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The Content Marketing Institute recently released its 2024 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends study. One nugget that jumped out at me is that “short articles/posts (92%) replaced videos (85%) as the most popular type of content” used by marketers. To be clear, the study isn’t saying short articles are better than videos, or that you should use short articles instead of videos. Neither am I. But it does say the use of short articles is almost universal. I have some thoughts about why this is the case. Minimal Time, Solid Return for the Reader The average reading speed is 200-250 words per minute. Basic math tells us a LinkedIn user could read an article/post of 300-400 words in under two minutes. Suppose the author does a good job focusing on a specific point and building a narrative that speaks directly to the wants, needs, challenges, and goals of the target audience. I’d say the reader’s investment of less than two minutes of their life to consume helpful content was well worth it. Which means they’ll probably read the next article. And the one after that. Minimal Time, Solid Return for the Author Don’t look now, but the author’s short articles are helping to establish thought leadership and build a foundation for business development. Not by selling, but by delivering value to the reader. 48% of study respondents said short articles/posts deliver the best results, just behind video (55%) and the same as case studies/customer stories and e-books/white papers. And these articles can be developed without much of a lift on the author’s part. The author of a short article or post could spend 15 minutes or so on the phone with a talented writer who asks the right questions and can capture the author’s voice. The process of interviewing, writing, revising, and publishing can be completed in a week. Publish on the Platform Short articles can be published as a post on LinkedIn, for example, without eliciting eyerolls from users. Readers would rather stay on the app than leave to read your article anyway. You’ll see more engagement than you will on your website, and you’ll expand your network, potentially reaching new clients and partners. And you can still publish your articles on your website to get the SEO benefit. Just include a link back to the original article in your LinkedIn post. Need Help Getting Started? If you’d like to discuss how to publish valuable, relevant content in a short article, and do it consistently to establish thought leadership, build trust, and win business, give me a shout .

Just before the holidays, I wrote a 100-word bio for an existing client who runs a solo accounting and bookkeeping firm in North Carolina. The bio will appear on the website of an organization that offers professional resources for the arts community. While other bios on the website (including one for another accountant) read like resumes, this bio speaks directly to the needs of the arts community, explains what the firm can help them achieve, and delivers a clear call-to-action – in 103 words, to be exact. Two takeaways here… 1) Generic doesn’t connect. LinkedIn headlines and summaries, chamber profiles, professional bios… they all matter. Approach them strategically. And eliminate the phrase “generic bio” from your vocabulary. Profiles and bios should be customized if needed to resonate with the audience of the platform. Remember, the purpose of your bio is to create moments of human connection with readers, pique their interest, and motivate them to dig deeper into what you do. If you want to connect with your ideal client, develop content that’s tailored to your ideal client’s wants, needs, goals, challenges, and aspirations. If you don’t mind dealing with tire kickers, you’ll happily work with anyone, or you just want to get it done quickly, I guess generic content will do. 2) Shorter does not equal easier. Actually, shorter content is often harder to write. A lot harder. Trust me. I used to write audio ads as short as 10 seconds for a living. Don’t assume that because content is shorter, and nobody knows you better than you, you can write your own profile or bio without much effort or strategic thought. And don’t assume that because content is shorter, you can type a few words into a little white box on your favorite AI platform and magically generate content that creates moments of human connection. Just like a good writer will ask questions to zero in on the right message, you need to feed AI the answers to those questions to generate content that’s remotely usable. That’s why most AI-generated content is generic and awful. Garbage in, garbage out. To be fair, most content written by inexperienced human writers, or writers who rely on the same generic questionnaires and don’t ask follow-up questions, is also generic and awful. Garbage in, garbage out. When words are at a premium, they matter that much more. Take nothing for granted. Every profile, every page of your website, every social media post, every thought leadership article, every brochure – each one is a reflection of who you are as an individual or business. Each one can influence the decisions and actions of your ideal client. Never assume it’s just a profile, just one article, or just one social media post. Every word matters. The wrong words drive people away, or at least give them an excuse to leave. The right words, including those in your short bios and profiles, move people closer to doing business with you. Move them emotionally. Move them with facts and logic to support their emotional decision-making process. Then move them to action. But first, give your words the thought and attention they deserve.

Years ago, when content marketing, blogs, and social media became things, I remember warning people about the incoming avalanche of bad content and how difficult it would be to stand out. Today, technology has exploded, buyer journeys have become more complex and individualized, and generative AI has turned everyone into self-professed “content creators.” Standing out hasn't gotten any easier. Since the transformation of blogs from digital megaphones for anyone with a half-baked opinion and a keyboard to strategic marketing tools, I’ve been a firm believer in thought leadership. Thought leadership – content that conveys insights, expertise, and unique perspectives to inform a specific audience and influence decisions – has always been valuable but difficult to quantify. Fortunately, research like the annual Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report is filled with data that validates the value of thought leadership in the B2B space. Here are highlights and my personal takeaways from the 2024 report. Shaping Perceptions and Increasing Value “73 percent of decision-makers say that an organization’s thought-leadership content is a more trustworthy basis for assessing its capabilities and competencies than its marketing materials and product sheets.” “70 percent of decision-makers say they are very likely to think more positively about organizations that consistently produce high-quality thought leadership.” Takeaway: Thought leadership focuses on what you know and what you believe. It goes deeper than a static page of your website or a tri-fold brochure. The goal is to inform, enlighten, and stimulate thought. You influence decision-making and win business by creating moments of human connection and conveying value, not selling. Introducing Opportunities “75 percent of decision-makers and C-suite executives say that a piece of thought leadership has led them to r esearch a product or service they were not previously considering. ” Takeaway: Thought leadership can serve as a discovery tool for people who have a need or desire for your offerings but didn’t even know it. Among the 75 percent of decision-makers and C-suite executives who researched offerings they hadn’t considered: “54 percent say that an organization that consistently produces high-quality thought-leadership content has prompted them to research the organization’s offers or capabilities. ” “23 percent said they began buying from or working with that organization. ” Takeaway: Many people believe the sole purpose of thought leadership content is to educate and build trust. Those are indeed core functions, but the data shows thought leadership can drive action and revenue based on value, not sales gimmicks. “60 percent said that a piece of thought leadership had made them realize their organization was missing out on a significant business opportunity.” Takeaway: Fear of missing out (FOMO) is motivation. If you understand your audience’s pain points, thought leadership can bring FOMO to the surface and highlight the consequences of inaction while presenting your organization as the solution. “60 percent said that good thought leadership makes them willing to pay a premium to work with that organization.” Takeaway: Thought leadership is not only introducing people to new offerings, but it’s also convincing them that their offerings and organization are worth top dollar. Getting Marketing Noticed “Nine in 10 decision-makers and C-suite executives say they are moderately or very likely to be more receptive to sales or marketing outreach from a company that consistently produces high-quality thought leadership.” “86 percent of decision-makers also say they would be moderately or very likely to invite them to participate in the RFP process. ” Takeaway: That’s a huge number. It proves that thought leadership elevates your brand and the perception of your sales and marketing efforts. You’ll gain opportunities (returned calls/emails, appointments, RFP requests, etc.) that you may not have received otherwise. Consistency shows you have the conviction and wealth of knowledge to generate fresh content, and the willingness to share those insights. Creating Separation with Competitors “70 percent of C-suite leaders say that a piece of thought leadership had at least occasionally led them to question whether they should continue working with an existing supplier. ” “54 percent say the piece of thought leadership got them to realize there were other suppliers they could work with that had a better understanding of the challenges their organization was facing.” “51 percent say the piece of thought leadership got them to realize that other suppliers were smarter or more visionary. ” Takeaway: Thought leadership can establish meaningful competitive differentiation without saying “this is how we’re different.” It can shows you can relate. It can plant the seed that your organization is more desirable – not based on price, but based on knowledge, value, and the ability to solve problems. The Bad News 48 percent of decision-makers rate the thought leadership they read as good. Just 15 percent say it’s very good or excellent. In other words, they consume thought leadership. They value thought leadership. They respond to thought leadership and factor it into their decision-making and buying process. But most thought leadership falls short of expectations. Imagine what could be accomplished if organizations invested the time and resources required to produce quality thought leadership that actually moves people. Attributes of Effective Thought Leadership There are three key characteristics that stand out, according to study participants: References strong research and data (55 percent) Helps me understand challenges and opportunities (44 percent) Offers concrete guidance and case studies (43 percent) If your thought leadership has at least one of these attributes or, ideally, all three, you increase the odds that your content will resonate with your audience. The Impact of Thought Leadership The most important job of any content is to provide clarity. Thought leadership, when done well, provides clarity on issues relevant to the audience, including those that may not have been considered. It creates urgency to move quickly. It challenges assumptions. It creates and reinforces competitive differentiators. And it shows you "get" their pain points. Most importantly, from the thought leader’s perspective, this content positions the thought leader and/or organization as experts capable of helping the audience overcome challenges and achieve their goals. Frankly, this is what all marketing should do. Thought leadership just does these things better. Just ask the 3,500 decision-makers and executives who contributed to this research. My role as a content writer and interviewer is to pull the “thought” and “leadership” out of subject matter experts, tap into their knowledge and passion, capture their voice, and tell their story in a way that creates moments of human connection. If you’d like to discuss a thought leadership strategy for your organization, let’s talk .

I want to say upfront that this is not a bitter, AI-bashing article. AI is a valuable tool when used correctly. For what it’s worth, any problems I have with AI are based on deceptive marketing and unrealistic expectations, as you’ll see here. But I digress… The prevailing expectation among first-time users of AI writing tools seems to be that you can type a few words into a little white box and receive valuable, usable content in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, that’s not how AI writers are engineered to work. The problem is that most people see AI as a shortcut and a cost-cutting measure, not a tool for improving the quality and value of their content. Essentially, they want to automate content writing with AI like they would automate other business functions with technology. I remember the very first conversation I had with an agency rep who was using AI to write blog articles. He wanted to provide clients with a cheaper option. The agency knew the quality was inferior but didn’t want to “lose the business.” Another problem is that several popular AI writing tools were originally marketed for speed. But they should have specified speed of output, not speed of input, or prompting. Let me explain. You Can’t Skip the Heavy Lifting I often talk about the heavy lifting that happens before I sit down to write. Basic discovery and research. Identifying the purpose, core message, and key supporting points of the content. Identifying the specific audience for this specific content. Discussions about brand voice and tone. How this content fits into your overall marketing strategy. Standard questions that connect the dots between what you do and what your audience wants (problems and pain points, obstacles to the sale, misconceptions, solutions and processes, desired outcome, etc.). Deeper follow-up questions that uncover the most meaningful information, authentic stories, and key points of competitive differentiation. This heavy lifting is the difference between words on a page and strategic marketing content that creates moments of human connection. AI generates content based on what you feed it and what it can consume from other sources. If you want AI-generated content to be just as compelling and have as much impact as human-written content, you can’t skip the heavy lifting. You have to go through the bullet points I just referenced and feed that information into the AI writer through “prompts” – the information you type into the little white box. There’s a reason why people are taking courses to become prompt engineers who have the training to feed AI models what they need to generate the desired output, whether written content, video, images, or solutions to complex problems. It’s hard work. And, in the case of marketing content, you have to know what questions to ask, how to dig deeper with a second layer of questions, what information to share, what stories to tell, and what details to leave out. The Choice Can you type a few words into a little white box and have AI produce coherent, accurate, grammatically correct content that includes certain keywords? Yes, you can . That doesn’t mean you should . You’re likely to end up with content that’s generic. Content with no distinct voice or point of view. Content that doesn’t speak to the specific needs of your ideal client. Content devoid of real-world stories that reinforce your message and validate your claims. Content that doesn’t do justice to your ability as an organization or individual to solve people’s problems. The choice you have to make is whether you’ll be satisfied publishing and attaching your name to this kind of marketing content, which is probably destined to be lost and forgotten in a vast sea of sameness. If you want to use AI to develop content that moves people – moves them emotionally, moves them with facts and logic to justify emotional decision making, and moves them to act – you have to do the heavy lifting. There’s no getting around it. Unless you work with a human writer who does the heavy lifting and writing for you. There’s always that.

I recently had the pleasure of presenting the webinar “Creating Small Nonprofit Website Content that Moves People” to nearly 100 attendees. Although the webinar is geared towards nonprofits, the same basic principles apply to small business websites as well. I focused on the following key areas: The purpose of website content for small nonprofits Characteristics of effective website content How to uncover what matters most to your audience An AI reality check Thank you to everyone who attended the webinar and asked great questions. Thank you for making a difference in your communities. Thank you to my friends at Eleo Donor Management Software for inviting me to present, for providing such valuable resources to small nonprofits, and for being such a fantastic partner over the years. If you would like to provide insightful, actionable marketing content to the members of your chamber of commerce, trade association, professional organization, or nonprofit group, please contact me to discuss ideas for a custom webinar! Watch the Webinar