How to find your unique positioning

When you think of shiny object syndrome, you probably imagine a naive teenager switching business models every 2 months.

Or you reflect on how you feel when you see a reel about a 19 year old who somehow became a millionaire from e-com in 6 months (he’s talking about gross sales).

But what you probably DON’T think about is your shiny object syndrome when it comes to your own video content.

I see this all the time when we onboard new clients.

Their channel looks like a demented Frankenstein baby composed of inspiration from other peoples’ videos, with no interesting approach taken whatsoever.

I’m talking titles copied to the T, giant glaring “POV” text on their thumbnails, and mouths so wide open you could fit a pause in there.

They’re so deep into “studying winning content” that they haven’t considered how they can insert their own unique positioning.

You can steal winning ideas from other creators all you want…

But if you can’t figure a way to iterate and improve upon those ideas, you’re toast.

I’m going to share a few examples of unique positioning with you, but first let’s get clear on what “unique positioning” actually means:

• Telling a story no one else can copy, because it’s a product of your life experiences

• Sharing insights you’ve learned from being around other high-level people in rooms few others can access (borrowed credibility)

• Using powerful descriptive language and analogies to simplify complex ideas

• Manipulating the setting in which your content is shot (pattern interrupt)

• Using the “shock factor” in your titles and thumbnails, either by making a provocative claim, asking an important question, or leading with a bold number

Now that you have some context, here are some examples of this in practice.

1) Mark Builds Brands

Mark Studer is a good friend of mine who I originally met back in early 2024 when I still lived in Miami.

Back then he was very much the “behind the scenes guy” for a well-known offer in the dropshipping/e-com space.

But around November 2024 we got into a deep conversation about content and he asked me what he should do with his YouTube channel (only had a few thousand subscribers at the time).

I explained to him that he had way more credibility than 95% of the dropshipping space and should 100% lean into that with his YouTube strategy.

Rather than taking the traditional “ecom guru” approach of gatekeeping information in the title and thumbnail, I advised him to be extremely direct.

By direct, I mean being transparent as possible about his numbers to the dollar amount in his packaging, something most people in the space are unable to do.

He did exactly that…

And the first “new” video he posted to his channel since the last one 4 months prior blew TF up.

Mark was smart and doubled down on the momentum.

He continued to play on this “winning format” rather than try a million new things.

With just 1 simple format, he grew his channel from just over 3k subscribers to over 41k subscribers over the course of 5 months…

And booked an ungodly amount of calls in the process.

(I can’t take all the credit for his YouTube come-up as he is one of the brightest people I know in the ecom space and leads with so much value in his videos.)

2) Cam Meunier (my business partner lol)

This is another crystal clear example of someone thriving off one format through discovering their “edge.”

In taking a look at the videography/content agency market, we recognized that most of the content was centered around:

• How to get clients

• The “best” outreach strategies to get clients

• How to price your work appropriately

This gave us an idea of what videos already had existing demand so we didn’t have to “guess” what people cared about.

We didn’t reinvent the wheel around the topics covered…

But instead, innovated on the presentation and execution on said topics.

We did this through:

• Demonstrating our credibility within the first 30 seconds of episode 1, sharing that we have a content agency that does ~$1M annually

• SHOWING the “best outreach method” in practice (for us, it was free work) rather than just telling people it was the best

• Combining education + entertainment through the dynamic vlog style of content (constantly changing environment while providing value throughout)

• Manufacturing “stakes” to create buy-in from the audience (“I’m challenging myself to get to $10,000 in 30 days”)

• Building a clear storyline that people could follow along with

If there’s anything I want you to take from today’s email, it’s that it doesn’t matter how good you are at “stealing ideas” if you don’t know how to spin them to your advantage.

Start figuring out how you can differentiate yourself from the rest of the market so you don’t just look like a Walmart version of someone else who’s doing it bigger and better than you.

-Presley

Work With Us:

The Clip Curator: Our DFY YouTube agency for B2B service providers, coaches, and consultants doing $100k/mo+

Leveraged Creator: Coaching for videographers and content agencies looking to sign clients and scale their business