Ignore Traditional Branding Advice—This Is How You Authentically Stand Out In a Noisy World

Build your reputation by running your own race.

I’ve been a full-time content creator for the past five years.

I built an audience of over 82k followers on Medium, serve 35k subscribers through my newsletters, and run a community with over 10k writers.

Just like most creators, I didn’t build any of this by following a masterplan. It happened step by step.

I started to share my thoughts, knowledge, and expertise online because I was curious. I wanted to see if content creation could be my thing, and writing felt like the right medium to explore.

I didn’t have a job in marketing or previous experience that helped me make smart decisions, so I built my business and brand by making lots of mistakes along the way.

When we talk about branding, most people think about logos, slogans, typography, or packaging, but that’s not what branding is. At least not for creators and creative entrepreneurs.

For us, part of branding is the sum of impressions we make on our (desired) audience.

According to Marty Neumeier, author of The Brand Gap, your brand is a result:

“It’s a customer’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. It ends up in their heads and hearts. They take whatever raw materials you throw at them and they make something out of it. THEY are making it.”

He emphasizes that you’re not creating one brand but millions of it — depending on how many people you reach. Everyone who consumes your content has a different brand (aka perception) of you.

According to this definition, your brand is your reputation, which clarifies why different people might think differently about you and your business.

As content entrepreneurs and creators, we’re creating mini impressions of who we are and what we do all the time.

The nature of our businesses is content, so we give our (preferred) audience a lot of insights to process and create a brand (aka gut feeling) of who we are and what we do.

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Why Do You Do (And Love) What You Do?

Let me start by sharing two truths about building a content business in 2025 and beyond:

• Creating content has never been easier.

• Standing out as a creator has never been harder.

The online world is crowded and starting out with a following of zero people and no experience is scary.

If you analyze creators who’ve built huge audiences, you’ll always discover that they’ve been in the game for a long, long time.

If you’re a beginner, you’re inevitably competing with everyone who’s creating content. You have microseconds to convince internet users that your content is worth paying attention to. It’s tough.

But wanna know what makes the journey a whole lot harder?

Being generic, wanting to be perfect, or trying to be just like someone else.

The days of building huge audiences through copy-paste content are gone.

People want personality, depth, and imperfections.

Your audience won’t just follow you because your content is great. They’ll follow you because you are uniquely you.

We want to feel a sense of connection with the creators we follow and support.

We want to feel like we know them and agree with them.

We’re not looking for gurus but for friends who gently support our journey, inspire us, or just entertain us.

Sahil Bloom shares videos of his son to constantly remind his audience of one of his core messages: Being a “time billionaire” to spend time with your loved ones before it’s too late.

Justin Welsh does nothing but talk about Solopreneurship, which represents his idea of a perfect business that allows him to live without taking care of anyone but himself:

When you allow yourself to talk about what matters to you, you’re not putting on a mask or costume. You’re being authentically you and speaking to people who might think and feel the same way.

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Your Energy Is Your Biggest Magnet

To grow a significant audience, you need to know who you want to attract and create content that’s appealing to your target audience— over and over and over again.

The good news is, that’s it.

You don’t have to pretend to be someone you’re not.

You don’t have to get everything right.

You don’t have to be present on every social channel that exists.

The easiest way to attract an audience that’ll resonate with your message is by being unapologetically you.

There’s room for loud, aggressive brands, just like there’s room for calm, thoughtful, and shy personalities.

You don’t have to be loud to stand out. You don’t have to be omnipresent to build a thriving content business.

Building a memorable creator brand isn’t black or white. There are nuances. And you’re allowed to decide what’s right for you.

Creative director Hillary Weiss describes herself as a Godzilla of a personality stomping off a screen, and shares that message on her website:

There are people who love her big, loud, aggressive energy and who happily pay for her advice, and there are people who’d run away screaming for help when they see Hillary’s website. And it’s not just her — this is true for anyone.