"We need more of our ideal clients to see us as thought leaders in the field."

This is an incredibly common refrain I hear from consulting firm founders, principals, and partners. They are very clear on the outcome they want - and let's be clear it is an outcome - but they are never very sure how to get there, and know that what they are doing currently isn't enough.

And this is where the problems often start, because their minds almost without fail turn to doing more:

• More blogs
• More newsletters
• More conferences
• More speaking engagements
• More whitepapers
• More webinars
• More podcasts
• More social posts
• More sales outreach
• More research

And in the age of instant gratification, further exacerbated by generative AI, "more" seems to be a very attainable solution. I am seeing consulting firms decrease their reliance on internal SMEs for content creation, decrease their spending with writers and content agencies, all while they increase their content output. This all sounds great in theory, but I urge you to look at things differently.

This mentality of more, misses one critical point - content and thought leadership happens in a marketplace - the marketplace of ideas - and like any other marketplace the laws of supply and demand apply. But this idea of more, only looks at one side of that equation - the supply side.

Content Supply & Demand

Generative AI can definitely help us on the supply side. It can summarize, synthesize, and repurpose content like there is no tomorrow. Many Gen AI tools can turn webinar and podcast transcripts into blogs, social posts and newsletters. They can take existing content from the web, combine it with your internal insights, and layer in your approved brand voice to create unique content pieces. But here is the question, does anyone actually want this content? And more importantly, is there existing supply of placement inventory to support this influx of content?

Do an internally-facing analysis of your content and outreach efforts:

• How many deals over the past year can you confidently say were influenced by your content efforts? And what percentage of those do you typically close?
• How often are your consultants or your company being discovered due to your content efforts?
• How often are prospects appreciative of your email outreach and follow-ups?

If after looking internally, you can confidently say that what you have been doing is effective, then MAYBE it makes sense to do more.

Now do an externally-facing analysis:

• What types of content are your current and prospective clients most engaged with?
• What problems and pain points are they trying to solve? Does your content address them?
• How often do prospects or clients comment about the quality of your content?

Now let's think about the ecosystem you are playing in and whether there is room for more, or whether you need to steal content market share from your competitors:

• Are there podcasts who are struggling to get enough guests?
• Are there conferences who are struggling to get enough speakers?
• Are there more or fewer people posting social content in your industry?
• Are people in your industry getting more or fewer emails?

We tend to think that the internet is ever expanding and that our ideal prospects want, or even need, more of our stuff.

But here is the reality... while space on the internet is ever expanding, the quality of that space is limited - there are only so many impressions that LinkedIn or Google can provide (based on the number of eyeballs they have access to). People are overwhelmed with the amount of information available, and they are struggling to discern what's good/accurate and what isn't. This is why they are turning to their peers, and to AI to answer their questions.

Visibility alone isn't enough.

Visibility vs. Trust and Credibility

Content and outreach volume alone won't help you break through the noise - the market is oversaturated and people are too overwhelmed. And let's not forget that as a boutique consulting firm, you are an known. So your content needs high quality and uniqueness, to stand a chance of competing against the content from the large firms.

You need to be building trust and credibility both with your ideal prospects and with the generative AI systems that are now being used for research - to answer questions. Whether it be Perplexity.ai, ChatGPT, or Google's AI Answers, all of these systems are finding ways to understand the content being created, assign it some level of trust and credibility, and decide whether it can be used to answer the question.

As a consulting firm, trust and credibility is rarely going to be directly attributed to the firm as an entity. Instead, it will be attributed to the people you have working at your firm. This means that rather than increasing content production quantity and moving further away from the SMEs, you should actually be finding ways to bring your people front and center. You should be focused on showing the specificity of your expertise, because the world is much noisier and choice is exponentially increasing with the rise of specialized fractional consultants.

Putting It All Together

More isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it needs to be considered in context of quality and demand. There is a base level of quantity needed to show depth and breadth of expertise. Especially if you are a multi-disciplinary firm targeting multiple industries.

You also need enough consistency to perpetually stay in front of your ICP. The mere exposure effect is a real thing, but exposure (aka visibility) alone won't cut it. Not when everyone else is trying to increase their exposure as well.

Additionally, increased quantity - overloading/saturating the market only works for a short period of time without adequate quality. Once the market catches up, all you are left with is more noise to break through where only the best content will win. Quality always comes first.

This matters to consultants because thought leadership and personal brands are your way to de-risk buying decisions. They are your way to build credibility and trust early - before they are even ready to have a conversation with you, and before they have an actual need to do so.