Your brand is the best strategy in the age of AI

Everyone can generate content now…so how do you stand out from the crowd?

You’ve probably noticed that everyone online suddenly sounds like an expert. Even if it’s void of substance, the style is polished. Generative AI made that possible, but it also made it far less impressive than it used to be. You may have even seen people adding in typos to prove they’re human! We may use the robots for help, but hypocritically, no-one is allowed to know.

For years, the businesses that did well were the ones that could create good quality content, consistently, and at scale. More was better, and that took time and money. It was a real barrier, and it kept a lot of businesses out. Now, Generative AI has removed that barrier. Today, anyone can generate an adequate article or a reasonable caption in minutes. Even if it says nothing valuable. This means that what used to set you apart doesn’t any longer. So, what will? I’m going to say Brand (because I’m a brand strategist), but here’s someone else to back me up.

Market research company Kantar’s research on brand equity believes it’s about connecting with your audience (the real people):

“Brands drive growth by building deep connections with people. The strongest brands are not only functional; they are emotionally relevant, trusted, instinctively chosen, and talked about.”

What good quality content means

This means that your content must be targeted to a particular group of people, in order to resonate with them. That’s what builds trust over time. You still have to create content consistently, but you can’t just drown your competitors in quantity anymore; it has to be good quality. But what is “quality”?

It means content that:

• Is on brand: Aligns seamlessly with the rest of your marketing and the experience customers have with you

• Is relevant: Talks directly to your target audience

• Is valuable: Actually has something to say and adds value; it’s not just platitudes

• Is credible: You have proof that what you say works (testimonials, case studies, quantitative results, etc)

• Is authoritative: Showcases you as the expert in your area

  
  

The “on brand” element is critically important, because your content will only be as interesting as your company’s brand. It will only be as unique as your brand. It will only resonate as strongly as your brand does with your audience. Your brand is the experience people have when they encounter your business online and offline - whether as a potential client, existing client, or past client. And over time, a consistent experience is what builds trust. And now that AIs can detect sentiment and tone, it’s something that they will pick up on that will help you stand out.

Brand-building = trust-building

Analyst house Gartner published an analysis earlier this year with a title that says it all: In the AI Era, Trust Scarcity Is Rewriting the Rules of Brand Growth.

“In AI-shaped feeds, search, recommendations - and eventually agentic buying experiences - brands increasingly win (or lose) based on trust signals, such as advocacy, consistency, and expert proof. In this context, brand building becomes intentional trust-signal design, and trust influences not just preference, but discoverability. When trust becomes scarce, brands must focus on creating credibility instead of just reach.”

They argue that credibility signals (a clear point of view, real proof, people willing to vouch for you) are the things that move someone from “found you” to “chose you.” This is what builds trust.

This tracks with what I see in client work. Two businesses can offer nearly identical services, at nearly identical prices, with nearly identical credentials. The one that gets chosen is the one the buyer trusts to be who they say they are. And that is old-school brand-building, made more important by AI robots that think like humans.

How powerful is your brand online?

Your website isn’t the front door anymore; instead, it can be the second or third step in someone’s journey, or maybe they never visit it at all. People are increasingly asking AI tools to answer their questions before they ever land on a business’s website. This is referred to as a zero-click experience, and it means clients are looking in places you can’t see and don’t control directly. Long gone are the days of easy attribution across the internet.

Which raises the question: if someone asks an AI tool who they should hire in your industry, does it describe you accurately? Does it know who you’re for, what you do differently, and why they should trust you?

Your website tells people what you say about yourself. Your brand includes what everyone else believes about you – and that’s what the AI platforms are picking up on.

Why brand is your best strategy in the age of AI

When AI makes it effortless to compare providers side by side, often the lowest price wins. A strong brand is what keeps you from becoming a line item. This matters if you’re in professional services, where the work you do can look like what your competitors do on paper. What isn’t similar is how you do it, who you do it for, and whether people believe you.

Before you start looking for technical solutions to getting found by AI, take a step back and think about how your brand is showing up at the moment. To support this, feel free to open up a temporary/incognito chat on one of the AIs, pose as a competitor, and start asking questions about your brand. Once you've fixed this, you can start on the technical tweaks.

First, see what it believes about you.

• What are you known for? Not what you think you’re known for, but what people have said online.

• Who does the internet think you’re talking to?

• What do you believe about your industry that most people in it won’t say out loud?

• What proof do you have that backs up your claims, beyond “we’re experts” and “we deliver results”?

If those answers are fuzzy or don’t align with what you want to see, that’s the work, rather than yet more content. If the gap between how you appear and how you want to appear is obvious, then revisit your brand messaging and review your existing content to make sure you’re communicating who you are effectively. If the answers are fuzzy but you’re not sure where to go from here, go back to your customers. What do they want from you and what do they appreciate about you?

That is the basis of your brand. Good luck!