There’s a quiet little lie floating around business marketing that makes everything harder than it needs to be.

It goes like this:

If your marketing isn’t working, you probably need to be… more something.

More confident.

More charismatic.

More “you, but louder.”

More camera-friendly.

More like that person on your feed who somehow looks like they were born holding a ring light.

Which is interesting, because most business owners I meet aren’t lacking personality. They’re lacking permission to be normal.

And clarity. Always clarity.

Because marketing isn’t a personality test. It’s not an audition. It’s not a performance review of your vibe. It’s simply this:

Can the right people understand what you do, who it’s for, and why it matters… without needing to decode you?

That’s it. That’s the job.

The real problem isn’t “confidence.” It’s confusion.

When marketing starts feeling heavy, people assume the issue is courage.

“I just need to put myself out there.”

“I need to show my face more.”

“I need to be more visible.”

But usually the spiral starts earlier than that.

It starts when you try to solve a clarity problem with a personality solution.

So you end up polishing the tone, rewriting the caption fifteen times, swapping words like you’re trying to crack a safe… and still feeling weird when you hit publish.

At that point, the problem isn’t your personality.

It’s that you’re treating marketing like it has to sound like “Marketing.”

(And your brain knows you don’t talk like that. So it resists. As it should.)

Clarity and personality are not the same thing

Personality is how you sound when you’re relaxed.

Clarity is how easily someone can follow what you mean.

They can overlap, sure. But they’re not interchangeable.

You can have loads of personality and still leave people thinking, “Wait… what do they actually do?”

And you can be very quiet, very understated, very “not online”… and still have marketing that works because it’s clear.

If you’re feeling like you need to become someone else to market your business, try this reframe:

You don’t need to be a different person. You need to be easier to understand.

That’s a thinking job, not a personality transplant.

What “trying to sound right” goes to your marketing

Here’s what I see happen when people think marketing requires a performance:

• They write like they’re applying for a job they already have.
• They copy the tone of whoever they’ve been consuming.
• They over-explain because they don’t trust the simple version.
• They add fluff to make it sound “professional.”
• They avoid posting altogether because it feels fake.
• 
  

This tends to be followed by a “I’ll post when I feel more confident” plan, which is the marketing equivalent of “I’ll start running when I feel fitter.”

It’s backwards. And exhausting.

A simpler way: separate “what you say” from “how you say it”

If your marketing feels unnatural, you don’t have to force yourself to be louder.

You can just do two things:

1. Get clear on what needs to be said.
2. Say it in a way you’d actually say it.

That second part matters more than people admit.

Because the most trusted marketing doesn’t sound impressive. It sounds true.

It sounds like someone who knows what they’re doing, and doesn’t need to dress it up.

Three clarity moves that make your marketing feel like you again

1) Write like you’re answering one real person

Not “your audience.” Not “the internet.” Not “the algorithm.”

One person.

The person who asks you the same question every week.

The person who’s curious but hesitant.

The person who wants to do it properly and is quietly overwhelmed.

Start with:

• “Here’s what I wish people knew about…”
• “If you’re stuck on ___, it’s usually because…”
• “A quick way to tell if ___ is right for you…”
• “Most advice about ___ misses this bit…”
• 
  

This immediately strips out the performance, because you’re not trying to impress. You’re trying to help.

2) Keep the message simple enough to say out loud

If you wouldn’t say it to a client over coffee, don’t post it.

You don’t need big words. You need clean ones.

Try this test:

• Can you say the main point in one sentence?
• Could a 12-year-old understand what you mean?
• Would your past client read it and go, “Yep, that’s exactly it”?

If the answer is no, it’s not a personality issue. It’s a clarity issue. Simplify it.

3) Pick “recognisable” over “impressive”

People don’t trust you because you sound polished. They trust you because you sound consistent.

Recognisable means:

• your phrases show up more than once
• your point of view repeats (on purpose)
• your advice has a steady tone
• you don’t reinvent yourself every post

This is great news if you’re not interested in being a content character.

You can be the same person every week.

The internet won’t explode.

(And the right people will actually relax when they see you coming.)

“But I’m not good at being visible”

Most people aren’t. They’re good at their work.

Visibility is just the translation layer between what you know and what other people can understand.

And you don’t have to do it with a big personality. You can do it with:

• plain language
• steady posting
• the same few messages said a few different ways
• stories that sound like real life, not a motivational poster

Marketing works better when it’s not trying to prove anything.

A gentle next step

If you’ve been feeling like marketing requires you to be “more you” in a way that feels suspiciously like “less you”… try this this week:

Write one post that starts with the sentence:

“Here’s the simple version.”

Then give the simple version.

No performance. No polish panic. Just clarity.

And if you’d rather not be the one doing the weekly posting (also fair), Seen & Heard is literally built for this: a done-for-you visibility system that keeps you consistent without turning your business into a content hobby.

Either way: you don’t need a bigger personality.

You just need clearer thinking, said plainly.