Importance of Quality Content

My biggest takeaways from Ethan Smith on how to win at AEO (i.e. get ChatGPT to recommend your product): 1. Being mentioned most often beats ranking first. In Google, the #1 blue link wins. In ChatGPT, the answer summarizes multiple sources—so appearing in five citations beats ranking #1 in one. Ethan’s strategy: get mentioned on Reddit, YouTube, blogs, and affiliates. Volume of mentions matters more than any single placement. 2. LLM traffic converts 6x better than Google search traffic. Webflow saw this dramatic difference because users who come through AI assistants have built up much more intent through conversation and follow-up questions, making them highly qualified leads. 3. Early-stage startups can win at AEO immediately, unlike with SEO. Traditional SEO requires years of domain authority. But a brand-new Y Combinator company mentioned in a Reddit thread today can show up in ChatGPT tomorrow. The playing field is finally level. 4. The long tail of AEO is 4x bigger than SEO. People ask ChatGPT questions with 25 or more words (vs. 6 in Google). Ethan found gold in queries like “Which meeting transcription tool integrates with Looker via Zapier to BigQuery?”—questions that never existed in search but are perfect for AI. Own these micro-niches. 5. Reddit is proving to be the kingmaker for AI visibility. ChatGPT trusts Reddit because the community polices spam better than any algorithm. Ethan’s exact playbook: make one real account, say who you are and where you work, give genuinely helpful answers. Five good comments can transform your visibility. No automation, no fake accounts—just be helpful. 6. YouTube videos for “boring” B2B terms are a gold mine for AEO. Nobody makes videos about “AI-powered payment processing APIs”—which is exactly why you should. While everyone fights over “best CRM software,” the high-value, zero-competition long tail is wide open in video. 7. Your help center is now a growth channel. All those “Does your product do X?” questions flooding ChatGPT can be answered by help-center pages. Move them from subdomain to subdirectory, cross-link aggressively, and cover every feature question. Ethan calls this the most underutilized opportunity in AEO. 8. January 2025 was the inflection point in AEO growth. That’s when ChatGPT made answers more clickable (maps, shopping cards, citations) and adoption exploded. Webflow went from near zero to 8% of signups from AI. This channel is accelerating faster than any Ethan’s seen in 18 years. 9. The AEO playbook: (1) Find questions from competitor paid search data, (2) set up answer tracking, (3) see who’s showing up as citations, (4) create landing pages answering all follow-up questions, (5) get mentioned offsite via Reddit/YouTube/affiliates, (6) run controlled experiments, (7) build a dedicated team. This exact process is driving real results at scale.

In the inbound marketing era, content was queen. In the AI era of marketing, yes, content is still queen. Last week, I spoke to a CMO whose content marketing strategy revolves entirely around SEO. After years of solid growth, her company’s traffic is declining. It’s a familiar story in 2025. She asked: “Now that SEO is less effective, is content marketing less important?” I told her the opposite is true. Content is more important than ever but a few things are different. 1. Content needs to be specific. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), or how your brand shows up in AI-driven responses is becoming important. The difference between being cited or invisible often comes down to one thing: specific, high-quality content. Marketers leading in AEO are seeing 3–4x higher conversion rates, but only when their content goes deeper than surface-level keywords. Authority, clarity, and originality are the new ranking signals. 2. Content needs to be multi-modal and multi-channel. Buyers no longer follow a linear journey. They read, watch, listen, chat, and scroll, often in the same hour. AI makes it easier to meet them in those moments, but you still need powerful assets to show up well: Video and interactive demos for discovery, Long-form explainers for education, Bite-sized insights for social. The format changes, but the foundation doesn’t: clear, helpful, human content. 3. Content needs to be dynamic and personal. AI gives us the signal—who’s interested, what they need, when they’re ready. But only great content makes the connection. Dynamic, intent-based content can turn data into meaningful engagement. That’s how you create moments that feel personal instead of programmatic. The tools have changed. The algorithms have changed. The constant is content. It’s still queen – because it’s still how trust, engagement, and growth begin. Ps: Huge shoutout to our HubSpot partner Mole Street, who’s all-in on helping customers grow through great content. Whenever I speak with Brendan Walsh or Brian LaPann, “Content Hub” comes up within the first two minutes. Last week they released a fantastic whitepaper on it, link in the comments if you’d like to take a look.

In content creation, the temptation to chase trends is real! But, I've learned that true growth comes from focusing on quality and consistency over what's popular in the moment. Maybe, not in numbers, but the growth reflects in the kind of community you build, brand positioning and getting the right opportunities. Here’s why quality/value driven content helps better than just chasing trends: 1. Brand Alignment: Quality content reflects values and helps position your personal brand authentically. Chasing trends that don’t fit can dilute what one is trying to build. 2. Attracting the Right Audience: By focusing on what truly matters, attract people who are genuinely interested in what you offer. 3. Building a Strong Community: Consistency and value in content foster trust, leading to deeper engagement and stronger relationships with the audience. 4. Meaningful Collaborations: Collaborating with brands and creators who align with my content makes for more relevant partnerships/colloborations. 5. Getting the right opportunities: You truly get what you sow. It’s about attracting the right ones that resonate with what you stand for. At the end of the day, it’s not about quick numbers — it’s about building something sustainable and meaningful. That’s the kind of growth I believe in! 🌿 What do you think about this? #QualityContent #SustainableGrowth #Authenticity #LongTermImpact

If I was the Head of Content of a $50M ARR SaaS, and I was given a $100,000 content budget, here’s the exact content playbook I’d run (broken down by budget): BACKGROUND: Content should be the #1 focus for every GTM strategy. Scroll-stopping, valuable content drives revenue, builds trust, and entertains buyers. Here's my plan (which is similar to what I am running at HockeyStack): 1. Anchor Content - $30,000 Invest in 3-5 high-value pieces of “anchor content” per year. Think: - In-depth research reports (industry benchmarks, original research) - Interactive tools (ROI calculators, diagnostic quizzes) - Long-form guides (20+ pages that prospects bookmark and share) I’d prioritize first-party research over everything else because once you have enough research, it gets exponentially easier to build interactive tools and guides around the report. These gets you backlinks, social shares, and authority. Bonus point: If one of the research reports is controversial enough, it can go viral and bring you an insane amount of traffic. I know from first-hand experience :) 2. UGC/Customer Stories - $20,000 Nobody cares about low-quality Zoom case studies. You need to invest in high-quality customer stories with high production value. Travel to the customer, keep the conversation long, and invest in post-production to have the best clips, blog posts, and social content. Then build a content library with necessary tags like industry and pain point for all your revenue teams to utilize. 2. Fast, Relatable, and Entertaining Content - $25,000 You also need fast, relatable, and entertaining content assets to support this strategy. This category is everything from skits to product launches to TikTok style videos for the feed. These are great to build affinity, stop the scroll, and stay top-of-mind. 3. Distribution Strategy - $25,000 Once you have the content, now it’s time to invest in distribution. Start collecting emails on your website and setup a weekly newsletter Start running ads on everywhere relevant Post from employee profiles, your profile, and company page Collab with influencers And more. BONUS: I would also invest at least $10,000 in experimentation. Tools, new channels, and new tactics. Start small, find what works, and double down. TAKEAWAY 2025 will be the year of moats. - SEO is no longer a moat. - Paid ads aren't a moat. - AI isn’t a moat. If you focus on what others cannot replicate easily in your content and utilize your product’s unique differentiators, you can create a massive moat. Otherwise, in a quarter, all your competitors will copy what you do, This content plan works because it requires a ton of data, takes a long time, and focuses on distribution. If you focus on your moat and build product fast, 2025 will be your best year.

Podcasting wasn’t always the marketing powerhouse it is today. Remember when podcasts were mostly niche conversations, hobbyist recordings, or long-form interviews with limited reach? In fact, if you’d told someone five years ago that a podcast could drive investor interest or build a high-growth brand, they’d probably have given you a polite smile and moved on. That phase is long gone. Today, podcasts have quietly become one of the most intimate, trust-building tools in a marketer’s arsenal. The shift happened not with noise, but with consistency. Not through ads, but through authentic storytelling. A podcast today is almost like having a dedicated, 24x7 channel in someone’s ear. Take The Barbershop with Shantanu, for example. The podcast wasn’t a platform for the VC fund Barbershop but guerrilla marketing tool for the Bombay Shaving Company. A brand that was targeting youth & competing with a monopoly MNC player. The young marketing team suggested it & Shantanu Deshpande being the risk taker & visionary rolled into one, decided to go ahead. What followed was amazing success with the brand growing in online search & creating an impact. The candid, unfiltered conversations with founders, makers, and leaders soon became much more than just a podcast. It became a brand in itself with a community, a point of view, and a clear ethos. It thrives on depth and realness, qualities that are surprisingly hard to find in today’s overproduced content universe. As the podcast evolved, they introduced Raiser’s Edge, a segment within the show where early-stage founders get a chance to pitch their startups. This isn’t just for visibility or feedback. Some of these founders have received actual funding interest, mentorship offers, and meaningful traction, directly because of their feature on the podcast. So in effect, what was once a simple conversation series now doubles up as a discovery engine, an incubator, and a relationship-building platform, all rolled into one. Without sounding like a campaign. Without spending lakhs on performance marketing. Just by building value, one episode at a time. What makes it work? Consistency, because podcasts only build traction with time Intentionality, because it’s not about being everywhere, it’s about being meaningful Respect for the listener’s time, because your audience can sense when you’re just filling airspace The real power of podcasting isn’t in the metrics. It’s in the mindset. So the next time you're exploring marketing channels, don’t overlook the one that’s quiet, high-trust, and community-first. Because in an age of fleeting scrolls, the real win is being the voice people choose to listen to. Have you come across any other podcasts that became community or brand movements? I’d love to know which ones made it to your regular listening list. #podcasting #marketing #branding

📢 ¡Basta de vender humo! Si tienes que convencer de tu calidad, ya perdiste Puedes llenar tu web de palabras como "premium", "innovador", "de alta calidad", pero al final… ¿𝗱𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲́ 𝘀𝗶𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗶 𝗹𝗮 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗹𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼? 𝗘𝗻 𝗝𝗮𝗽𝗼́𝗻, 𝗹𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝗱 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗮, 𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮. Steve Jobs: "It´s funny, the group of people that do not use quality in their marketing are Japanese. You never seem them using quality in their marketing. It´s only the American companies that do. And yet, if you ask people on the street which products have the best reputation for the quality they will tell you the Japanese products. Now why is that? How could that be? The answer is because customers don´t form their opinions on quality from marketing. They do not form their opinions on quality from who won the Deming award or who won the Baldrige award. The form their opinions on quality from their own experience with the products or the services. And so, one can spend enormous amounts of money on quality. One can win every quality award there is. And yet, if your products don´t live up to it, customers will not keep that opinion for long in their minds. So, I think where we have to start is with our products and our services, not with our marketing department. And we need to get back to the basics and go improve our products and services". 📌 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗺𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. Toyota Motor Corporation no necesita repetir que sus coches son confiables. Simplemente lo son. Llevan décadas en la carretera sin fallar. Su marketing habla de eficiencia, no de “calidad superior”. 📌 𝗟𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘆𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗼́𝗻. Canon EMEA y Nikon no buscan golpes de efecto. Año tras año, han mantenido estándares impecables. ¿El resultado? Cuando piensas en cámaras de calidad, piensas en ellas. 📌 𝗖𝗮𝗱𝗮 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗼́𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮. Desde abrir el paquete hasta el uso diario, cada momento refuerza la experiencia. Sony lo sabe: diseño elegante, durabilidad, y funcionalidad crean una percepción de calidad sin necesidad de repetirlo. 📌 𝗟𝗼𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. Shiseido no grita a los cuatro vientos que es la mejor marca de cosmética. Sus productos hablan por sí solos y los clientes hacen el resto. 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗷𝗲𝘀: ➡️ Deja que tu producto hable. ➡️ La calidad no se declara, se construye. ➡️ Si realmente ofreces algo extraordinario, la gente lo notará y lo recomendará. ¿𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗱𝗼 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝗱 𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝘂𝗴𝗮𝗿 𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗮? Juzguen ustedes mismos. Feel free to share your opinions in the comments! 💬 Comparto ideas sobre tecnología, ciencia, economía, sociedad, deporte y política. Haz clic en la 🔔 de mi perfil para no perderte mis nuevas publicaciones https://t.ly/wuTI1

When someone says, "Should we post more content?" —or— "Should we just be more active online?" I pause. Because it’s not just about posting more. It’s about why you're posting. It’s about who you’re posting for. Posting for the sake of it is noise. Creating content with intention builds a brand people actually care about. You want your audience to: → Appreciate your brand → Interact with your brand → Gain valuable information from your brand → Earn real value from your brand Content isn’t a box to check. It’s a bridge you build between your brand and your audience’s trust. In today's reflection, I’m breaking down how to shift from just "posting" to creating content that truly serves. Because in a noisy world, value always wins. ➡️Let’s dive deeper: "Don’t Just Post, Create."

Corporate America didn’t take him seriously because of his TikToks. Now he consults for major corporations such as LinkedIn and Google, becoming known as “The Corporate Baddie.” DeAndre Brown was one of the 48% of Gen Z’rs entering the workforce during the pandemic. Like many, he started his career on a screen in isolation with little guidance. To combat this, DeAndre began making TikToks to share his workplace experiences and help other young professionals navigate corporate life. Many judged him, saying his TikToks weren’t serious or made his time in corporate America look like a joke. But DeAndre saw the bigger picture. He leveraged the power of a rising social platform to talk about challenges in the workplace and teach others through humorous and relatable content. This led to 1.1M followers, 75M+ likes, and a thriving community known as “The Elite.” Even after his success, he still received harsh criticism and backlash. Many of us default to producing content that is sanitized and buttoned-up, and by avoiding humor or playfulness, we often see less engagement and weaker recognition. What people often miss is that the best awareness and engagement comes from “having people feel seen.” Nobody remembers how many views you got or how many products you launched, but people remember “how you make them feel.” Millions view DeAndre’s content and feel seen or heard through their daily workplace experiences. When content is engaging and relatable, you earn the green light to educate others on the topics you aim to bring awareness to. DeAndre shares career tips, interview advice, and insights on navigating the workplace. His workplace experiences shaped him into an entrepreneur, strategic content creator, and adviser. He often talks about the importance of practicing good habits, like sending personalized thank you notes to brand partners and recognizing the team behind every great brand. Leading with authenticity and reliability in your content often unlocks doors you didn’t even know were there. DeAndre’s rise in social media and Gen Z work culture is one of the most fascinating stories I’ve seen, and one professionals and brands can learn from. #CreatorEconomy

I met a sales team that tracks 27 different metrics. But none of them matter. They measure: - Calls made - Emails sent - Meetings booked - Demos delivered - Talk-to-listen ratio - Response time - Pipeline coverage But they all miss the most important number: How often prospects share your content with others. This hit me yesterday. We analyzed our last 200 deals: Won deals: Champion shared content with 5+ stakeholders Lost deals: Champion shared with fewer than 2 people It wasn't about our: - Product demos - Discovery questions - Pricing strategy - Negotiation skills It was about whether our champion could effectively sell for us. Think about your current pipeline: Do you know how many people have seen your proposal? Do you know which slides your champion shared internally? Do you know who viewed your pricing? Most sales leaders have no idea. They're optimizing metrics that don't drive decisions. Look at your CRM right now. I bet it tracks: ✅ When YOU last emailed a prospect ❌ When THEY last shared your content ✅ How many calls YOU made ❌ How many stakeholders viewed your materials ✅ When YOU sent a proposal ❌ How much time they spent reviewing it We've built dashboards to measure everything except what actually matters. The real sales metric that predicts closed deals: Internal Sharing Velocity (ISV) How quickly and widely your champion distributes your content to other stakeholders. High ISV = Deals close Low ISV = Deals stall We completely rebuilt our sales process around this insight: - Redesigned all content to be shareable, not just readable - Created spaces where champions could easily distribute information - Built analytics to measure exactly who engaged with what - Trained reps to optimize for sharing, not for responses Result? Win rates up 35%. Sales cycles shortened by 42%. Forecasting accuracy improved by 60%. Stop obsessing over your activity metrics. Start measuring how effectively your champions sell for you. If your CRM can't tell you how often your content is shared internally, you're operating in the dark. And that's why your forecasts are always wrong. Your move.

In the age of abundant content on the internet, there is one metric that is becoming more important than likes, comments, reach, or views. It is the feeling that stays with people after they consume your content. I call it emotional residue. In a world where the volume of content keeps increasing and where AI makes it easy to produce more in less time, most pieces of content disappear the moment you scroll past them. They may get numbers, they may get reactions, but they do not stay with you. They do not leave anything behind. But once in a while, you come across something that lingers. A line you keep thinking about. A perspective that quietly shifts something in your mind. A story that you remember days later. That lingering feeling is emotional residue and it is slowly becoming the real differentiator in a world flooded with content. People forget what they liked. They forget which video went viral. They forget most of what they consumed even a week ago. But they remember how something made them feel. They remember the creators who made them think in a new direction. They remember the ones who said something that felt true or personal or oddly familiar. You cannot engineer that feeling through tricks or templates. It comes from the intention behind what you create. It comes from depth, honesty, curiosity, clarity, and the effort to say something that actually matters to you first. Engagement becomes a by product. Emotional residue becomes the outcome. As content creation becomes easier, emotional impact becomes rarer. And in that rarity lies the opportunity. Create something that stays. Something that people remember without saving. Something that comes back to them at the right moment. That is the kind of content that builds trust, shapes identity, and turns an audience into a community.