7 Creative Strategies to Create More Captivating Content and Uncover Your Brand Differentiators

One of the challenges of being on a platform with amazing creators is it's so tempting to imitate the styles that seem to work for everyone else. You see the incredible storytelling and the even more incredible engagement and think, I want that too! Maybe I should just do what they’re doing.

I'm no different. In fact, I'm probably worse. As a content marketer, I've made my living by becoming a subject matter expert on wildly divergent topics, crafting distinctive style and brand guides for distinctive businesses, and imitating lots of voices. Heck, for seven years, I wrote from the perspective of a family of frogs and created personas for each of them—and that frog blog brought in over 1,000,000 page views a month! While that wasn’t imitation per se, it was about crafting a distinct voice and an even more killer set of content topics optimized for search.

While we can write about lots of topics, one thing I learned recently is that just writing about a popular topic might bring you more views , but it won’t necessarily bring you your people. That’s what we’re looking for here.

To achieve that, you really need to define and stay laser focused on your core goal. Often, it’s to drive people to your business, a product, a service, an offer, a book. But many of us instead get sucked into chasing shiny objects—like impressions and engagements—and forget about the true metrics—like leads and conversions. When we go chasing the false metrics, imitation starts looking more attractive.

And let's be real, imitating others has never been easier. With the proliferation of AI, many of us have lost sight of what constitutes imitation versus outright copying. A creator I follow on LinkedIn posted yesterday about confronting someone who had copied his post word for word. That person’s defense was “You don’t own the content you post here—it’s free to use!” And I’m sure lots of people think that.

But here’s the deal, the secret to standing out isn't just in doing what others do well; it's in finding your angle. Every business is unique, every brand is unique. Two people can look almost exactly alike on paper, with similar offerings and even the same audience, but have different goals, and that changes the entire approach to what and how we emphasize from a content standpoint.

I wrote a few weeks about how to craft your most authentic brand voice ; today’s piece is all about finding your unique angle and weaving it your content strategy. This ensures you're not just gaining followers, but attracting the right followers—those who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer.

This requires looking beyond what’s trending or what others are doing and figuring out what makes your brand different. What do you offer that no one else does? Maybe it’s a unique product feature, a revolutionary approach, or a major life event that changed your life.

After you uncover your distinct content topics, the ones that resonate most with your audience, you then find different ways to tell those stories. You want to go deep on the few core subjects you’re known for—this is what helps create brand stickiness. For example, since I’m in the early stages of growing my brand here on Substack and LinkedIn , I write transparently about what it’s like to grow at this stage—what works and what doesn’t. It’s why one of my recent pieces—what I learned in a year of writing about an unpopular topic —resonated so strongly with others. It’s all about finding your angle.

And, yes, there are lots of tried and true ways to find your unique value proposition, which can help you determine your content topics, and you've probably heard them all before. Go deep, analyze your skills and passions, mine your past for the qualities that set you apart from others, survey your audience, assess your market needs etc. These are all the right steps, they just aren’t all that fun to do unless you really nerd out on marketing like I do.

So, let's get a little more out of the box, shall we? Here are seven unconventional exercises to help you think differently about your brand differentiators and begin to put together your big content topics. By the way, if you have more ideas for unconventional exercises, I'd love to hear them. Ditto if you try any of these and want to share what you uncover about your business.

7 Creative Exercises to Uncover Your Brand Differentiators

1. Role Reversal

Pretend you are a customer of your own business or a reader of your own content. Write a detailed review of a core piece of your content from this perspective. What stands out? What seems to be missing? If you take a few pieces of content, you should begin to see some common denominators. Or you see what could be unifying content elements if only they were in there. This is an excellent exercise for your About page.

2. The "If I Were a ..." Game

Play a game where you compare your business to something completely unrelated, such as an animal, object, or famous character. For example, "If my business were a car, it would be a ________ because of _________, __________ and ________." This can help illuminate your strengths and unique qualities in a fun, creative way. Or maybe compare it to things you know well.

3. Reverse Brainstorming

Instead of thinking about what makes your offer great, consider all the reasons someone might not choose your product or service. For every reason listed, brainstorm how your brand could address these concerns. For example, someone might not choose my services because they aren’t the cheapest. What people are paying for is over 10 years of experience in crafting high-quality, consumer-first, search-optimized content. This reverse approach can highlight what makes you unique by forcing you to counter negative perceptions. I use a version of this exercise all the time when I'm defining my personal brand attributes.

4. Superhero Analogy

If your business were a superhero, what powers would it have? For example, super speed for fast service, or telepathy for understanding customer needs. Take it to the next level and imagine scenarios in which these superpowers solve problems for your clients, readers or customers. This can help clarify what makes your business powerful and different.

5. Alien Advantage

Imagine explaining your business to someone from another planet (sometimes explaining what we do does feel that way). What aspects would be the most difficult to explain, and why? What are the simplest ways to explain what you do? Often these simpler explanations are the most effective content “talking points” to attract your audience, perfect for a platform like LinkedIn, but further down the marketing funnel, you could get into more technical concepts. Use this exercise to help you create the next tagline for your business or refine your elevator pitch.

6. Future Headlines

Imagine the best possible future news for your business. Write the exact headlines you hope to see in five to 10 years. Don't hold back! Working backward from your future success can help you plot out the exact path you need to take to make it happen. You never know what can happen until you imagine it. This is a twist on one of my favorite manifestation exercises, Debbie Millman’s 10-Year Plan for a Remarkable Life .

7. Creative Campfire Storytelling

Gather a group of your most creative friends or family members and take turns telling the story of your business as if it were a myth or legend being shared around a campfire. Encourage embellishments. Listen for recurring themes or standout moments that ring true now. These offer clues about your core values and strengths.

The beauty of all these exercises is they get you thinking about your brand from different perspectives. And hopefully they spark some creative ideas to help you identify the types of stories you want to tell in the marketing of your business.

Now it’s your turn. I'd love to hear your creative ideas for thinking about your brand differentiators or any ahas that came from this post. Let me know in comments! Need help with your content strategy? Let’s chat !