Guest article. By Nick Usborne.

It takes courage to stand out on your own.

Particularly if you’re a solo professional of some kind… Like a freelancer, coach, consultant, therapist, or anyone else who works one-on-one with clients.

The safe way to sell yourself is to adopt the persona of others in your industry.

Look and sound like your fellow solo professionals.

If you’re a freelancer, you might model your website on those of other successful freelancers in your niche.

If you’re a consultant, you might take on the voice and tone of other successful consultants on social media.

If you’re sending out a series of emails to pitch your practice as a coach, maybe you’ll adopt the structure, tone and pace of others in your field.

Emulate the best of your peers and you’re following a proven path. Or, if not proven, at least well-trodden.

This is the safe, non-scary way.

But you emulate others at a cost.

The cost of emulating others is that you look and sound the same.

When you emulate others – because it’s the comfy thing to do – you fail to differentiate yourself and your services.

And if you fail to differentiate yourself… well, that’s tantamount to breaking pretty much every rule of marketing.

To market yourself and your services you HAVE to find some way to separate yourself from your crowd.

You have to give prospective clients a reason to look at you instead of others.

This is particularly true in markets that are competitive and noisy.

So… raise your hand if you work in a field that is competitive and noisy.

You do, right?

That’s the thing with the web and social media. There are a ton of competitors just one click away, and everyone is shouting and screaming to attract attention.

In other words, emulating others is no longer a viable option.

It makes no sense to look and sound the same as your competitors. You’ll just get lost in the noise.

You have to find a way to set yourself apart, in a way that matters to your prospects.

It’s time to step out from behind the curtain and show yourself.

Even when the services you offer are very similar to those of your competition, there is one point of real difference you can turn to.

And that point of difference is YOU.

Step out from behind the curtain and everything changes.

Show yourself. Let your prospects see you.

This is particularly important when you work with clients one-on-one.

It’s not enough that you tell them about your professional qualifications and experience.

They also want to get a sense of the real YOU.

Do they feel they can relate to you? Do they feel they can trust you? Would they feel comfortable working with you?

They can’t get answers to those questions if you hide behind your business. You need to step out front. Even if that feels scary. Even if it makes you feel vulnerable.

Write in your own voice, with a dash of extra caffeine.

You can step out in front of the curtain in a few different ways.

The first thing is to share a photo. Let people see you.

The second thing… a little scarier… is to shoot a video or two. This really helps people get a feel for you as a person.

And the third thing is to change how you write the text on your website, in your emails and on social media.

Don’t write like a marketer.

Don’t write like a “business person”.

Don’t write like an “accredited professional”.

Write like a person. Like YOU.

That doesn’t mean you should stop trying to be persuasive, or to stop selling.

But use your own voice.

Imagine yourself at you most enthusiastic, after a few too many coffees.

THAT version of yourself.

Write like that and you’ll have super-persuasive text that is unique and totally differentiates you from all your competitors.

Your own voice. At its most persuasive.

NOTE: Ready to try this at a professional-grade level? Find out more about my course on Conversational Copywriting…

Guest article by Nick Usborne, as seen on Conversational Copywriting online, March 15, 2019.