A surge of AI-generated content over the last 24 months has created an unprecedented flood of information. It’s now harder than ever for clients to distinguish one firm from another. Here’s a way forward.
Gaining clients attention has always been difficult. For decades, firms have been competing with their peers for mind share on critical business topics. The last 24 months turned an already “red-hot” content explosion into a “cold fusion reactor.” Today, you’re not just competing with your peers. You’re competing with an endless stream of AI-produced noise.
As we explore this new reality, it’s essential to grasp the scale of the content explosion that has brought us to this point, setting the stage for the strategies that will help you excel.
THE AI-DRIVEN CONTENT BOOM
The content landscape has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last few years, evolving from a steady stream to a raging torrent. To be clear, this isn’t the first shift we’ve seen.
From 2005 to 2020, a perfect storm of technological advancements set the stage for what we thought was an unprecedented content boom. Three key factors fueled this prior phase of growth:
- User-friendly content development tools (WordPress, YouTube, Zencastr)
- Powerful, free search engines (Google) that made information easily findable
- Widespread adoption of social networks that provided for easy content distribution
The result? A staggering volume of new content. In 2020 alone, over one billion hours of fresh material flooded the digital sphere — equivalent to more than 1.4 million lifetimes worth of content.
But that was then.
The introduction of Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative AI tools over the last 24 months has supercharged this trend. It’s as if we’ve unlocked a “cold fusion” reactor for content creation, with AI systems capable of producing vast amounts of material at unprecedented speeds.
And this AI-driven acceleration shows no signs of slowing. The challenge ahead is clear: How can your firm’s thought leadership cut through this ever-growing tide of information?
COMPETING WITH BOTS: YOUR FIRM’S NEW REALITY
Picture this: While you’re carefully crafting a single piece of content, AI systems are churning out hundreds, if not thousands, of articles on similar topics. It’s a David vs. Goliath scenario, but in this case, Goliath has an infinite supply of stones.
This shift demands a radical rethinking of your content strategy. The old playbook of consistent, frequent content creation is no longer enough. Quantity alone won’t cut it when you’re up against machines that never sleep, never take breaks, and never run out of ideas.
How do you compete in this bot-dominated arena? The answer lies not in trying to match the volume of AI-generated content, but in emphasizing what makes your firm uniquely human. It’s about quality, depth, and authenticity — elements that AI, for all its capabilities, still struggles to replicate convincingly.
To truly stand out, your content must offer something that algorithms can’t. It needs to be more insightful, more nuanced, and more directly relevant to your target audience than ever before. This new reality calls for a strategic pivot in how you approach thought leadership and content creation.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES FOR THE AI ERA
To excel in this AI-dominated landscape, you must adopt strategies that best combine technological advancements with with human expertise.
#1 – SHARPEN YOUR THOUGHT LEADERSHIP PLATFORM
In a world of infinite content, laser-like focus is your superpower. Develop a well-defined thought leadership platform that articulates your firm’s unique governing worldview and the four to five key issues you aim to own beneath it.
This platform should guide all content creation efforts (written, spoken, recorded, and presented). In the AI era, there is no space for random acts of marketing. Everything. And, I mean everything starts with, ladders up to, and comes back to your unique governing worldview and the 4-5 key issues underlying it.
Consistency is and will be your superpower now and forever more.
#2 – SHIFT TO sIGNATURE CONTENT EXPERIENCES
Rather than churning out lots and lots of frequent, lightweight pieces, invest in signature, signature content as your calling card. Signature content is published with a regular, repeatable cadence. It reinforces your worldview and carves out a unique space in the market for you to own. In fact, the very best signature content frequently turns a firm into a unit of one.
Examples include the Middle Market Indicator from the National Center for the Middle Market that has documented the economic trajectory of the U.S. middle market for nearly 12 years, Bessemer’s Cloud 100 which has profiled the top 100 cloud companies for the past 4 years. And, the Tercera 30, which identifies the top 30 software companies for building an IT services firm around (now in its 3rd year).
These signature content experiences are grounded in research, are repeated on a regular cadence, and enable each organization to carve out a space in the market no one else can.
#3 – AMPLIFY THE HUMAN ELEMENT
While AI can generate content, it can’t replace the uniquely human aspects of thought leadership. People learn from your thought leadership. They form relationships with your thought leaders. Tap into your team’s ability to challenge general beliefs, provide nuanced insights, make unexpected connections (content coldfusion? I mean, really?) and infuse content with personality.
The best thought leaders bring out a lot of themselves. Love him or hate him, Scott Galloway brings listeners right into his world with a mix of tech and capital markets insights, raunchy jokes, and career advice. My friend, Ian Brodie, writes a beautiful email marketing newsletter called “Unsnooze Your Inbox” that mixes practical email tips with all kinds of quirky British slang and stories. At best half of them I understand!
Let your people bring their whole selves. Encourage the use of personal stories, humor, and provocative ideas to create content that resonates with your clients on a human level.
#4 – USE AI’S STRENGTHS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
Employ AI tools for what they excel at: pattern recognition, summarizing conventional wisdom, generating alternative ways to frame topics, providing varied ways to communicate ideas, and editing and refining existing content. Let AI handle the heavy lifting of data analysis and initial content drafts, freeing up your human experts to add the critical layer of insight, perspective and personality.
In short, rely on AI for what it’s great at – identifying where the world is zigging. Rely on your human intuition for what it’s great at – knowing when and how to zag.
AI + HUMAN TOUCH = SUCCESS
The content landscape has irrevocably changed, but try not to view this as a threat. Instead, see this as an opportunity to revisit your thought leadership strategy and approach. Get clear on:
- Your overarching world-view.
- The topics you must own now and forever more.
- The signature content experience(s) you can invest in to carve out your space in the market.
- Your willingness to allow people to “let down their hair” a bit to make more personal, real connections with your clients.
As always, if you need assistance, we’re here to help.
