Article
The hidden cost of generic content marketing
Published April 28, 2026
Abstract
When every brand publishes the same explainer post, the median piece becomes invisible. The unit economics of attention have shifted — and so has what it costs to be ignored.
Most B2B content stopped working two years ago and nobody told the budget owners.
The math
When the marginal piece costs nothing to produce — generative tooling collapses authoring time — the floor of the market gets crowded fast. The median piece earns essentially zero attention, and that median is now the expectation.
What still works
Specificity, primary research, and a defensible point of view. Anything that could have been written by someone outside your sector reads like noise to the buyers you actually care about.
A working test
Before publishing, ask one thing: who, exactly, would be embarrassed if we published the opposite of this view? If the answer is "nobody," you don't have a view — you have a position-piece.