The Fine Line Between a Quick Draft and a Forgotten Brand

Building the product is only half the battle, getting someone to actually give a damn is where most launches stall out. Here, Dave Harland shares his three-step framework for trading corporate slop and algorithmic “breadrollery” for messaging that builds trust.

Imagine this: you’ve built it, polished it and hit launch. AI helps you ship at record speed, but once you pass that finish line, a bigger challenge takes over – moving past the default noise to find the words that actually make the audience remember you and more.

Enter Dave Harland – or as many know him, the “Word Man”. In practice, Dave is a creative copywriter, founder of agency Copy Or Die, and featured speaker at How to Web Conference 2026. He doesn’t ship software or write code, but he’s an expert in trading corporate fluff for non-yawnworthy messaging.

In a recent sit-down interview ahead of his keynote, Dave shared why human personality is the ultimate moat. While this year’s conference theme asks builders “What will you build when you can build anything?”, Dave brings the ultimate counter-challenge to the stage: build what sticks.

To get there? Dave spurs it all off with one cut-through question: Are we treating our brand copy as a core extension of our value or just as space filler on a wireframe?

Stepping away from the safe averages – do you dare?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has certainly given us something remarkable: instant momentum and quick drafts created in the blink of an eye. Yet, because modern LLMs inherently rehash existing internet patterns, their default setting will always drift toward safe, familiar averages.

“Writing with humanity and personality at core shows that you care. There’s no better way to build trust than showing people you haven’t just pressed a button, gone copy-paste, and put it on your website.”

So where do we stumble? While automated tools can give you an easy starting block, taking the time to shape your words by hand signals a level of intent that audiences spot immediately. It’s tangible proof that you value the human being reading on the other side of the screen.

The power of uncomfortable specificity

When LLMs recommend headlines, they default to grand, sweeping abstractions – the “elevate your productivity” tier of copywriting. But generic promises fade into background noise.

Dave’s antidote? Hyper-specificity. It’s the difference between telling people your email tool saves time and telling them they can “clear their inbox before their morning coffee even finishes brewing.” It’s slightly unpolished, undeniably vivid and completely impossible for others to copy-paste.

Unlocking human personality: a three-step framework

For any commercial idea being born, there’s often a subtle temptation to “sanitize” the message – usually packaged up as sounding “professional” or “established”. The domino effect? You smooth away the very human edges that gave the narrative its spark in the first place.

Dave breaks it down – no complex algebra needed. Framing personality and human quirks as a hard-nosed business strategy, he lays out three clear steps:

Get noticed: find the sweet spot between what you do differently and how you express it differently; 

Be understood: go for conversational clarity and drop the corporate jargon – swap words like “obtain”, “leverage”, and “inquire” for natural messaging like “get” and “ask”; 

Make them feel something: inject enough genuine human emotion, humor or relatable friction that the reader feels an immediate connection.

“If you search your value proposition on Google and get 10,000 identical results, you’ve missed the point of having a value proposition. The things that stand out are things that make you go: ‘I’ve never seen those five words in that order before.’”

Stop polishing and start unearthing

When founders try to write brand messaging, they often start with a sharp, original glint and then sanitise it until it sounds like everyone else – a process Dave cheerfully calls polishing the tech turd.

The secret, and one that doesn’t get gatekept, is to listen before making up clever slogans from scratch. Dig through sales calls, customer support tickets, even team chats to unearth the “golden nuggets” – the exact, weird, unscripted phrases real people use when they talk about their problems. You don’t need to invent a personality – just stop ironing out the one you already have.

Moving past engagement hacks to build your community

Having a distinct tone of voice means confidently pulling the bricks together based on what genuinely makes your story, team and values unique.

Since “unique” is easily overused, Dave keeps it simple: move away from short-term engagement shortcuts – what he playfully calls “breadrollery” (posting generic, viral-bait questions to nudge an algorithm). Desperation is easy to spot online, and using “Emergency Rescue Functions” just to feed an algorithm makes a brand look desperate.

Long gone are the days when lasting trust resulted from algorithm hacks. Authority and differentiation come from content that educates, entertains and exhales what the audience is asking for. Drop the fluff – there’s no need to over-package your message when you already have what they need.

Meet Dave Harland at How to Web Conference 2026

Ask yourself one thing: is your brand copy sticky or just loud?

If you want to master the difference, catch Dave live on stage in Bucharest this October for his keynote: “In Odd We Trust.” Consider this your sneak peek – you’ll walk out ready to champion unignorable, human oddness in everything you build.

Get your tickets for How to Web Conference 2026.