A successful content marketing campaign has one essential ingredient: strong and compelling conversion-oriented content.
It speaks directly to the audience and addresses their pain points. Further, it moves them and gets them to take action.
The big question mark that then arises is how?
How can you better write a copy that attracts and engages new and potential customers?
Especially since the usage of AI has increased drastically, both by businesses and internet users. The former uses AI to create content to reduce their marketing cost, and the latter uses it to search the web.
So, let’s talk about content marketing tips on creating content that businesses can’t outsource to AI and that humans would love to read and engage with.
What You Will Learn:
- Content that Converts Starts with the Basics—AI Just Made Them Non-negotiable.
- Know Your Target Audience & Use Keywords Based on Their Search Intent
- Write What AI Can’t Write
- 80% of Your Content Should Focus on MOFU & BOFU
- Be Present Where AI Learns: Reddit
- Write What Your Audience Is Only Thinking
- Leverage Storytelling. It Isn’t Optional Anymore
- Test, Optimize & Repeat
- Publish on User Generated Content Platforms (Quora, Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube)
1. Content that Converts Starts with the Basics—AI Just Made Them Non-negotiable.
Anyone who says SEO is dead needs a serious reality check since you’re still writing for humans, not robots. All those fundamental SEO practices? They’re not going anywhere.
Just to recap, let us talk about the basic SEO practices that you must follow while writing your content.
Write Headlines That Hook
Your headline is your first impression. Maybe your only one.
Whether or not a reader will go through your piece of content highly depends on the headlines. They are the make-or-break element of any content.
Good headlines tell readers exactly what they’ll get. No tricks, no clickbait – just honest value that makes people want to dive in.
Three ways to nail your headlines:
- Use Numbers: “7 Ways to Fix Your Broken Sales Funnel” beats “How to Improve Sales” every time.
- Keep It Short: Stick to 5-9 words for better clarity and click-through. “Content That Actually Converts” hits harder than “A Comprehensive Guide to Creating High-Converting Content Marketing Materials.”
- Add Power Words: Emotional or persuasive words like “proven,” “exclusive,” or “essential” work because they promise something specific.
Use Images for Added Impact
Your brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text. Content with images gets 94% more views than the general text-only content. Visual information can hold people’s attention for a longer time.
But here’s the catch – random stock photos won’t cut it.
Use screenshots, custom graphics, or infographics that add context and illustrate your point. Each visual should earn its place by making your content clearer or more memorable.
Let Your Customers Do the Talking
Testimonials aren’t just nice to have. They lend credibility to your work and build trust among your customers.
They ease the doubts of hesitant customers and give them the social proof that the services or products you offer are worth purchasing.
When someone’s confused about your solution, they don’t want to hear more from you. They want proof from people like them who’ve already solved the problem.
You can encourage your happy customers to share their reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Google Business Profile, G2, Capterra, etc. If you are in the travel niche, get reviews on TripAdvisor.
Another benefit of getting reviews on these sites is that AI crawlers also scrape these sites when looking for information about you.
Positive reviews can influence how AI models see and depict your brand.
Bonus points if you can get testimonials from recognized names in your industry. Authority matters. People will tend to weigh the opinion of authorities more highly than others.
Make Your CTAs Impossible to Ignore
Whenever users visit your site, you want them to take specific actions. Your content should lead them somewhere. Don’t make readers guess what to do next.
Your call-to-action needs to be crystal clear and create just enough urgency to push people over the line. They should convey to your visitors what you want them to do after they’re done reading.
Write a strong, compelling, and clickable CTA that grabs the reader’s attention like:
- “Download your free audit checklist now.”
- “Start your 14-day trial today.”
- “Get instant access now”
Notice the pattern? They’re specific, time-bound, and tell people exactly what happens when they click.
The fundamentals haven’t changed. Good content solves real problems for real people. Everything else is just noise.
2. Know Your Target Audience & Use Keywords Based on Their Search Intent
Before you begin writing any form of content, you need to know who your target audience is. Even if you write unique, engaging, and great content, your content marketing campaign will not succeed unless you know who you are writing for. After all, you will write for the audience, not just your brand.
You can create a buyer persona based on the research and data to identify your target audience. It’s like a semi-fictional way to imagine a company’s ideal customer.
This way, you can know your ideal customers, their needs, and the problems they face. Once you have a buyer persona, you can write content that is engaging, focused on customers’ needs, and can convert into sales.
But how can you identify topics your audience is most interested in sharing and discussing? Well, to find out what truly matters to them, you can:
- Use social listening to find out what your audience is engaging with. We’ll talk about it later in the article.
- Analyse your competitor’s content using AHREF, SEMrush, Moz, or any other SEO tool that you like to spot gaps and opportunities.
- Explore tools like Google Trends, BuzzSumo, or AnswerThePublic to find trending topics and common questions.
- Conduct surveys and polls to hear directly from your audience.
Once you know what your potential customers want, target the right keywords. Perform keyword research using SEMrush, Ahrefs, or any other keyword research tool of your choice.
You can refer to a keyword research checklist to ensure you don’t miss anything while researching keywords.
Once you get your main keyword, put it in the Google Trends search box. It will give you a better idea of the existing demand for your keyword. Based on your research, produce content that your target audience needs the most.
3. Write What AI Can’t Write
AI regurgitates what’s already been said. But that’s also its limitation.
It can’t interview your customers, understand their unique pain points, or create genuinely original insights.
It takes ideas from whatever is already said by marketers on the internet.
The result?
All content pieces sound the same.
So, if your content sounds like it could’ve been written by anyone else, you’ve already lost. The internet doesn’t need more SEO optimized blogs.
What it does need:
- Original research
- Insider insights
- Expert interviews
- Firsthand experiences
So, if you want to stand out in the sea where everyone is dumping AI-generated content, start by writing content that AI can’t: original, experience-based content.
And you can create such content by:
- Recording podcasts with experts who’ve solved the problems your audience faces.
- Interviewing industry experts.
- Writing with an original perspective.
- Creating original research work based on actual data.
For example, AI can’t replicate the moment when a cybersecurity expert explains how they spotted a breach pattern that saved their company $2 million. So, have them as a guest on your podcast if your niche is cybersecurity.
4. 80% of Your Content Should Focus on MOFU & BOFU
As per Similarweb’s 2025 report titled “GenAI and How It’s Impacting US Publishers”, the share of zero-click searches had surged from 56% to 69%.
This means that users are not clicking websites for informational queries or top-of-the-funnel content and are getting answers in the answer engines themselves.
Since TOFU (Top of Funnel) content, or the content that informs, is easy to write and rank, AI answers easily replace it.
This does not mean that you should stop writing TOFU content altogether.
It simply means you need to change your content distribution. While earlier, if you used to write 50% TOFU content and 25% MOFU and BOFU content each, now you focus more on MOFU and BOFU.
80% of your content should be MOFU and BOFU as AI struggles with deep, industry-specific queries that require real expertise.
If you belong to the cybersecurity niche, then instead of “What is penetration testing?”, write “How to choose between automated and manual pen testing for fintech companies.” That’s content for people with budgets and timelines.
You can answer the questions your sales team hears. What objections come up in demos? What specific features do prospects ask about? Turn those conversations into content that addresses real buying concerns.
5. Be Present Where AI Learns: Reddit
As per Profound’s blog on AI Platform Citation Patterns, Reddit ranked 2nd in ChatGPT’s Cited Sources by Share of Top 10 (Aug 2024 – June 2025) with 11.3% and 1st in Google AI Overviews’ Cited Sources by Share of Top 10 (Aug 2024 – June 2025).
That means many AI models are pulling from Reddit to answer queries not just for casual chats, but even serious decision-making research.
It can be mainly due to Reddit’s partnership with OpenAI and its deal with Google for sharing its data for training.
Moreover, these days, the buying journey often bypasses your website entirely. People even type in Reddit after their query to get honest opinions from real users. They make decisions in comment threads, then come to you when they are ready to buy.
It means Reddit influences the users’ buying behavior in two ways- directly when people tell search engines that they want answers from Reddit, and indirectly when AI models pull from Reddit chats.
This has led to a 190.9% increase in Reddit’s visibility throughout 2024.
Therefore, Reddit can’t be ignored if you are optimizing your site. You need to make sure you answer your potential customers’ queries where they hang out: on Reddit.
And for that, you need to have a presence on Reddit.
3 Proven Ways to Build a Strong Brand Presence on Reddit
If you want to influence what AI pulls from Reddit, influence the threads it learns from.
Since Reddit has a community-first environment, share valuable insights without pitching in threads like:
- r/smallbusiness
- r/marketing
- r/devops
- Niche subreddits for your ICP
However, you need to have your brand presence on Reddit to contribute to the platform.
There are three ways you can build your presence on Reddit:
1. Create Your Own Subreddit
Think of a subreddit as your brand’s clubhouse on Reddit.
Your subreddit, like r/yourbrandname, will be a dedicated space where your community can gather, discuss, talk about your niche, share tips, engage with your content, and get updates directly from you.
Remember to focus on value, not sales. You must make it worth visiting even for people who aren’t customers (yet).
2. Set Up a Brand Account
Create your brand account (u/YourBrandName) and use it as your official voice across Reddit.
Using your brand account, you can join conversations in other subreddits, answer questions, and represent your business professionally.
Further, you can moderate your subreddit. It will help you keep the discussion healthy and on-topic and control the narrative while still maintaining Reddit’s community-driven feel.
3. Create a Personified User
Reddit users don’t like pure brand voices—too corporate, and it feels like marketing.
That’s where a personified account comes in.
It lets you sneak in under the radar, build trust, and engage without feeling spammy.
It can be RachelFromYourBrand, which feels personal but clearly represents your business. Using this account, you or your employee representing your business can:
- Join niche subreddits, offer insights, and add value in discussions.
- Build relationships with community members and engage with them authentically.
- Answer questions while still being transparent about your business affiliation.
- Share tips and opinions without sounding like “the official company voice.”
| Aspect | Brand Subreddit | Brand User Account | Personified Brand User |
| Purpose | Your owned community hub. | Official, corporate voice on Reddit. | Human-like voice to build relationships. |
| Tone | Whatever tone you set for your community. | Formal/brand-focused. | Conversational, relatable, and personal. |
| Use Case | Gather fans, post updates, host discussions. | Claim brand name, post brand updates, moderate subreddit. | Join other Subreddits, participate in discussions, subtly promote brand. |
| Brand Visibility | Fully branded. | Explicitly branded. | Soft-branded—people see you as a helpful individual, not just a marketer. |
| Perception | “This is the company’s space.” | “This is the company.” | “This is a friendly person who works at the company.” |
Build trust over time. Once you earn trust, the conversions follow organically.
Keep providing value even if it feels like you’re just answering and no one is reading your answers.
AI models increasingly pull from Reddit to answer user questions. Your helpful comment today could become tomorrow’s AI-generated response.
Bonus Tip: Bookmark Reddit threads where people mention your product. Use them in your sales decks. Quote them in your blogs. And your content might end up training the next wave of AI- you never know. Now that’s a feedback loop that you would definitely like to build.
6. Write What Your Audience Is Only Thinking
Your audience has questions they’re too embarrassed to ask publicly. Or concerns they haven’t fully articulated yet. Or they don’t know yet that they have a problem.
And most companies make the mistake of writing what they want to say instead of what their audience needs.
Find out what your audience will need to know six months from now. Get ahead of their thinking and write that content today. When they’re ready, you’ll be there.
To see what questions your potential customers have, you can use tools like:
- AlsoAsked
- AnswerThePublic
- Reddit (again)
You can also practice social listening. Check out the communities your ideal customer has joined and look for problems that they talk about in those groups. Listen to:
- What are users ranting about on X (formerly Twitter)?
- What are the hot topics in LinkedIn discussions and industry forums?
- What’s blowing up on Hacker News?
- What pain points keep popping up in Slack communities?
Turn those into headlines. Mine those conversations, and address any potential questions as thoroughly as possible.
If you have a product, go through your competitors’ product reviews on Amazon or other e-commerce sites where they might have listed their products.
When someone complains about them, that’s not gossip — that’s market research. Address those pain points in your content.
One major source of knowing what your audience wants that most businesses often ignore is sales calls.
Listen to sales calls with Gong call snippets, and you will get a goldmine of ideas that you can use to target the pain points of your customers.
So, in short:
- Find out what questions your customer has by social listening
- Hang out in communities they are likely to visit
- Check Amazon reviews for problems related to the product
- Listen to sales calls
7. Leverage Storytelling. It Isn’t Optional Anymore
Features tell, but stories sell.
And humans are more likely to remember things when told through a story.
That is why Storytelling in content marketing isn’t optional anymore!!
Since data-driven stories can boost audience engagement by up to 300%, use Storytelling to:
- Make boring topics relatable
- Show real transformations (before/after)
- Turn your customer into the hero
Check out this article on how we helped an immigration business rank in AI searches, presented in a storytelling format for better understanding.
8. Test, Optimize & Repeat
In today’s rapidly evolving marketing landscape, AI is causing significant disruption while Google rolls out frequent algorithm updates and introduces new concepts like AEO and GIO.
Given this constant change, you must continuously test and optimize your strategies.
Best content marketing strategies that deliver results today may become ineffective tomorrow, making ongoing experimentation and adaptation essential for sustained success.
Think of it like security patches. You don’t install one update and call it done. You stay vigilant because threats evolve daily.
Same deal with marketing. Your audience shifts. Platforms change rules. Competitors adapt. Standing still means falling behind. So, test:
- Test subject lines (Email A/B tests)
- Test CTAs (“Get Demo” vs “Talk to a Human”)
- Test length (Short vs Deep Dives)
Check what actually drives results:
- Scroll depth
- Time on page
- Demo bookings
Kill what doesn’t work. Double down on what does.
The marketers winning right now aren’t the ones with perfect strategies. They’re the ones who pivot fast when data tells them to.
Stay curious. Stay flexible. And always have your next experiment ready.
Because in this game, the only constant is change itself.
9. Publish on User Generated Content Platforms (Quora, Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube)
Blogs on your website are important, but they are not the only place where users will interact with your business.
Gone are the days when they were the only touchpoints for a conversion. Now they are just one touchpoint.
Reddit and Quora are ranking in Google’s new “Discussions and Forums” carousel, meaning user-generated platforms are getting prime real estate in search results.
This means users check them out before making any buying decisions.
Further, they also lurk on platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube to see what others say about a particular topic in your niche.
So, post on:
- Quora (to position yourself as an expert): Answer questions in your area of expertise. Though still underrated, answers on Quora often rank well in search and can position you as a thought leader.
- LinkedIn (for B2B reach): Post on LinkedIn, especially from employee handles. Long-form LinkedIn posts can get incredible organic reach if they hit the right note with your network.
- YouTube (for complex explanations): Use this platform to explain concepts that need visual explanation. A 5-minute video can do what 2,000 words can’t.
- Reddit (for community building): Yes. Reddit again. But remember to contribute first and avoid promoting yourself unless you are being genuinely relevant and helpful.
These are the places your buyers actually spend time on.
And AI scrapers? They live here.
Publishing on UGC sites is a win-win case for anyone. It increases your brand visibility in both search and LLM answers. Think of it as “content SEO for the AI era.”
Final Thoughts: Write Like a Human. Think Like a Buyer.
Content marketing in 2025 isn’t about ranking for keywords. It’s about:
- Writing things only you can write
- Understanding your audience so well that your content feels like it was written specifically for them.
- Meeting your audience where they actually hang out
- Showing (not telling) how you solve their problems
While everyone else is racing to pump out AI-generated posts, you’ll be building real relationships with real people who have real problems to solve.
And yes, doing all that with a human voice.
That’s not just better marketing. That’s better business.
And in a world where half of digital marketers use AI detection tools to distinguish AI-generated content from human-created content, being authentically human isn’t just an advantage — it’s your competitive advantage.
Start with one piece of genuinely helpful content this week. Interview one customer. Answer one Reddit thread thoughtfully. Write about one real experience your team had.
Do that consistently, and you’ll have something AI can’t replicate: trust.
If you don’t have the time to write content, you’d better invest in expert content writing services from a leading content marketing agency like Knotsync.
We will write content on your behalf so that you can engage with your potential customers. Our expert content writers will interview you to understand your tone and expectations from us and learn about your business in detail. Then we’ll create a custom marketing strategy tailored to your needs. If this is something that you want for your business, contact us today at info@knotsync.com
