Small business? Solopreneur? You can’t brand like a beer company.

Brand your business when the brand is YOU.

Photo by Adam Wilson on Unsplash.

You can’t brand like a beer company…or a cola company.

The most important — and noticeable — difference is that the brand is YOU for a solopreneur. You’re not selling chemicals in water, like a beer company. You’re selling yourself. That means you must promote yourself as an expert without sounding like a conceited jerk. And you don’t have a lot of helpful guidance.

I discovered this myself when I was a new solopreneur.. My first website focused on midlife career change. It’s still up, and I get an occasional client now and then.

While learning to market that site, I took a copywriting course from a brand-new copywriter…and got hooked. I’ve always been a writer, so this step felt natural.

This time around I knew just enough about marketing to be dangerous. When I first set up shop online as a copywriter, I branded my business “Copy-Cat Copywriting.” A publicist had named her business The Publicity Hound so I thought…why not?

Many experienced marketers loved the name. It was clever and catchy, they said.

For instance, I met a high-powered “branding expert” at a networking event. He got excited about the concept. He suggested taking it…