How to Sound Like Everybody Else

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First, read everything your competitors read. The same newsletters, the same LinkedIn posts, the same headlines. Take the same courses from the same gurus and guides. Use the same platforms and technology. Cut the noise, stick to the “right” inputs so you’re up-to-date on exclusively your own industry. 

Next, let it all marinate and come up with your big “aha” revelation. Post on LinkedIn, maybe Substack, redo your branding, update your mission statement. Pull the loudest data points from each of your verified sources to ensure you don’t say anything too new. 

Shortcut: Ask AI to do it! The sum total of your corner of the internet is the perfect way to average out your brand. 

And viola, a brand voice that will sound almost exactly like your competitors. 

Just kidding! 

I don’t mean to be flip – it is imperative to keep up with your industry’s news. It’s wise to find efficiencies in your workflow.

You have your own perspective that might feel like a huge differentiator when you’re in the weeds. But your audience isn’t in the thick of it with you. No one cares about your brand as much as you do and for consumer brands, most of the time they aren’t going to be an expert. 

**Disclaimer: there is a time and place to fit in. Signaling to your audience which shelf you sit on, which language you’re speaking, especially for a new brand, will help anchor what you’re offering. Also – some industries are speaking to an audience deep in the weeds with them – we’re not talking about your right now!

But when it comes down to communicating differentiators, sameness hurts. If you’ve ever had a glorious shower thought only to open your laptop and find someone else already did basically that already, it’s not you, it’s your input and your tools, not your brand or your brain. 

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Here’s how to actually find your brand’s voice: 

1. Deviate from the suggested reading list. Try a publication or Substack outside your industry – pad your brain bank with something your competitors don’t have. 

2. Demote AI in your process (or at least use it differently). Using AI for research is a fine first step, but it’s pulling all the same info your competitors are asking for. Using it to synthesize and spit out insights (or worse, actual brand direction) means accepting the sum of your competitors as your own truth. Remember, AI isn’t thinking, it’s averaging. 

3. Bring in outside voices. A consultant, a freelancer, a new hire with experience outside your industry. 

If you got a crushing sense of “how am I going to find the time for that” reading one and two, number three is probably the fastest way to get there. 

It feels counterintuitive to outsource your own voice. But someone who already has their brain tank stuffed with news, stats, insights from other places is going to breathe fresh perspective into your brand with a lot less legwork from you.