Is Real B2B Content Back? | #29

We've seen so much AI content over the last few years in B2B that people are now starting to kick back and say, we don't want this.

The tide looks to be changing which is a positive note for the companies that focus on real conversations and insights, placing importance on people. We've all used AI for efficiency and no blame can go to people for using the tool. I've used it myself in content and I've seen it hasn't performed well or served my audience.

The important thing is to realise what people are saying now and make changes in your content going forward.

Technology like AI has so many advantages and use cases but generating content seems to be one area that humans might still be better at (who would've thought...)

In this episode, I look at what recent updates have triggered this backlash in AI content and also what your B2B Tech company can do to stand out with your content marketing.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

There is a change in B2B content marketing right now, and it's for the better. So if you've been online the last couple of weeks, you've probably seen the recent updates with AI, most notably, um, and its role in terms of content. So, as always, this is the 1% insight, and our main goal is to provide the latest up-to-date insights, news, and actionable strategies for B2B tech companies and specifically the B2B tech marketers that work within those companies. AI has been a revelation, I guess, for business in the last three to five years. I know it's been around much longer than that, but in terms of the commercial use cases and widespread adoption, it's it's been the last kind of three to five years. Um, and in the last kind of couple of years, we've had a huge increase in AI generated content for better or most likely for worse. It's given us great efficiency, but now there's pushback on AI generated content. A couple of the things you might have noticed in the last few weeks was LinkedIn have added a AI slot button to posts. Whether that's a good way of determining um AI generated content or not, I'm not so sure. I think you might see a lot of maybe competitors going on other competitors' posts and using AI slot button just to kind of bash their content. Um I think there's probably a better solution for LinkedIn to come up with in terms of how they can properly um identify what is AI content and what's not quality content. We also have seen that Claude has started to watermark the AI text essentially, AI code, um, images, videos, etc. Um, but mainly we're focusing on the text element of it here in terms of blogs, articles, long form LinkedIn posts. Um and I guess there's always been common common there's been common uh telltale signs of what is an AI generated post versus what's not. You can kind of see it in the structure, certain phrases, certain words it uses. And I think we all fell, you know, well not all, but you know, everyone has tested it out, used it in some form or capacity. I guess now we're at a reflection point with it though, where there's been a bigger pushback to it, and people are starting to turn away from that side of content and want real valuable insight-driven content. Something similar to if you look at any community page on Facebook, not really at the B2B, um, they could be a local organization group, and they can't obviously have the resources to you know pay graphic designers and stuff to do their you know weekly updates and uh post like that. A lot of them are using AI uh to create the the posters to display information and it works great for them because it's very cost effective and they don't have to be you know uh a graphic designer to do it, and it works for them. But you can start seeing it, everything looks the same. And the same thing is happening now in B2B marketing um in the format of the content is sounding the same companies are blurring into one, the lines are being blurred in terms of what makes someone different through their content. So I'm making this short episode today to kind of chat through I guess what this means for your B2B tech content marketing and also maybe what you can do about it and actually how you can kind of stand out because I guess the bar is actually getting lower in in some regards in terms of content. Um there's never been more people posting content or companies posting content, but the quality of the content for efficiency purposes and cost purposes is not great if we're looking through it and you're looking at the kind of overall uh consumer sentiment of content. A lot of people are unhappy with what they're seeing, what's filling up their social media feeds. Um it's the same for B2B tech buying committees who are scrolling on LinkedIn or you know, looking at YouTube and different elements like that. So, how do you stand out with quality content in 2026 and beyond in a world that's you know pushing you to use the latest AI tools? So that you know doesn't really make sense from a content point of view. Um AI is fantastic use cases for processes and you know inside the business, uh speeding things up, making things more efficient, but it should be giving you back more time to spend on the stuff that isn't scalable, that is more difficult to do, such as creating content, having real conversations, you know, developing your own unique points of view, your own insights and delivering that to your audience in a way that they actually will engage with and not kind of scroll past or hit AI slap button on LinkedIn with it. So the first step that I would suggest, you know, going back to it's something that we've built uh trend7 media on is real conversations. So you probably hear myself going on a lot about it a lot on LinkedIn on the podcast there and the 1% insight, but the constant throughout human history really has been stories and uh conversation, and that's no different through every kind of technological advancement, whether it's the printing press or whether it's the internet or whether it was the you know social media era, and now we're into you know AI content and all that, the technology improves um and brings things to a new level, but uh you know the elements of what make great content stay the same. So that can be, for example, stories. So instead of using you know, outsourcing your thinking, essentially, outsourcing your critical thinking, outsourcing your unique insights to Claude, and I might be Claude, it could be ChatGPT, it could be whatever LLM that you use. But at the end of the day, there's certain use cases that it works well for, and then there's certain use cases that it doesn't work well for. And what we're finding through everything is that content just definitely is not working well on a content point of view, and that we all probably need to go back to basics. Some people have you know never touched it in terms of using it for content, and then some of us like naturally have experimented with the platforms to create content on it, see what could produce, um, but it's obviously not of a great quality. You can train projects and all that um on your unique insights, but it the future is looking like you really have to go back to what made you unique in the first point, and that is forget the technology and just focus on the message and the content with that you're creating. So, what I would do to start off with if I was running the content marketing at your B2B tech company, is I would go back to the story. So look at how you can capture real insights because the one thing we're trying to do here with the technology content for your B2B company is we don't want it to be super technical and feature heavy. That plays a role, obviously, in the kind of the demand gen of it, and obviously we want to let people know about your product that of course can be weaved into the content. But what we really want to do is find ways of delivering real value through your unique stories. So everyone within your company, yourself included, have unique experiences, um, stories, um, either from the industry you're in or industries that you came from, that can help your audience. We're trying to build trust with them, and putting out an AI-generated text with no intervention won't build that trust. If anything is going to destroy the trust, therefore reducing their chances, your chances of featuring on that buyer's shortlist because um they won't view you as a quality vendor.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

So go to the stories, capture I find that the easiest way to capture that is through the medium of a podcast or a video series.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

The reason I like the podcast model is that you can capture conversations on it. It gives you a lot of content to work with. You can get people having conversations on video, audio, um, that can be then utilized across your social, across your YouTube, um, through different formats. Um, you have the transcripts that actually you know capture the real insight so you can kind of rework and reread it to you know apply into blogs and apply into LinkedIn newsletters based on getting the gist of what was said in the conversation. And it just works on a lot of formats. So I would go on a on a podcast route. Um it gives you the opportunity to bring on different internal stakeholders as well. So like if you have internal team members who have expertise in engineering or finance or tech or HR or even marketing sales, whatever it might be, everyone has something to offer. And those insights is what's gonna separate your company from somebody else's. Um that's an important thing to know that with the content as well, is that we want to extract the unique insights and knowledge from your organization, that is what's gonna separate you when technology is moving so fast and people are competing on you know, maybe very similar features or products. How are buyers going to differentiate between who they want to work with and who they're not gonna want to work with? Um, trust comes trust is the big factor in that. And who are they gonna trust? Company A has a range of high-quality content that uh challenges their thinking, um, gives them new inspiration, new ideas, new ways of working through problems, um, helps them solve problems, um, and it you know builds a real kind of uh relationship with that um person listening, watching, um, engaging with the content, versus company B, who just sends a prompt in at the start of every week to uh an AI tool to say, you know, give me 20 posts about this topic and um schedule them out there, and there's no human intervention, there's no human face to the brand, there's no context, there's no unique story, there's no, you know, uh dialogue between two, three, four people who are having a conversation. Um, it's not engaging, um, it's not unique, and it won't help that company be stand out in any way. So that's what I would do. I go back to the basics, I would look at what's your unique story of your company, what are the internal team members that you have within your team that could add some real value to your audience. Uh, I pick a medium um in terms of how you want to communicate that. I yeah, like I mentioned, I'm biased obviously, but the podcast is a great model for that in terms of how you can capture conversations and conversations is what I keep going back to is that uh unlocks opportunities, it uh is a really good way of communicating your message and it gives you a lot of content opportunities that's original. Um so that's why I'm biased towards it, but feel free to pick a webinar or you know, a video series that isn't a podcast, something along those lines. But something that involves people uh is the main thing. Keep it human, um, especially when things are so tech focused, adding a human face uh and personality to the brand um will be another element that helps you stand out. Another way that you can stand out uh with content for your B2B Tech brand would be to look at bringing on customers. So it's another persona that we typically bring into our clients' podcasts because two reasons. One, it gives you the opportunity to strengthen that relationship with that client or customer. They come onto the podcast, you're giving them a platform to chat about their business, promote their you know, products and services, what they do, um, what they're seeing in the market can really resonate with other prospects who you know might see a bit of themselves within that company, um, if they're of a similar kind of industry, and it's building that kind of retention piece and that customer value piece where it's not just okay, we are you know paying a monthly invoice for um software X uh or hardware Y, you're positioning yourself and making yourself even further a growth partner, interested in the success of your clients and customers, um, which can only help for a retention point of view, and even growing the account as well. Um, you know, it's easier and cheaper to uh keep customers retained as opposed to constantly churning and having to find new ones, so it only makes sense. And another element, the second side of that is that it's fantastic for potential prospects looking at the podcast, consuming the content when they can see the positive relationship that you have with your existing clients. It can only help when they're chatting about uh their experience with you. Um, it doesn't have to be a full testimonial video, that's not the goal of it at all. It really is just a conversation, but there are going to be parts that naturally flow into the working relationship between you and that client, uh, what you help them achieve and what you continue to help them achieve. So it's a really beneficial thing as well from a you know future sales point of view as well, that future prospects and have that trust with you based on what they're seeing uh through your content with your with your clients as well, in a more kind of fun or relaxed manner than a testimonial, but definitely do get the testimonials as well as a separate standalone piece of content. A couple other people you can add into the podcast, I might run through it on another episode another day because they kind of deserve their own um episode nearly per each persona, as such, that might be uh where I go with it. But um inviting industry thought leaders um to jump onto your podcast as well um gives you a different dynamic to the content. Someone's you know, if they've studied um the field for 20 years and the industry, um, they have you know content that is really valuable, that is, you know, you know, you're not going to be able to replicate that through an AI model. Uh, if the person who's actually studied it, uh done the research, uh lived it, you know, that's a much different ball game than simply asking a prompt to come back with some generic information. So, therefore, another example of adding credibility, adding trust, adding something unique uh to your content.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Basically, to summarize it all, there is a change happening in content marketing.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

We've kind of gone a bit full circle in terms of you know heavy AI usage in content for efficiency purposes, which it definitely was and still is in terms of you can do a lot of quantity with it, but the quality isn't necessarily there and it isn't actually working. Um, a lot of people are rejecting that content, which is a dangerous game for your company if you continue going down that path and not taking notice of what's happening right now in terms of people want real content, it doesn't have to be polished. If any unpolished is nearly better, um, you know, if people see a high value ad, unless it's from the Super Bowl, you know, they usually want to skip past it. So, similar thing with your own content for your B2B tech company. You don't need to have the fanciest camera or the fanciest mics renting along those lines or a huge studio. Um you can do a lot of stuff DIY yourself and put it together. But the main thing is just to be capturing real insights, um, your own internal expertise, what you're seeing in the market, your own opinions, um, capturing it in a format that is engaging for your clients and your prospects and your audience, but also gives you content opportunities to utilize further than just one channel. Um so uh I gave the example of a podcast because I think it gives you a lot to work with. Um but there's so much you can do, and content isn't just social media and it's not just YouTube, and it's not just podcasts or blogs or LinkedIn newsletters, it's all of it combined. So um keep that in mind when you are creating content for your BDP Tech brand. But to summarize it all, I would say stay away from the LLMs for a lot of the content going forward. Um, use it for internal processes, for you know, operations, for speeding things up, and use that extra time to put it into the content um and try and stand out when the bar is getting lower from people wanting to be efficient. So do the things that don't scale, have the conversations, um, capture it and put it out to the audience. And you might be surprised at at what engagement you get as a result of it and the opportunities that come from it. This has been the 1% insight, your podcast for all things B2B Tech Marketing. Look forward to catching you in the next one.