Your content is putting people to sleep. I don’t care if you’re selling handmade soap, financial planning, a printer, or dog grooming services your social media looks exactly like everyone else’s, and it’s bloody tedious.
Go ahead. Look at your competitors’ feeds right now. I’ll wait.
See? The same staged photos. The same inspirational quotes about “passion and quality.” The same sanitised, personality-free drivel that could have been written a bot having an existential crisis.
The Great Business Autopilot Disaster
Every small business owner in the world has apparently attended the same secret marketing school where they learned to
- Post overhead shots of their workspace with a coffee cup strategically placed
- Share “behind the scenes” content that reveals absolutely nothing personal
- Write captions that sound like they were translated through Google Translate seventeen times or A.I.
- Use hashtags like #SmallBusiness and #Passion as if they mean something
Your audience can’t tell you apart from your competition because you’re all saying the same bloody thing in the same bloody way.
What Happened to Your Personality?
You had one when you started your business. You had opinions, quirks, a specific way of seeing your industry. You probably started your business because you were fed up with how everyone else was doing things.
So why does your marketing sound like everyone else?
The moment you decided to “be professional” online, you lobotomised your brand. You traded your distinctive voice for the safety of corporate speak. You chose beige because you thought it was safe.
Newsflash ⚡️Beige is not safe. Beige is invisible. (nothing against beige as a colour but you know what I mean).
The Content Factory Malfunction
Your content creation process probably goes like this:
- Panic because you haven’t posted today
- Look at what your competitors posted
- Create something similar but “different enough”
- Add inspirational caption about quality and customer service
- Wonder why nobody engages
This isn’t marketing.
The consumer isn’t an idiot, but you’re treating them like one. They can spot generic content from a mile away, and they scroll past it faster than you can say “authentic brand experience.” lol.
What Your Customers Actually Want
They don’t want another perfectly curated feed. They want to know.
- Who are you really? Not your mission statement—YOU.
- What do you actually think? About your industry, your competitors, your customers’ biggest mistakes.
- What went wrong? Your failures are more interesting than your successes.
- What makes you different? And “quality and customer service” is not an answer.
Your customers are drowning in identical options. They’re not looking for another business, they’re looking for someone who gets them, someone with a point of view, someone memorable.
The Boring Content Hall of Shame
The Lifestyle Shot: Your product next to a plant and a laptop. Revolutionary.
The Motivation Monday: Another sunset with text about “following your dreams.” How original.
The Behind-the-Scenes: A photo of your hands working, revealing nothing about your process, personality, or perspective.
The Customer Feature: A generic testimonial that could apply to any business in your category.
The Educational Post: Tips so generic they could have come from a 1995 business textbook.
The Real Reason You’re Boring
You’re terrified. Terrified of offending someone, terrified of standing out, terrified of being wrong, terrified of being judged.
So you’ve chosen the safety of mediocrity. You’ve decided it’s better to blend in than risk criticism.
Here’s the thing about playing it safe. Safe content gets safe results. Safe content builds safe, forgettable businesses.
If you want extraordinary results, you need to be willing to be extraordinary. And extraordinary means different. Opinionated. Memorable. Sometimes wrong. Always human.
How to Stop Being Boring.
Have an opinion about something. Love something your competitors ignore. Take a stand on something that matters to your customers.
Share your disasters. The client from hell. The project that went sideways. The time you completely screwed up and what you learned. These stories are marketing gold.
Stop writing like a corporation. Use “I” instead of “we.” Use contractions. Swear occasionally if that’s who you are. Write like you’re talking to your favourite customer over coffee.
Question the norm. What is everyone doing wrong? What outdated practice needs to die? What do you do completely differently and why?
Show your real workspace. Not the magazine on the coffee table, the actual messy, lived in space where you do your real work.
Talk about what you’re learning. Not what you’ve mastered, what you’re figuring out. Your journey is more interesting than your destination.
The Content That Actually Works
The best content doesn’t feel like marketing. It feels like getting advice from someone you trust, someone who’s been where you are, someone who tells you what you need to hear instead of what you want to hear.
It’s specific, not generic. Personal, not corporate. Helpful, not promotional. It makes people think, “Finally, someone who gets it.”
Your content should make people choose you not because you’re the cheapest or most convenient, but because you’re the only one who understands them.
Your New Content Strategy
- Audit your last month of content. If any of your posts could work for your competitors, delete them and start over.
- List five opinions you have about your industry. Turn each one into content that takes a clear position.
- Write like you talk. Read your captions out loud. If you wouldn’t say it in person, don’t post it.
- Share one failure this week. Make it specific. Make it human. Make it about what you learned.
- Stop asking what you should post. Start asking what story you’re dying to tell, what opinion you’re dying to share, what problem you’re dying to solve.
The End
Your customers are not looking for perfection. They’re looking for connection. They’re not buying your product, they’re buying your perspective, your approach, your solution to their specific problem.
They can’t buy any of that if you sound like everyone else.
Stop being safe. Stop being boring. Stop being forgettable.
Your business is unique. Your content should be too. Need help?
