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The most nuanced and valuable subject matter expertise for content often comes from engineers solving deep customer problems, not just from the founding team. They possess the "day-in-the-life" context that makes content unique and authoritative.
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The best business advice originates from those with hands-on experience. Lenny Rachitsky pivoted his newsletter to feature guest posts from practitioners, believing their real-world lessons are more valuable than theoretical pontification.
AirOps champions the role of a "Content Engineer," who manages a company's unique internal data and builds content workflows. This role is key to ensuring AI-assisted content is high-quality and brand-aligned, not generic output.
In an era of generic, AI-generated content, the key differentiator is leveraging unique stories, personal narratives, and specific client examples. These elements are impossible for others or AI to replicate. If you lack examples, work for free to build a bank of case studies to fuel your content.
The content team's role should expand from asset production to company-wide enablement. They are best positioned to train the entire team—not just the founder—on how to be thought leaders, providing the proprietary data, stats, and frameworks needed to build their confidence and presence.
Your brand narrative is more than just the founder's origin story. It's a collection of every team member's unique background and reason for joining the mission. Empowering them to share their "why" adds authenticity and relatability to the overall company story.
To find unique subject matter expertise beyond the C-suite, interview engineers and technical staff. They possess nuanced, in-the-trenches knowledge of customer problems. This approach consistently produces the most technical and highest-engaging content, even if it requires more effort to create.
Capture genuine expertise and your company's unique voice by recording long-form interviews with the founder or a technical expert. A single hour-long conversation can be transcribed and repurposed into 50-100 distinct pieces of content, from social posts to articles, ensuring authenticity that AI cannot replicate.
Instead of trying to produce polished content as an expert, founders should simply document their daily journey—challenges, learnings, and even product development decisions. This approach lowers the barrier to creation, feels more authentic to the audience, and invites them to contribute.
To create non-commodity content, move beyond summarizing expert opinions. Instead, ground your content in personal, first-hand experience. Frame narratives around what "I did, I saw, I built," which provides unique stories and insights that AI and competitors cannot easily replicate.
When building an influencer program, the most authentic and accessible advocates are often internal. Companies should start by identifying and empowering their own C-suite, topic experts, and even rank-and-file employees who have credibility and influence. This forms a strong foundation before expanding to external partnerships.
