Is Ali Abidaal a copycat?
A reflection on copy cats, original content and how you can stand out
Remember those school times where your classmate asks to copy your homework because his dog ate his(?). So I feel we are living in a similar time regarding content.
I recently posted a note that stirred opinions.
Dont get me wrong, I really like Ali Abidaal’s content. But I noticed he was doing what I’ve seen other top creators do:
Copying video titles.
Which makes me question if he did that video because he wanted to talk about it.
Or because his team researched and found out that it was trending, and he gave it a go.
Some people argued that this is what’s needed to stand out on Youtube (and probably other platforms)
Others agreed with my view that this kills originality.
So how can we balance originality and visibility?
I have some thoughts on that…
What if everybody look the same?
I am afraid that everybody soon will look and feel the same
IF everybody will have the same hooks, images, titles, headlines, etc, how will we be able to distinguish what’s worth opening?
If we add the AI situation it gets worse.
I believe we can have our unique mark in our content
Your ideas, your angles, your way of showing your work.
What to do instead?
I am not saying to ignore the psychology behind what works on the internet.
But we could strive to share more of our personal point of view.
It’s a mix of your POV, with the hard knowledge you have, and how you present them.
Everybody can talk about personal development.
But maybe you have a story that teaches a lesson about it plus you have this special ability to using illustrations.
(Topic) + (POV) + (Format)
Some examples:
(personal development) + ( story about when you broke a bad habit) + (illustrations)
(personal finance) + (how you went from broke to debt free) + (head talk video)
(sales) + ( how did you feel when you made your first sale) + (concrete poetry)
Repetition, repetition, repetition
Ok great, you got a cool format that you can own. Then what?
You need to repeat.
Repeat
Repeat
Repeat
Until people start recognizing you
(or you learn that that combination is not that interesting)
But you gotta repeat because this is how you create a brand.
Some people tell me when they see blue on the feed they think of me.
This was not like that on day one, but we are over day 365 so now I built this association on people’s minds.
At the end, is Ali Abidaal a copycat?
I dont think he is. He built his empire and he is very succesfull.
But this is not a game I'd like to play.
Resources & Links
This take on illustrating how to prioritize your tasks was super out of the box
Check Growth by Visuals if you enjoy visual concepts as much as I do
An eye-opening video on why customers don't buy from you
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