Your Remarkable Content Angles: How to Stand Out With Content That’s Uniquely You

In today’s fast-paced business environment…

You probably rolled your eyes when you read this, right? I sure did when I wrote it. If you search this exact phrase in Google, it will return 549,000 results.

And herein lies the issue. Your audience doesn’t judge your content solely based on objective value. Sure, you need your content to be high-quality, bringing people a certain type of emotional or functional value. But to make an impression, you need to talk about the topics of the day in a unique way. In a way that feels truly you. In a way that gets people to stop and think. And then remember.

This is where your remarkable content angle comes in.

A remarkable content angle is all about your point of view. It’s your perspective on a given topic, what you’re most interested in saying, or what you believe others should hear about. Think of it as the lens you use. When seeing the world through your lens, people will see it in a different way.

A good content brand doesn’t just provide valuable content. It creates valuable content that feels uniquely theirs. On the one hand side, this has a lot to do with brand voice. But it goes deeper than stylistic choices – it’s about the beliefs that lie at the base of the content piece.

Disclaimer: choosing “remarkable”

When this concept was first born, I actually called it “unique content angles.” Something was bugging me, though I couldn’t really put my finger on it. I finally figured out that using “unique” had unintended connotations, much like “spiky” does. It said, “This needs to be 100% original! No one should have mentioned it before!” And that’s not what I mean.

I went with the word “remarkable,” thanks to Seth Godin. In “This is Marketing,” he reminds us of the true sense of the word: “worthy of attention because interesting, significant, or unusual.”

And that’s exactly what your content should be:

• It needs to be interesting. Your audience should be curious to hear more about your ideas. But that’s not necessarily breath-stopping.
• It needs to be significant. It should have clear impact on your audience’s life (depending on your industry). But it’s not necessarily earth-shattering.
• It needs to be unusual. It should elicit surprise and get people curious about knowing more and thinking deeper. But it’s not necessarily never-heard-of-before.

It seems that we are all under pressure to create something monumental each day. But when thinking about your remarkable content angles, keep in mind this disclaimer. Don’t be paralyzed by the pressure.

Remarkable content angle examples

I know this can sound a bit abstract, so let’s look at a few examples.

Calm and “practical mindfulness” (B2C)

Meditation app Calm‘s stance is that mindfulness doesn’t need to be overcomplicated or time-consuming. Calm promises that there are easy ways to inject mindfulness into your day-to-day life. It may be about 30 seconds of breathwork between meetings or a short meditation before you go to sleep. Calm presents mindfulness as a tool you can use to lead a better life and doesn’t dwell on the finer points of spiritual teachings.

When you look at their content, you can see this angle present in many different ways:

• on their blog, they remind you to be more mindful when reading the news;
• on Instagram, they share quick tips for injecting mindfulness into your day;
• on LinkedIn, their newsletter shows how to improve mental well-being at work with practical points;
• on Threads, they’re responding to timely current trends, like a recent AT&T outage.

These are just some minor examples. But they prove the concept of practical mindfulness goes into everything Calm does.

Basecamp and “anti-grind” (B2B)

We’re accustomed to thinking that B2B is a more conservative field, and you can’t be too contrarian. Well, 37 Signals, the company behind the project management platform Basecamp, begs to differ. Its founders, DHH and Jason Fried, are vocal critics of the hustle culture in the tech industry, and they don’t pull any punches when talking about it. 37 Signals talks a lot about designing calmer work environments. Their content is all about ruthless prioritization, strategic focus, and building processes that solve for autonomy and uninterrupted work.

Their own content is all related to the topic of structured, calm work:

• DHH and Jason Fried literally wrote the book on calm work – aptly called “It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work”
• The 37 Signals podcast Rework covers topics related to sustainable work practices.
• Even snackable content formats like LinkedIn carousels talk about prioritization and saving time.

Having a clear stance makes Basecamp much more memorable than other project management tools. This makes its content stronger than the standard “positive productivity” approach of tips and prioritization methodologies.

Louis Grenier and “no-BS differentiation” (personal brands and services)

You may wonder if remarkable content angles also work for consultants and services. Look no further than the colorful Frenchman, the bad boy of differentiation, Louis Grenier.

Louis has picked his fights wisely. First off (and that’s a common theme for both his content and paid services), he focuses on no-BS actionable advice. He often talks about how many experts say what you need to do but never explain how to do it. His approach is different. When it comes to marketing strategy, Louis focuses on radical differentiation. His content introduces you to marketers and business owners who’ve fought the differentiation fight and lived to tell the tale.

Louis is very upfront, so you don’t need to dig a lot to find examples of his remarkable content angles:

• His podcast promises “no-fluff, actionable marketing insights.” He delivers on that promise by making guests share the step-by-step of their marketing.
• He pokes fun at the silly obsessions and empty ego signals like LinkedIn Top Voice badges or commenting to get more reach.
• He incorporates unexpected elements to build his brand. Go to the bottom of his homepage and scroll through the ridiculously long footer to find out a hidden message. I won’t spoil it!

One thing to note

As you can see, some of these examples are more aggressive than others. A remarkable content angle is not always about picking a fight. It’s about sharing a point of view that’s yours and yours alone. But how do you choose it? Let’s get down to the specifics.

Surfacing your remarkable content angles

You can draw remarkable content angles from three areas: yourself, your audience, and your competitors.

Too many brands start with the latter two when planning their content. They focus completely on keyword or topic research, looking at what their audience wants to know. Or they obsess over their “attention competitors”—the brands that talk about the same themes they want to cover.

In both cases, you base your content on signals completely outside of yourself, which makes it sound phony and insincere. To inject authenticity into your content, you need to start from within. If you’re working on a brand’s content strategy, consider the mission, vision, and values your team shares. If you’re a content creator working on your own content, start with your personal beliefs.

The spiky point of view

An idea directly related to your remarkable content angles is Wes Kao’s spiky point of view. It’s a great basis for thought leadership content and differentiation. But what is it exactly? The short of it: a spiky point of view is a belief you hold strongly that others might disagree with and that shapes your perception about topics in your area of expertise.

The even shorter of it: it’s your unique way of seeing the world.

To better understand the spiky point of view concept, dive into its five main characteristics:

1. It’s debatable – оthers should be able to disagree with it; otherwise, it’s too safe, too standard.
2. It isn’t contrarian just for the sake of it – you need something you actually believe and can defend. Choosing a point of view just to appear different will hurt you in the long run. It’s easy to spot, and you won’t have enough conviction to stick with it.
3. It’s something people don’t already know – summarizing other people’s spiky points of view is another way of being the same. You need to add your own element and build on top of others’ ideas.
4. It’s not objectively true or false – you should be able to bring facts and arguments to defend your point of view, but it should be something others can disagree with. A good one is like a philosophical argument, open to judgment and counter-arguments.
5. It’s something you truly believe – to maintain your unique point of view, you need to be passionate about it. You are intrinsically motivated to share it with others because you see the benefits of knowing what you know.

Wes Kao’s “spiky point of view’ concept has become quite popular, and it’s a good starting point for your remarkable content angle. However, I have one beef with it. Through the use of the word “spiky” it creates this idea that you need to go out looking for a fight. That’s not necessarily true.

A better way of thinking about it is going back to your core beliefs and first thinking about them. If they are controversial, all the better. But they don’t always start that way.

Questions to ask

As you read this article, you may think, “I’m not sure I have any strong points of view.” It’s easy to think that, but I’m pretty sure it’s not true.

Here are some prompts that will help you define your remarkable content angles:

• What are some things you strongly believe about your category?
• What are the things that annoy you in your field, your pet peeves? What would you rant about?
• What are some lesser-known facts that you hope more people pay attention to?
• What are some of the insights about your field that many people find surprising?
• When you discuss your industry’s common themes, what resonates with people the most? When do they start to nod?
• What are the misconceptions about your industry that make you angry or frustrated?
• What best practices or rules of thumb do you find to be false?
• What are the “simple truths” about your field that make you say, “Actually, it’s a lot more complicated than that”?

As you can see, these questions cover all three areas—your beliefs, your audience, and your broader competitive industry. Answers will most likely overlap, but I still find it useful to probe at your beliefs in different ways. When prompted differently, new things might emerge.

Going back to the beginning

Another powerful way to find your remarkable content angle is to look back at your road so far. Reviewing your brand’s history or your personal journey can uncover insights into what drives you.

Here are a few more things to research:

• How did you start off in your field? Beginnings are often an interesting story to share with your audience. They can also impact how you approach your industry. This may also be about the problems founders faced that led them to create a brand.
• What do you wish you knew then that you know now? As we grow our skills, we often get The Curse of Knowledge. Your audience doesn’t know enough about your field, though! So, what would you advise a novice? This question might be more applicable to a creator than a brand, but you can turn it towards your customers. What should they learn right from the start?
• What were the most surprising aspects of your journey? Maybe your road to today’s success is a straight line, and that’s OK – but quite often, it’s a winding journey. How did it progress, and what did you learn along the way? For companies, it can be incredibly impactful to share the low points and what your team learned from them.
• What motivated you to go into your field? Why do you find it worthwhile? If you have a strong Why, your audience will notice! What fuels your passion for your work? How do you feel it can change the world?

We rarely dwell on the past. But this might be exactly what you need to go forward.

Choosing your core content angles

Once you’ve gone through all of these prompts, you’ll likely end up with a long list. You’ll be able to group some ideas together. But some will have to go away.

This step is often a gut check more than anything. You may be able to quickly point out three to five remarkable content angles you want to focus on.

If you’re still not sure, give your ideas a score of 1-3, with 1 being “not really,” 2 being “kind of,” and 3 being “hell yeah!” for the following questions:

• Is this a concept I feel strongly about?
• Is this a concept that’s not common in my field?
• Is this a concept that my audience will truly care about?
• Is this a concept that aligns with my products or services?

Multiply the scores to see a quick-and-dirty ranking of your ideas. Don’t use this as a sole decision factor! In the end, you may go with an idea that got lower scores because you feel it’s uniquely you or has future potential. But you’ll at least know why you went with one angle over another.

Putting your remarkable content angles into practice

It may seem that the work we’ve done so far is quite high-level and abstract. And that’s because it’s true. But now that you have your remarkable content angles shortlisted, you can dive into the details.

Create a detailed overview for each of your remarkable content angles. Here are the questions I find most helpful:

• Why should your audience care about this idea?
• How will their life change if they accept this?
• How can they put this idea into practice?
• How can your brand help your audience implement this idea? (this creates a link between your content and your offers or solutions)
• What other brands or people talk about this? (this can direct you to collaboration opportunities)

When you have these details, you’re ready to start drafting content ideas with each angle.

Auteur Theory and content angles

To understand how to build content with your remarkable content angles, we turn to the Auteur Theory of content marketing. The content marketing agency Animalz introduced this concept, which helps create consistent and aligned content.

The idea rests on a film analogy. You can immediately recognize a Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, or Martin Scorsese film. These filmmakers have a collection of core themes and aesthetic ideas they return to again and again. All their movies are variations of these core concepts. But this doesn’t make them boring or repetitive. The filmmakers don’t present a carbon copy of the same idea. Instead, they reinforce the themes in new, exciting variations.

In content marketing, the same approach applies. Consistent content narratives appear repeatedly. Each piece’s specific topic is new, but the broader theme—read “content angle”—is the same. By adding different perspectives, you help your audience believe the core idea. They’ll understand it better with each repetition.

The Animalz team explains that when you have your core content ideas defined, you then start “cross-cutting”—creating content variations in a systematic and targeted way.

Think about applying your remarkable content angle to different areas. This may mean:

• bringing the angle into different industries or scenarios – for example, Louis Grenier can easily show what differentiation looks like in a variety of industries. He’s shown examples of differentiation strategy in fields as diverse as demolition and fashion design.
• applying the angle to different audience personas – Calm could talk about the small steps of injecting mindfulness into your life for new mothers or high-power business executives.
• even showing new sides of your content angle as it relates to seasonal events or timely topics – Basecamp was uniquely positioned to discuss remote work during the pandemic. They may now come and talk about how slow and sustainable company growth can shield you from a potential recession.

These are a few examples, but there are a million variations you can go with. As long as you follow your remarkable content angles, you’ll be sure to create content worth seeing.

Content that’s consistent and uniquely you

For a long time, I couldn’t clearly explain why some content works for long-term brand building and why other pieces are just forgettable and bland. I finally have an answer, thanks to this idea of remarkable content angles (and the awesome concepts it rests on, like “spiky POV” and “Auteur Theory”).

This framework has been indispensable in my work with clients. It helps us identify the things we want to discuss and enables us to inject these perspectives into our content plan.

I’d love to hear about your remarkable content angles – or the questions you have about defining them.