Unpopular opinion: Don't worry about being popular.
Worry about being different.
I know that’s easier said than done, especially when all you see on social media is, “Copy my hack to make 10K every month! Steal my templates and gain 100K followers! Follow this one marketing secret and become bigger than Beyonce!”
All lies.
All wrong.
The best way to stand out in your writing is to be different.
With one very BIG caveat:
You have to deliver value.
So here’s 3 ways to do this online or in your book…
1. Be vulnerable.
Share a failure. Share a mistake. Click "post" when it kind of hurts. Instead of being shunned, you'll find you give others the bravery to share, too. You'll help de-stigmatize imperfection.
2. Be contrarian.
What is everyone else saying that conflicts with your experience? This might actually be your superpower. (Caveat: contrarian doesn't mean argumentative. Opinions are wonderful inventions.)
3. Be specific.
In an age of vague platitudes and cliché anecdotes, defy the norm by being specific. Use the real conversation you had this week. Use the examples that come directly from your own experience.
Conventional wisdom is to take advantage of broad topics and language to appeal to everyone. But conventional wisdom is, well, conventional. And who wants to be conventional?
If you do these, you'll stand out. In a crowded marketplace filled with the noise from an echo chamber, that's not a bad thing.
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