A simple guide to making your content authentic and feel like ‘you’.

What is commodity content?

A commodity is anything produced in mass and easily substituted.

For example, coffee.

Yes, the amazing coffee beans were rare and exciting in the 15th century. Before everyone else started growing it and now it is (arguably) more or less the same everywhere.

Not just coffee, these include oil, wheat, corn, gas, etc. Things that do not matter where you get them from.

Okay. This is not economic 101. So I will stop there.

My point is everything started out as being new, authentic, and exciting.

Until it isn’t. Until everyone else begins producing the same things, flooding the market with so-so products.

The term ‘commodity’ can also be applied to the digital age.

Want another example? Here you go: “listicle”.

Listicle was a great idea when introduced. Now, it is a commodity.

Take a look at the Google search results for the search term “how to run marathons”.

Every page is filled with listicles. Because Google wants it. And the content, despite coming from various sources, is more or less the same.

If I search for tips to be healthy, the top of the list says ‘drink water’. I will bounce. Fast.

Call me impatient. But I know I’m only patient with things deserving my patience. And those do not include lame content and advice.

I want something different. Something actually helpful.

The trap

Before producing any piece of content, I don’t imagine you telling yourself that “I will produce a piece of commodity content today. Something generic and mediocre”.

No. No. And No.

I know you are better than that.

You want to create something that is unique.

You want to create something new and extraordinary. Something remarkably different than what is already out there.

But it just happens so often that we fall into that commodity trap without us realizing it. With ‘we’ I meant me included.

Why?

Because we follow the common advice of trying to learn from others. It seems like sound advice, but it isn’t. Because at times, it becomes ‘copying’ others.

As a marketer, I have heard again and again that in order to rank on the top page of search results, you need to know how the top pages are performing. Then you replicate them and try to be just a little better.

If top pages include listicles in their posts, you should do the same. If they include videos, you should do the same.

Improve here and there. Tweak here and there. Just a little better then you are good to go.

If your plan is to be like everyone else, then you’re heading the right way.

But if that makes you frown, there’s a better way. To stand out. And be actually better.

Instead of striving to be better, strive to be different. It’s easier.

The best part? that might lead to becoming remarkably better. Not just better.

How to avoid the commodity trap and produce exceptional content

#1 — Understanding the situation

Before you can produce exceptional content. You need to know what is already out there. So you can avoid being another drop in the ocean.

It’s time to do a little digging.

Writing about tech? Google to see what are the common topics and how other websites organize their content.

Designing a course? Research what others have taught of similar topics — their structure, and their substance.

Creating a digital product? Find out what’s already available. Fully understand your competitors.

While this sounds like a no-brainer, it is surprising how many people don’t do their homework. They mindlessly create whatever they like instead. Then realize it’s the same as everyone else, which doesn’t add any new value.

You don’t want that.

This is straightforward advice. But essential.

#2 — Understanding your audience

If you’re an entrepreneur, here’s a word that you have heard over and over: ‘Customer-centric’.

Familiar?

People keep stressing about that for good reasons. Because it’s true.

Your audience should be at the core of everything you do. We as content creators (you and me — hello fellas) are striving our best to serve the audience.

Such as this post, I’m not writing a diary. I’m writing this for you. I want to help you produce excellent content.

I’m practicing my own advice so it helps me too.

But in order to best serve you as my audience, I need to understand that you’re busy. You want something short and on point. So I’m not drowning you with irrelevant research and stories.

Plus, Medium isn’t the NY Times. Hence the casual writing tone.

Back to my point, say you’re growing a wine blog and planning to write about how to select wine for the winter holidays. You do your due diligence and notice that everyone is writing blog posts analyzing different brands. But you know that educating customers on the ingredients and other factors such as region, types of grapes used, etc. would be more helpful.

That’s a good place to start.

Recognize what your audience needs. Then serve them the best content accordingly. Don’t blindly follow what is already out there.

More often than not, it brings you sweet outcomes as the result. Simply by understanding and keeping your audience in mind.

More importantly, don’t be afraid the be entirely different from your competitors.

#3 — Breaking the patterns

Now. This is the secret ingredient. This is the essence of breaking out of the commodity content trap.

Nobody ever becomes remarkable by being the same as everyone else.

Prove me wrong!

Any exceptional person, an exceptional piece of content, or an exceptional product is different than most, if not all the rest.

When Blackberry was dominating the phone market with their Qwerty keyboard, Apple introduced iPhone with a touchscreen.

When most brands try to shout their names to customers, asking them to buy, HubSpot let customers come naturally to them. HubSpot (a cloud-based marketing software solution) attracted its customers by providing tremendously helpful content on its blog. People like the brand before engaging with the products. Btw, it’s called inbound marketing.

When most singers try to shout, Billy Eilish chooses to whisper. She lowers her voice and people lean in to listen. Billy has a completely different approach. She broke the pattern. And it worked.

Back to the wine example: while most sites write blog posts, you should try embedding videos instead. Or interviews. Or wine games. Or quizzes. Or anything else you can think of. Get creative.

Venture into the unknown. Try something new.

Break the patterns.

That is how you stand out from the rest. That is how you get ahead of the game.

And that is how you can break out of the commodity content trap.

Remember step #1 — understanding the situation? Now is the time to put that knowledge into use.

Final words

4.4 million blog posts are produced daily across platforms.

500 hours of youtube videos uploaded every minute.

An enormous amount of content is produced every day, every hour, and every minute. This makes any piece of content quickly become a commodity. Anything you produce can be drowned with dozens of others.

But you can always get ahead of the game. Stay relevant and stay on top by breaking out of the content commodity trap.

1. Know what is out there
2. Understand fully well who you are trying to serve
3. Break the patterns

This is how you produce ‘original’ content, ‘authentic’ content, content that feels like ‘you’.

Happy creating!