Beka’s our Organic Strategist (for those that don’t already know her!) Last week she built something that changed how I'm thinking about the newsletter.

‍

She'd spent several days building a visibility strategy for this newsletter*. She pulled the transcripts from the last 20 episodes of the two biggest B2B tech scale-up podcasts, used AI to extract what founders are actually talking about and searching for (that’s the intent element that must not be neglected!), then mapped those topics against keyword volume and difficulty data. Seven topic clusters. Months of potential content. All of it grounded in what our ICP is actively looking for right now.

‍

I thought this was so interesting, I wanted to share the strategic case behind it (I’ll let you know if this works in about 6 months!)

*We already have clear content pillars based on what we know you, our target audience, need but this is making sure people outside of our current network see it when they need it.

Your newsletter isn't just a social asset

Most newsletters live and die on LinkedIn distribution. Someone posts, subscribers click, the number goes up or it doesn't. The reach is pretty much capped by your existing audience. My posts about the newsletter never go that far (why Linkedin, why!?)

‍

Beka's research showed a different opportunity. LinkedIn content is now appearing as a primary source in AI overviews. When someone asks ChatGPT or Claude about B2B marketing strategy, the answers increasingly pull from LinkedIn posts and articles. Which means the titles and headings you use in your newsletter aren't just click-bait decisions. They're search decisions.

‍

Get the heading right and your newsletter can surface in a Google result, an AI answer, or a Substack search for someone who's never heard of you. That's a different kind of reach. And it compounds in a way that social distribution doesn't.

‍

The piece Beka's work reminded me of is one that's been doing the rounds this week (via Chris Norton). The argument: brand visibility is reinventing search. Keywords are part of the picture. Being the answer that surfaces when a buyer is already working through their problem is the most important action. And a lot of marketing budgets are still pouring money into keywords and wondering why the pipeline isn't filling up with the wrong ICP. It’s because this targeting is just too far down the funnel if you’re not also appearing earlier on in their journey as well.

Conversation over content

Here's the part that matters most for founders thinking about thought leadership.

‍

AI can write a clean, well-structured article on B2B content marketing strategy. It can hit the keyword, cover the points, pass a readability test. What it can't produce is the read that comes from inside a hundred real conversations with founders. The moment a positioning assumption fell apart mid-call. The thing a client said in a workshop that you're still thinking about three weeks later. The pattern you've seen so many times you've started to notice it before the founder does.

‍

That's what makes thought leadership worth reading. And increasingly, it's what makes it worth ranking.

‍

I really like this. I feel like ‘search’ (or visibility) is getting better at surfacing genuine expertise, not just the ones that can nail their H1 and google ads. The founders building real visibility aren't the ones posting more. They're the ones whose content is visibly grounded in real experience. Conversation first. Content second.

What this means in practice

If thought leadership isn't a formal line in your marketing budget, here's the reframe: it's not a content cost. It's a distribution cost. The distribution that reaches buyers before they've typed anything into a search bar, and before they've even decided they're looking. This isn’t your traditional throw a keyword in and hope for the best, it’s a cleverly crafted approach that considers not only what your buyers are searching for but also what they haven't yet found the words to articulate. And the only way to truly understand that? Go deep into the conversation that's already happening.

‍

Three things worth doing in the next 30 days:

‍

1. Audit your last ten pieces of content. How many of them could only have been written by you, based on your experience? That ratio matters as equals differentiation
2. Identify the two or three topics where you have more earned perspective than anyone you compete with. That's your territory and you should stick there
3. Look at your newsletter and post titles. Are they optimised for what your buyer is searching for from a problem-base, or for what sounds clever to you? Those two things are sometimes the same but they’re often not and this forms the foundation for what your buyer is actually interested in.

Takeaway

The founders building real authority on thought leadership aren't posting more. They're posting from a clearer position, with more repetition, grounded in conversations that only they've been part of. Better decisions beat more activity every time.

‍

If this helps, let me know what's the one topic where you know you have more perspective than your competitors? That's where to start.