The Death of Generalist Content: Why Your Brand Needs Niche Authority

Generalist Content Is the Fast Track to Irrelevance

Back when the internet was a smaller place, being a generalist was fine. You could post tips on marketing, sprinkle in some motivational quotes, maybe chuck in a few lifestyle shots for good measure, and people would still follow along.

But now? That approach is dead. Oversaturated. Outdated. To be honest, full of content that’s either stale, irrelevant, or worse pushed by people who haven’t actually done the thing they’re teaching. That winds me up, as they are essentially playing with peoples businesses and offering advice not based on backed up fact.

In a recent episode of The Futur podcast (if you haven’t checked this out do so!), Chris Do said something that really hit home. He was talking about how, when he shows up whether it’s at a live event or on a podcast, he speaks from experience. Twenty-five years of graft, mistakes, wins, growing an agency from nothing. That’s what gives his advice weight. It’s lived.

Yet so many out there are desperate to teach before they’ve even done anything. Yes you’ve got to start somewhere, but show up as where you’re at. Be at the beginning. Share the journey. Grow with your audience. Don’t show up pretending you’ve already cracked it all when you’re still figuring out what gear you’re in. That’s not real, it’s just noise.

Anyway, I digress…

The Content Marketing Institute’s 2024 Report found that 78% of top-performing marketers focus on tightly defined audiences. Why? Because when you try to be for everyone, you end up being useful to no one.

Imagine you’re at a food market. One stall offers “Global Cuisine.” Another offers “Handmade Japanese Ramen from a 3rd Generation Chef.” Which one are you more likely to trust with your money?
It’s not just about what you say it’s about what people believe about you.

Why Niche Authority Wins Long-Term

Let’s flip the script. Brands that go deep into a niche, into a story, into a point of view, build trust.

We don’t follow creators or brands because they “know a little bit about everything.” We follow them because they know a lot about something we care about. I have experienced this myself with my boating content on Instagram. My following only show up for content about my boating overviews and car content. I can passively show my marketing insights, however the moment I share personal posts like wedding anniversaries and private events, my engagement dies. They are not following me for this and that’s ok. They come to your page because they know you are a person of influence within a niche. 

Think about your own feed. Who earns your attention? It’s the voice that says: “I know what you’re going through. I’ve been there. Here’s what helped me.”

That specificity is gold. It breeds relevance, relatability, and resonance.
And when you’re relevant, your content stops being noise and starts being nourishment.

The Most Powerful Brands Speak With Certainty

Here’s a test! Read your last three posts or pieces of content. Ask yourself:

• Could this have been written by my competitor?
• Would a stranger be able to tell what I stand for?
• Am I actually saying anything real?

If the answer is “maybe” or worse, “no idea,” then chances are you’ve fallen into the generalist trap.

And I get it. It feels safer. Less polarising. More “professional.” I myself have fallen into this trap! Self checking content against this test is such a good compass to staying focused. 

Being palatable isn’t the goal, being memorable is. The brands that win aren’t trying to be liked by everyone but more importantly, they’re obsessed with being unmissable to the right someone.

Take Tesla as example, whether you love or loathe Elon Musk, you know exactly what that brand represents: innovation, rebellion, acceleration, ambition. Nobody shrugs at Tesla, even if they don’t like the product. Even the most hardcore petrolhead can respect what the brand has achieved and stands for, even if it’s not for them.

Apply that to your content. Would anyone shrug after consuming yours?

How to Define (and Dominate) Your Niche

Now we’re into the practical. Let’s make this useful and give you some top tips:

1. Know Who You’re Talking To
   Build out an audience persona, sure. But go beyond age, job title, or location. Ask:
   What do they believe? What do they worry about? What do stand for?
   
2. Choose the Hill You’ll Die On
   Every brand has a soapbox, it’s just whether they choose to stand on it.
   What’s your opinion that goes against the grain? What’s your experience that others haven’t had?
   
   This isn’t about being contrarian for clicks. It’s about having something to say that people actually want to hear.
   
3. Audit Your Current Content
   Here’s a hard but necessary task: go through your last 10 posts. Highlight the ones that:
   Sound like everyone else, don’t support your brand message, feel safe, generic, or autopiloted.
   
   Archive or rewrite. Ruthlessly.
   
4. Start Creating for Depth, Not Just Reach
   One video that hits deep with your core audience is worth more than 10 surface-level ones that fade in 24 hours.

Create content that solves real problems and tells untold stories. Challenges the norms. Educates with bite. And yes, entertains without fluff and marketing waffle.

Real-World Example: How We See This Play Out

In our work across the marine and automotive industries, we’ve seen how quickly generalist content dies on the vine. When I have a new marketing team member join our squad, a lot of my work is consumed with removing the normal marketing cookie cutter techniques and muscle memory use of endless superlatives. I workshop with my team to find their core creativity and train and retrain. Like training a muscle group, through repetitive practice and training we can break free of old habits and then together we find the nuggets of gold and allow it to shine through. 

We’ve worked with brands that started by playing it safe. “Premium.” “Innovative.” “Industry-leading.” This to me is just buzzword soup.

But once they leaned into what made them weird, what made them disruptive, what made them specific, that’s when everything changed. Suddenly, engagement lifted. Press started calling. Partnerships landed. Sales started flowing. Because they finally meant something.

One performance boat company went from talking about specs to talking about why their factory is unique. And the shift? Night and day. People connected. Viewers saw the skill sets, the artisan people behind the brand, the facility, their unique approach. That’s what sells. In that case stated. The brand spent £25,000 with Tide during a “Factory Friday” campaign that brought in over 1 million dollars of revenue.

The Wrap-Up: Speak Like a Specialist, Not a Billboard

You don’t need more content, you just need more clarity. You don’t need to be everywhere, you just need to be essential somewhere.

Start thinking like the trusted voice in the room, not the one with the megaphone. Find your niche, crucially; own your niche, and speak with the kind of clarity that cuts through the fog.

Because in today’s noisy world, being a generalist is not just ineffective, it’s invisible.

Ready to sharpen your message and become unmissable? Hit us up. Let’s cut the fluff and get surgical.

Sources:

Content Marketing Institute, “2024 B2B Content Benchmarks”
CoSchedule: Repurposing Strategy Reports
Forbes: Brand Messaging Studies