If you rely on SEO and information-based content to grow your audience, it’s time to rethink your approach with personality content.
Informational content used to be the go-to method for building brand awareness and driving growth. And it was a pretty simple process: rank for key search terms, attract web traffic, and convert leads.
But with AI’s growing capabilities, this category of content has become commoditized — easily generated, widely distributed, and harder to distinguish from the competition. As a result, it’s increasingly difficult for brands to maintain a unique voice and stand out in an oversaturated market.
This is where personality-led content comes in. By tapping into storytelling and the human experience, it connects with audiences in ways that AI simply can’t. But what exactly is personality content, and how can you add it to your marketing playbook?
In a recent episode of Marketing Against the Grain, Kieran and I explore the shift from informational content to a personality-led approach. We also cover five practical tips to help brands regain control of their narratives and create content that stands out from AI-generated material. Let’s dive in.
Information-led content — also referred to as ‘educational’ content — is all about delivering facts, data, and answers to specific questions. Think of assets like how-to guides, tutorials, or product comparisons. But with AI tools now able to generate those answers in seconds (and with even more precision than Google), this type of content has become less valuable and much harder to rank for in search results.
Personality-led content, on the other hand, connects with audiences through storytelling and real-life experiences. This could look like behind-the-scenes videos that give a peek into your brand’s culture, opinion pieces from industry thought leaders, or influencer-driven stories that build trust by featuring familiar faces.
Especially as attention spans shrink and the competition for audience engagement grows, personality-driven content gives businesses a strategic advantage by fostering authentic, emotionally-driven connections and making them more memorable.
Interested in implementing a personality-led content strategy? Kieran and I have identified five key tactics to help your brand thrive — even as AI-generated content continues to grow.
One of the best ways to jumpstart your personality-driven content strategy is by rethinking how you structure and hire for your marketing team.
Take Mohak Nahta, for example, a founder in the travel industry. He realized that SEO-driven content that addressed common travel questions — like visa applications and logistics — was losing its impact, as AI could easily churn out that kind of information.
Instead of continuing with the same approach, he pivoted to a personality-led strategy and hired in-house influencers to share their personal travel experiences on the company’s marketing channels.
This not only made the content harder for AI to replicate but also helped the brand grow its audience on community-driven platforms like TikTok.
Creators and influencers are among the most trusted voices today, but working with them can be challenging.
Many prefer to build their own platforms rather than fully commit to a brand, especially if they have the skills to grow their own channels. As a result, influencers who are willing to collaborate with brands are often either early in their careers or less established. To bridge this gap, offering the right incentives is crucial.
One approach is to hire aspiring influencers as in-house content creators and invest in their development. The better they perform, the more training and opportunities they receive.
Alternatively, you can attract established influencers by offering incentives like revenue-sharing models, exclusive brand deals, or access to premium experiences that align with their personal brand.
Whichever route you choose, the key is to align their success with your brand’s goals, ensuring a win-win for both parties.
Instead of trying to compete for web traffic everywhere, zoom in on one or two places where you can truly win. This means obsessing over a few key areas — whether that’s one platform or a specific content style — and becoming the best in those spaces.
As Kieran points out during the episode, the market is even more saturated because you’re not just competing with brands anymore — you’re up against individual influencers, too. So you have to really know: where am I unique? Where’s the differentiation?
By narrowing your focus, you can develop content that stands out from the competition and resonates with your audience in a way that AI-generated content can’t.
Modern B2B creator marketing should be structured like the Marvel Universe. For example, just like Marvel owns the IP, the characters, and the storyline, companies need to own their most valuable assets — social accounts and platforms, strategic playbooks, content libraries.
The creators themselves, much like actors, can come and go. You might have different people playing the role, depending on the project or the message, but the core infrastructure and brand identity remain consistent.
Deep expertise is what separates truly valuable content from the rest. At HubSpot, for example, we’ve taken all of our informational content, sorted it into categories, and identified the pieces that are the most defensible.
From there, we go deeper, adding unique value to those posts in ways AI can’t easily replicate — video, customer statistics, interactive features — which ensures that our content remains highly specialized and unique to our brand.
Personality-led content is the key to surviving and thriving in the face of AI. By focusing on authenticity, differentiation, and strategic use of creators, marketing executives can protect their brands and keep control over their narrative.
To learn more about personality content, check out the full episode of Marketing Against the Grain below:
This blog series is in partnership with Marketing Against the Grain, the video podcast. It digs deeper into ideas shared by marketing leaders Kipp Bodnar (HubSpot’s CMO) and Kieran Flanagan (SVP, Marketing at HubSpot) as they unpack growth strategies and learn from standout founders and peers.
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