r/ladybusiness • u/coffeeandroses11 • Mar 27 '26

DISCUSSION Marketing x Authenticity

Hi Ladies.I have been noticing a very real shift in how people respond to businesses lately. Attention spans feel and are shorter, trust feels harder to earn, and people seem more skeptical of polished messaging than ever before. Now audiences are craving something more real, more human, and more immediate.

Whatever used to work;perfect branding, scheduled posts, “professional” distance isn’t landing the same way anymore. Unless you are Google or Apple lol

What changes have you made (or are thinking about making) to adapt?

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '26

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u/coffeeandroses11 Mar 28 '26

This is brilliant! I once had a Founder do a ‘fail forward’ kind of content for a speaking engagement and it was a hit. We had been struggling with the usual HR consulting topics and they all felt so performative. Also random on the go videos inviting people for training sessions ,instead of the ones set in perfect lighting + full face of makeup. I was lucky she was receptive and some of the unconventional ideas worked out really well!

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u/No-Mind-1500 Mar 30 '26

Long content form can't take you anywhere now. people just don't have the attention span

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u/BusinessLettuce471 Apr 14 '26

I’m painfully realizing this right now. I feel like AI has simply flooded everything with visuals. I’ve wasted a huge amount of time designing promotional materials for my app, trying to make them as polished as possible, and I can see that’s not the way.

I’ve noticed two things:

The best results come from being natural. Communication like: hey, I’m not some anonymous company, I’m building this on my own.

And the second thing: people are drawn to stories, not a finished product. When I start talking about mistakes, the process, and ideas, it attracts more attention than the app itself.

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u/coffeeandroses11 Apr 14 '26

This is especially true for solopreneurs;people want to see grit and the real work behind the scenes.

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u/BusinessLettuce471 Apr 14 '26

Btw, I came across this thread because of this exact problem
For now, I’m new to marketing, just figuring things out through trial and error. Any advice is incredibly valuable. I’ll share my own insights in return