♾️ AI might not be the chink in your armor

This year, I’ve spoken to many SaaS marketing leaders, founders, and content marketers. 

Here’s what I’ve noticed:

• Content marketers are too focused on output

• Marketing leaders are not sure how content ties into marketing

• Execs and marketers have distorted expectations from AI tools

2024 is truly the year of AI. However, I’ve also seen marketers fumble through dozens of tools and free prompts trying to figure out the actual use cases of AI.

In reality, AI is just being used as a way to lean harder into our bad habits, i.e., create content for the sake of it.

AI isn’t the problem—it’s the mirror

The problem isn't AI. It's how we talk about content and have produced it in the past.

AI has only exacerbated the problem and spotlighted the underlying issues we’re dealing with.

Let's be honest.

For the longest time, we've been so focused on getting as much content out there and over-indexing on channels like SEO we've lost the plot along the way.

Just this week, Vivek Shankar, a brilliant writer and strategist for fintech and tech companies, wrote about the lack of respect content gets.

When he asked what I’d do to get content a seat at the table, here’s what I had to say:

I’ve had far too many conversations this year where I've been asked how many blog posts or newsletters I can offer for $XXXX. 

But when I bring the conversation back to how the company will support the content creation process, you can hear 🦗🦗🦗.

Can they give me time to talk to their internal teams?

Can I get access to sales calls or support tickets?

Can I build a board of experts to lean on for ideas/validation?

If not, then there’s no point in hiring a content marketer because even AI can spit out generic content at the click of a button. You know, stuff like this:

We’re often measured on how many blog posts we can produce or if we can “scale” output in a specific channel to get things rolling.

That’s also why we’ve become order takers—instead of being treated as a strategic and revenue-contributing function.

We're changing the way buyers think about a problem and, in turn, positioning our products as the ideal solution to that problem.

If we’re too focused on the number of assets we’re creating and not the purpose and quality of those assets, there’s no point in doing it.

We need to do better as content marketers

Fun fact: 41.3% of content marketers aren’t doing enough audience research (according to The State of Discontent Report).

“Enough” is subjective—but in my opinion, it feels like code for “not really.”

That means you don't have enough data to:

• Know which channels buyers are on

• Understand what’s happening in their world

• Find ways to create better (and differentiated) content

So, if you don’t know what your audience wants, how are you creating content that truly speaks to them?

Every LinkedIn post, Google Ad, or long-form guide you write is an assumption.

We're so used to chasing the next shiny strategy or tactic that we've forgotten about the end goal in the first place.

We’re creating content to enable our audience do better in their roles while positioning ourselves as the way to do that.

It’s time to go back to the drawing board and figure out a way to help them do that.

Here’s an example from Relato, a content operations platform:

The company is pre-product at the moment, so gunning after SEO doesn't make sense. That said, the earlier you start marketing your product, the better for your business—and David Baum (Relato's CEO & co-founder) gets that.

If you see Relato’s blog, all the pieces are deeply rooted in issues that affect content marketers today.

How are they doing that? The team is deeply ingrained into the community and knows what makes its audience tick.

Relato’s authors regularly interview content marketers to write pieces that make you think—while offering tangible advice to help you do your job better.

That solid thought leadership play is already helping them build resonance and early traction with the community.

How can you move beyond creating content for the sake of it?

These are the three main issues I see with content teams of all sizes these days—and it’s stopping us from doing better work:

1. Get back to the basics and look inward

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. We need to start talking to folks within the company to understand what our prospects want.

Product already has intel on what makes your buyers and customers tick.

Sales already know what buyers want to achieve this quarter.

Customer success already knows what customers are struggling with.

In short, go on a listening tour and understand what buyers want—and you'll come back with better ideas.

2. Start talking to your ICP and existing customers

You can’t change perceptions if you don’t know what the status quo assumption is in the first place.

Let's say you're selling accounting software for SMBs. Yes, you consolidate accounts, automate invoicing, and so on.

Ultimately, you’re competing with a spreadsheet. It’s free and the default option in most cases.

The sheer inertia of getting your prospects to move from their default position to consider your solution requires a deep understanding of their:

• Day-to-day lives

• Motivations

• Challenges

• Buying triggers

• Priorities (based on role/function)

The goal?

Derail any assumptions you have about your audience.

This way, you’ll have enough conviction to test new campaign ideas or even take a risk once in a while.

Here’s an example of how you can turn that research into actual content ideas (from Ryan Paul Gibson, a customer research consultant):

3. Hold yourself to higher standards

We love saying that B2B is boring—but there’s a larger problem at hand.

We have no incentive to do better as marketers.

We're already swamped with hundreds of internal content requests and a lack of resources and budget. 

And not to mention, we’re so used to defaulting to SEO that we’ve forgotten what highly nutritional content looks like.

If you want to make a tangible impact on your audience and the larger market, you have to build content assets that can bear that burden.

I’m not saying you hang on to every little word you write or do 15 more retakes for your next video.

Define your bar for quality and differentiation—and make sure you stick to it.

You’ll never be able to differentiate your content if you don’t know what you want in the first place.

Relato does that through real stories from their target audience. 

Databox does that through surveys with their target audience. 

Equals does it through the lived experiences of its team members.

Set those guardrails in place—and QA every piece to make sure it lives up to the mark.

This will allow you to offer constructive feedback to creators, ship high-quality content faster, and scale output when you need to.

P.S. Liked the issue? Share it with someone who’d enjoy it.

Thanks for reading! Next week, I’ll take you through the process of how I put these three tips into action for a new audience I started writing for.

As always, if you have any questions or feedback, you can send it here:

Before you go…

Here are three ways I can help you:

1. Build/run your content strategy: If you’re struggling to create content that stands out, resonates, and converts, let’s chat.

2. Execute your content strategy: If you need help creating long-form content like blog posts, research reports, or case studies, let’s chat.

3. Solve one burning issue with 1:1 help: If a specific issue is currently bogging down your content marketing efforts, schedule a paid 1:1 session with me.

Reply to this email and let me know!