AI and the Value of Authenticity | Jeff Coyle

Ann Kraus: Hello and welcome to Simpli.fi TV, the web series and podcast for agencies, brands, marketers, and media buyers. I'm Ann Kraus. My guest today is Jeff Coyle, co-founder and chief strategy officer of MarketMuse. With over 24 years in the search industry, Jeff is a seasoned expert in AI, content strategy, and product management. MarketMuse is an award-winning platform, empowers marketers and agencies to build topical authority and improve content quality. Before MarketMuse, Jeff led teams in TechTarget and Knowledge Storm. He's a frequent speaker at industry events, and featured in dozens of journals and publications. Like Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute, Content Marketing Institute, and Search Engine Journal. Welcome to Simpli.fi TV, Jeff. Jeff Coyle: Thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to the discussion. Ann Kraus: So let's start with AI then. Because there's so much in the news about AI writing content, but you seem to focus more on AI measuring and optimizing content. So can you explain this? Jeff Coyle: Oh, certainly. Yeah. So we work the entire content lifecycle. So what should you be writing? And delivering the why. So what data should I use to drive decisions for what content to create? What content to update? Going through the common operations. So am I building content briefs? Am I just going to try to put my point of view and my expertise, weave that into an outline? So that it can be done by someone internally, and I don't need that artifact or source of truth. And we go all the way down to drafting, and editing, and optimization. Where we're getting into how to improve a page and make it more comprehensive. What were the blind spots when this was created? Does it need a more traditional edit? Or something that's along the lines of just making it better, or more aligned with today's competition? So we cover really the entire journey from idea, all the way to execution. Ann Kraus: So if you were talking to an agency that does a lot of content marketing with all of this buzz out there about loss of jobs or anything, what would you tell them is the future of content marketing? Or rather, who is the future of content marketing? Jeff Coyle: Wow, that's a great question. The biggest thing I would be telling them is that, the thing to expect is the rise in the subject matter expert editor and authentic content. So content that is authenticatable, so it leaves a trail. It is clear why you've created this content. It's clear that you have a point of view. It's clear that you've had the experience, if the content requires it. You're not faking an experience, you're not doing something that's not authentic. And the agencies who are moving towards that puck are starting to win already. So when you're providing insights like that, which a developmental editor would've provided, let's make sure we get more clear with this. It's not just something we can address with a sentence. Let's make sure that we're tying this back to our own business' model, or journey, or mission, or values. Those authentic insights for content are going to be driving the wins, and subject matter experts are going to be the key. What can you impart in this content that has never been put into content? And is that something that your agency can bring to the world? So the experts here are going to be bringing... I got nice thunderer and lightning right here as I'm speaking about AI. Always a good... [inaudible 00:03:52]. Ann Kraus: Very ominous. Jeff Coyle: Good ominous approach. But basically, if you've been doing things that has yielded mediocre content. And you're producing content that just checks the boxes, it's not providing any unique, inspirational, informational value. Those things are no longer valuable products. So if that's part of your services or you practice areas, it's no longer a good product to be selling. It's no longer a good service to be providing. And you're seeing this all over the world. Content agencies are either adapting or dying. They're adapting to produce a higher quality expert-driven content. Or they're driving prices down to pennies, and fractions of pennies. And really nobody wants to go there. Ann Kraus: Okay, interesting. I guess you kind of already answered this next question I have, which is who benefits the most from AI content? Is it going to be the agencies? Is it going to be the advertisers? Is it going to be the consumers? Who gets the most benefit? Jeff Coyle: I think it's the persons who respect the process of creating content. And how AI can allow them to get more of the mundane tasks done. And give them more time to be creative. Give them more time to be inspirational with the content. To go from maybe commodity content can be created, but all that stuff that maybe we had been putting off in the past because it was too hard or it was too manual. We're going to have all the time in the world, because you can have infinite amounts of medium quality content right now. So what can you do to differentiate? So it's anyone who respects the process of research, and planning, and prioritization, and developmental editing, copy editing, optimization. Taking competitive analysis very seriously, but knows that you shouldn't be doing all of those things manually. And finding the things that you can do to keep yourself in the loop and provide value at every step. The outcome, that hybrid content, where you've done some things manually and some things using artificial intelligence, is going to be better than you ever could have provided or built. And you're going to be able to do more of it. So the fact is you can actually do more work that is at a higher quality, and that's never been an experience that we've had with content. Content's always been a scarce resource when you go from point A to point B, from idea to publish. But now, when the supply, going 101 economics, right? Supply is infinite, what are you going to do? Everything changes. And an agency who has a strong feel for their customers, who positions the content that they're producing, or the content strategy that they're producing as being novel, and expert-driven, and providing value and really shows the customer that they know them. They're going to win in the end. And people are going to realize that the days of content as a commodity are gone. Ann Kraus: Okay. So you mentioned earlier this authentic piece of content. What would be an example of something that would be considered by you authentic? Jeff Coyle: So there's a concept in search engine optimization called Query Deserves Freshness. And it means that Google has determined that there's something going on in the world. There's a lightning storm in Atlanta, Georgia. So anyone that's searching for things that relates to a storm in Atlanta, you better show them stuff that's fresh and new. With recent changes to the way that search engines work, and the way that the other applications that are making their way into users' wayfinding experiences, or as they click around on the web, there's been new ways of evaluating content. So as the supply of content goes to infinity, you have to think about ways of letting the cream rise to the top. And some things to think about would be experience and expertise. So you have experience, expertise, authority, and trust. The EEAT. Experience and expertise really drive that authenticity. So does somebody who's looking for this page, or a page like it, do they expect that the person who wrote it has experience and expertise? Do they show that experience through the item? So I'll give you an example of expertise. I use an easy one, because medical, your money or your life is always the... YMYL is the acronym quite frequently used, but we'll use medical, right? If I'm reading an article about evaluating the symptoms of a particular skin rash, let's just say. I expect the person who wrote that article to have expertise, and to have authentic expertise. How will I illustrate that? I want to illustrate it through comprehensive, high quality content. Nothing's wishy-washy. I'm not writing maybes and mights. But I'm also doing that by showing that I have that expertise, maybe through the collective of content that I've built. Is it normal that a website about microphones and headsets, all of a sudden wrote an article about how to diagnose lupus? No, that makes absolutely no sense. So through the collection of content that I have, I tell the story of expertise. On this page, I tell the story of expertise. I might tag who I am and who edited this, who medically reviewed it. So I'm trying to get to a point where it is obvious I have that expertise. Now, experience is another thing. So I'm reviewing the brand new iPhone. I don't have a brand new iPhone because I ain't made a money, but let's review the brand new iPhone. What if all the images on that post, none of them are ones that I took, they're stock. And what if what I brought to it, I could have been reviewing any old phone. I could have not even had a phone in the first place. So a query that deserves experience might connect to a review, or going somewhere. Should the person that wrote the article about the things to do in Albuquerque actually have been in Albuquerque? Yes, they should have. Right? Or they're a great journalist, and they document how they sourced the data. So this might be an example where you're a ledger focused person and you are profiling... I'm looking at my dog, you mentioned your dog. So the nine dog foods for solving a obese nine-year-old Boston Terriers problems. I'm looking at my Boston Terrier. And no, it wouldn't be logical that I should make Orval eat nine different dog foods in a week. Because you know what that's going to do. So telling the story that I actually did research and I spoke to some experts and I spoke to a doctor. That's good journalism. So you got to show that too. So it's a long answer to a short question. But you've got to figure out a way to show them that you did the work, and you've got the credentials to be allowed to be the person who's being read about. And I like to say the shorthand is, you don't deserve to be there at the bottom of the funnel if you weren't there at the top of the funnel. So if you're writing articles just to get leads, it's not enough, and it's not going to be enough. It has never been a great idea, but you could get away with it in certain zones. But over time, you're going to really have to be there for the entire journey, speaking the language of the personas you're targeting. Ann Kraus: This has been very insightful and I appreciate your time on this one. And I'm wondering, because I know that you are a guest on many podcasts. And you've been talking about AI for longer than we've been aware of it. But is there a podcast, or a book, or something that's been instrumental in your success? Or something that jump started your career? Jeff Coyle: Paul Roetzer's podcast, the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Podcast. You can get caught up. If you're behind, or you feel like anything I've said, LLMs and AI... If you think AI equals Chat GPT, if you think those two things are an equals sign? Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute is going to give you the primer, all the way up to the masterclass is available. So no matter where you are in that information journey... I'll show you a book here. I just knocked a bunch of stuff in the garbage. But this book here is by Paul, and Marketing Artificial Intelligence. Really great book. Not a tremendously... It's a Weekend Reader, easy read. And really, really thoughtful to get you from start to finish. Ann Kraus: Okay. That's going to scare and influence many people. So what if people wanted to talk further with you about any of this, if they wanted to learn more about you. What would you say is the best way for them to get more information about you? Jeff Coyle: Sure. So jeff@marketmuse.com is my email. @Jeffrey_Coyle on the X Twitter. And you can go check out MarketMuse at Marketmuse.com. Ann Kraus: All right, great. Jeff, thank you so much. This has been a very, very insightful conversation. I appreciate you being my guest on Simpli.fi TV. Jeff Coyle: All right, thank you so, so much. It's been a pleasure. Ann Kraus: And thank you all for watching. Simpli.fi TV is sponsored by Simpli.fi. Helping you to maximize relevance and multiply results with our industry leading media buying and workflow solutions. For more information, visit Simply.fi. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm Ann Kraus, and I look forward to seeing you next time.