Struggling to stand out online? You’re probably making one of these 9 mistakes

The online world is a noisy place these days—especially social media. You can't just follow, comment and hope anymore—those days are over. In today's episode, I'm sharing 9 of the most common mistakes business owners are making if they're struggling to stand out online—and you may be surprised!

– Why trying to talk to and resonate with everyone will mean you'll end up talking to and resonating with no-one in particular.
– Why really understanding your clients' own language around the problems they have, will better place you as the expert—not because of what you know, but because they'll see that you understand them.
– The importance of having a crystal clear message with obvious “points of difference” to others in your industry.
– How using consistency to grow your audience over time means showing up—even when you don't feel like it.
– Why social media is no longer the “be all and end all” for reaching your audience and other options you can use instead.

 

 
Today, I'm chatting about one of the topics I know you all love to hear about because I know the online world is pretty noisy these days, especially social media. It hasn't always been this way. 

So if you are struggling to stand out online, let's have a look today at some of the mistakes that you might be making that are making it harder for you to stand out and reach new people with your business.

 

Mistake #1: You are not clear on who you are talking to. 

If you try to talk to everybody and your content is trying to resonate with everyone, it will end up resonating with nobody in particular. Imagine you are scrolling through a news site or scrolling through Instagram and you see an ad that's like attention everybody. You're probably going to keep scrolling versus if you saw an ad that's like attention, people who live in your suburb. 

How are you more likely to pay attention? Probably the second one, right? You're like, Oh, I live in that suburb. I live in that area. I need to pay attention to this. 

You might have noticed this as well if you're scrolling through a news site or watching the news anywhere and you see a headline that has something that's relevant to you, whether it's about your area, whether it's about a subject matter you're interested in, you're much more likely to pay attention to that than you are to pay attention to something that's just really general and vague and doesn't really apply to you.

And I know that narrowing down and getting clear on who you are talking to feels challenging because it can seem like you are limiting your audience by only speaking to one specific group of people, but no, you are definitely not limiting your audience.

When you get crystal clear on the one client that you are talking to, then it means you're able to use language that can grab their attention and that can hook them in to keep on reading or keep on listening and it's not about having a clever copy or funny copy or being really witty or using the right hook words or the right colours or anything like that.

It's purely about using language that resonates with the right people. And it's going to only resonate with the right people and it's not going to resonate with the wrong people and this can feel really hard.

 

Mistake #2: You aren't meeting your ideal client where they are at right now.

So think about this. What is your ideal client's current relationship to the problems that your offers solve? Do they know that they have a problem? Do they currently believe that it's possible for them to solve this problem?

Because if you share content that is talking about a solution to their problem, and they don't yet know that they even have a problem, or the problem that they think they have isn't the actual problem that they have, then they're going to keep scrolling because they're going to be like, Oh, that's not relevant for me. It's not going to work for me. 

So a really great tip to stand out online is to do some audience research. Ask specific questions about the problem they are experiencing. Pay attention to the words that they use and focus on how you can meet your ideal clients where they are currently at rather than where you want them to be. 

You might want them to already know about the problem and know what the actual problem they have is and know that it's possible to solve it. But in reality, if they don't, if they're not at this stage, they're not going to move to where you are and meet you where you are at. You need to move to where they are and use messaging and create content that meets them where they are currently at.

 

Mistake #3: You are speaking in an expert language. 

You are the expert in whatever area you're in. Even if you don't call yourself an expert, you are still an expert compared with your ideal client. You know a whole lot more than your ideal client does about whatever it is that you are talking about. And the super common mistake here is talking to your ideal client as if they know as much about the problem and the solution to the problem. 

As the person who is in that situation experiencing that problem is probably very different from the problem that you as the expert know is the real problem.

The other mistake that might happen if you are really good at what you do or you know a lot about what you do, is trying to prove how much you know. And this is a mistake because your ideal client is probably not going to choose to work with you based on how much you know. They don't want to work with the person who they think knows the most. They would rather work with the person who they feel understands them the best, who understands their situation, and who they feel can solve their problem in their particular situation. 

 

Mistake #4: You aren't clear on your points of difference. 

If you're not standing out online, it could be that there is no reason why you should stand out online.

Your industry might be super crowded and if there's no clear difference between you and everybody else in your space, then why would you stand out? Of course, you're just going to blend in because there's no difference. What is it that makes you different? Why should someone listen to you rather than anybody else in your industry?

It could be that your experience is unique. Maybe you have a unique blend of life or career experiences. Maybe you take a stand for something. Maybe your approach or your methodology is different. What is it that makes you different? Why should someone choose to work with you, but also choose to consume your free content over others in your industry?

 

Mistake #5: Your messaging is murky. 

So when I talk about messaging, what I'm really talking about here is how you communicate. What you do in a way that makes the right people pay attention. That's what I'm referring to when I say messaging. And one of the most effective ways to stand out online is to get crystal clear on your messaging because if you can get the right message in front of the right people at the right time, that's when they're going to stop scrolling and pay attention.

So really think about how you answer the question, what do you do? Who do you serve? What problem do you solve? What transformation do you deliver? Because how you answer these questions, that's your messaging. That's a huge part of the foundations of your messaging. 

 

Mistake #6: You're emulating what's working for others in your industry.

Now, if you are sharing content that is similar to what other people are doing, why on earth should somebody follow you rather than the people they are already following? 

I know it can be really tempting to look sideways and see like, Oh, this competitor is doing reels with this format or around this topic, and they're working really well. They're getting lots of views. So maybe I should be doing that as well. Here's the thing. Just because it's working for a competitor or for somebody else online, it might not even be somebody in your same industry, but just because it's working for them doesn't necessarily mean it's going to work for you.

It might be that reels are working really well for them, but you hate doing video and it takes you so long to do video that you stick with it for a week and then you give up because you just don't have the time. And this is the thing, right? You need to be playing to your strengths rather than playing to what you think is working well in general.

 

Mistake #7: Your content isn't remarkable.

There is so much more content than we could ever possibly consume in our lifetime. So it's no longer about creating content for the sake of posting something, but instead creating content that has an impact on the right people. 

 

Mistake #8: You aren't being consistent with your content.

Consistency over time is how growth happens. This podcast didn't get to 2 million downloads because I only share episodes when I feel like it. It got to 2 million downloads because I share an episode every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, even when I don't feel like it but I'm doing it because I'm committed to showing up consistently with this show. And same with Instagram, same with my email list. I haven't grown them and nurtured them just by showing up when I feel like it. I show up when I don't feel like it because I prioritise it. It's on my calendar. It's on my to-do list. And that is really the only hack for consistency. 

Even when I'm busy, even when I have a million other things on my plate, even when I would rather focus on shiny, fun things. I know this is something that is worth my time and attention and because of that consistency, this show now gets more than 2000 downloads daily. 

 

Mistake #9: You are relying on the algorithm alone to reach new people.

Now, organic audience growth isn't just about showing up on social media more. It's not about posting more. Maybe a few years ago, yeah, that would have worked. Engaging with people on social media and sharing more content might've got you more followers. But these days it's actually about finding people outside of social media and thinking of your social media audiences as a nurturing tool. 

So you might be going and speaking at events or doing interviews on podcasts or pitching for media or teaching to people's communities and courses and memberships. And then as the call to action, you send them to join your email list or follow you on Instagram. And then the content that you are sharing there is a nurturing tool. Now, posting to Instagram or posting wherever you are on social media feels really easy compared with doing the things that actually help you to reach new people. And that's why so many of you are struggling to grow your reach because the things that actually get you in front of new people feel really scary. 

Standing on a stage and talking to people, whether it's a virtual stage or an in-person stage is terrifying compared with putting up another Instagram post. Reaching out for collaboration is scary because you might get rejected. So it's easier to just put up another social media post. 

But guess what? 

These things will get a lot more people into your audience and you can nurture them and you can start to build that momentum. And then once you have that momentum and you've got a bit more budget, then you can invest in paid ads, and that'll help you to scale your growth a little bit faster. 

 

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