers get there? How do they have people who have never worked with them frantically trying to get them to take their money and do their job?

I’ll tell you. They have established a brand.

Why you need a positive brand…

People trust brands. For example; I’ve never researched or tested to see if a supermarket branded cola is better than Coca Cola, but for some reason I believe Coca Cola is the better choice. I’ve no way of proving it’s the better choice, I just believe it is.

At the very least, I can justify my purchase of Coca Cola because it’s a safe choice.

Brands are a safety net. They often protect us from making a complete mistake. Is Daz washing powder better than Tesco Value washing powder? I don’t know, but I guess Daz is. Is a Seiko quartz better than a Pulsar quartz (owned by the same group)? I have never tested, but I trust the former more.

Some web designers have built such a brand around themselves, that people go to them because they’re simply the safe option. They’ve never conducted any in-depth test on their websites against websites developed by others, but they feel they’re the best for them.

They feel like they’re in safe hands with them.

This is precisely why you need a positive brand.

Do you have a brand?

Every web designer has an image. Within seconds of landing on your website, people will establish in their mind your image.

But, this isn’t a brand.

A brand is something which goes before you. People are often aware of it before they know anything about the company of their work.

Collis Ta’eed has established a brand. He doesn’t freelance anymore as far as I’m aware, but he/envato can start a blog and have almost 3,000 readers within ten posts. That’s a brand. Zeldman is a brand. Snook is a brand. Starting to get the picture?

The truth is, most web designers don’t have brand. Now, that’s better than a negative brand, but it’s not desirable if you’re serious about your work. Unless of course you enjoy spending time looking for work, rather than doing work.

If you’re to have people asking you to make time for their project, you need to establish a solid, positive brand.

How do you do that? Well, I’ll give you an excellent tactic…next time.

[Image credit]