It happened on an otherwise unremarkable Wednesday.

A new guy recently joined the marketing team at one of our clients. He can only be described as an “agency bro” — the kind of person who speaks in declarative sentences and treats every meeting like a TED Talk warm-up. He had philosophies. He had frameworks. He had takes.

And then, apropos of absolutely nothing, he hijacked our weekly call by proclaiming: “The marketing funnel is dead. AI killed it.”

He said it the way people say things they’ve been waiting to say. Confident. Final. Slightly disappointed that nobody was visibly wowed by his wisdom.

So I did something radical: I asked actual humans what they thought.

I emailed this question to seven of the smartest people I know across a range of industries, roles and experiences: Has AI killed the marketing funnel?

Here’s what they said.

Peter Conway, Senior Partner Success Manager, Net at Work
Peter’s take is the one I think about most, because it captures something important about how AI changes things without actually ending them:

“While AI does certainly disrupt practically everything we do, including the marketing funnel and customer journey, I don’t think it is dead. Even in AI search, it is still happening — just short-circuited and often not for the good. Designing ways to use AI to accomplish those intended goals will be of great value.”

Short-circuited. That’s the word. Not dead, just rerouted.

Paul Arvantides, CEO, Don Ryan Center for Innovation
Paul leads an organization that advises businesses, so he’s seeing this play out across a lot of industries. His framing — “evolving, not outdated” — kept coming up in different forms across all seven responses.

“AI search is compressing the journey, allowing buyers to move from awareness to consideration much faster. The shift isn’t about abandoning the funnel; it’s about strengthening positioning, authority and trust so they’re included in AI-driven recommendations. The fundamentals still matter, but success today depends more on credibility, clarity and strategic alignment than traditional top-of-funnel metrics.”

Worth pausing on that last sentence. The game hasn’t changed — be credible, be clear, be trustworthy — but the scoreboard is in a different place now.

David LaCombe, M.S., Fractional CMO, Advisor & Speaker
David said something I think cuts to the heart of the whole conversation:

“The funnel was never really a map of how people buy. It was a map of how marketers hoped people would buy. Real buyers don’t move in clean stages. They bounce around. They ask a friend. They look at reviews. They search in three different ways. They mess with AI. They wait. Then they decide when they’re ready.”

The funnel was always a useful fiction. AI didn’t kill it, it just made the fiction harder to maintain.

David’s conclusion: marketing’s job is to “show up as credible and helpful in the moments that shape the decision.” The brands that win are the ones people trust when they’re trying to make progress on something that matters.

Jane Tabachnick, Author Coach, Book Mentor & Publisher
Jane came at it from a different angle:

“AI can become a rabbit hole, consuming time without providing direction. A well-constructed funnel does the opposite: it creates structure, guiding prospects to the right information at the right moment. The real challenge for brands isn’t abandoning the funnel — it’s building enough trust and authority for it to convert.”

There’s a reason companies hire consultants. Strategy, clarity and a defined path forward don’t become less valuable when the landscape gets more complicated. If anything, they become more valuable.

Hector Vilches, President, ImpressM
Hector offered what might be the most precise framing of all: “conceptually valid but mechanically outdated.”

“Tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Perplexity AI compress awareness, research and comparison into a single interaction, collapsing parts of the journey. Customers still move through the psychological stages of discovery, evaluation and decision — but much of that now happens inside AI interfaces. The funnel remains useful for internal strategy, even if the external journey feels fluid and AI-mediated.”

Use the funnel to build your strategy. Just don’t expect your customers to follow it like a map.

Darla Kirchner, Brand & Messaging Strategist, Kirchner Marketing
Darla’s response was the most direct, and probably my favorite sentence in the whole batch:

“If your message is muddy, AI won’t clean it up. It’ll make the mess harder to ignore.”

The full thought: AI compresses the research phase, which raises the bar for clear and consistent messaging at every stage. Buyers still move from awareness to consideration to decision — just faster. They still need clarity, trust and proof.

“The funnel lives. It just moves quicker now.”

Donna Miller, Founder & Chief Visionary Officer, C3Worx
Donna brought the conversation back to something that all the automation in the world hasn’t solved yet:

“I cannot believe the customer journey will ever be outdated. I do think how we nurture our prospects and customers will change dramatically, becoming more automated and more intuitive. However, I still think there will always be ‘high stakes’ moments that I personally have a hard time thinking about trusting to AI.”

High stakes moments. The ones where a real human, on the other end of a real relationship, makes a real decision. Those still happen. And they still matter.

So what do I think?
Seven thoughtful people. Zero agreement that AI killed the funnel.

But a lot of agreement that AI has changed it — in pace, in visibility and in where the work actually happens now. The journey is being compressed. The research phase is moving inside AI interfaces.

The top of the funnel is getting shorter. And the bar for trust and credibility is rising, because when AI recommends you, it’s partly because you’ve already earned it.

The marketing funnel is not dead, and AI didn’t kill it. Sorry, agency bro.

What AI did do is compress the journey, move the research phase inside interfaces you can’t always see and raise the bar for trust and credibility at every stage.

If you’re not showing up as credible and clear before a prospect even reaches your website — in AI search results, in recommendations, in the content that shapes decisions — the funnel still exists. You’re just not in it.

That’s actually more work, not less. Figuring out how to earn the right to be in the room when AI is making introductions — that’s the real strategic question right now.

Thinking about where your content fits in all of this? That’s exactly what we do at Fahoury Ink. Let’s talk.

The post Is the Marketing Funnel Dead? We Asked 7 Smart Humans to Weigh In appeared first on FahouryInk.

Many of our clients invest heavily in attending and exhibiting at industry events. When we’ve seen what their road trips entail, we enthusiastically encourage them to amortize their travel investment and seize the opportunity to create effective, legit thought leadership content.

Here’s how to turn a single event into unique content assets that pay dividends long after the trip is over.

Identify gaps in your current content library
Are you weak on top-of-funnel content like how-to articles or explainer videos? What about interactive quizzes or assessments?

Set a goal to fill obvious gaps, plus generate high-value longer-form content and thought leadership pieces where possible.

Formulate an on-site strategy
Scrutinize the event agenda and determine where opportunities lay:

• What topics are workshops covering?
• Are there any high-profile presenters?
• Who’s the keynote speaker?
• Are there fellow exhibitors that target the same audience without being competitors?
• Are any current clients attending? What about companies on your most-wanted list?

Map out the who, where and what
Brief your event attendees on the goals for capturing content:

• What topics or themes should they be looking for?
• What questions do you want answered?
• What do you want to come home with — interviews, video content, blog topics or something else?

Be mindful that your team members likely have their own responsibilities (especially your sales team), so consider assigning a content capture role if you have the luxury of sending a dedicated person. Choose wisely, as they should be capable of spotting opportunities and translating conversations into content insights.

Schedule what you can in advance
Plan ahead to grab key opportunities; for example, assign someone to record short  “walkaway” videos after educational sessions — 60-second snippets using a smartphone camera that recap key takeaways while they’re still fresh. Better yet, ask fellow session attendees before the session starts if they’re willing to share one thing they learned.

Same for event speakers. Reach out when the agenda is released and ask for 5-10 minutes of their time in return for promoting their session on your company’s social channels.

Grab ad hoc opportunities
People love to share their opinion — it’s human nature. Stroke the egos of booth visitors by capturing those opinions:

• Short-form videos asking attendees for their take on an industry hot topic
• LinkedIn Live coverage that positions your brand as present and plugged in

 Don’t forget b-roll you can weave into future videos.

Consider the pipeline angle
Attendee events are often where your best in-person prospect and customer conversations happen — and those conversations are content seeds. A casual lunch conversation about a customer’s challenge can become a case story. A recurring question you heard three times in one day is a content gap waiting to be filled.

Max out post-event content creation
You’re back home where goal #1 is to repurpose, repurpose, repurpose:

• “What we heard at [event]: 5 trends shaping [your industry]”
• A team debrief formatted as a podcast or LinkedIn Live
• Hot take posts where your POV diverges from conventional wisdom
• An opinion piece: “Everyone at [event] is talking about X — here’s why we think they’re missing Y”
• Sales enablement: what objections, questions or themes came up in customer conversations? Share them with sales and help formulate powerful responses

Pro tip: Never skip a structured debrief within 48 hours of returning. Insights can quickly evaporate, so capturing what your team heard, observed and thinks will provide the source material for months of content assets.

Every event has a hard cost and a hidden upside. The hard cost is what you already paid. The upside is everything you bring home — and how far you can stretch it.

Q&A HIGHLIGHTS

Q. Shouldn’t we be hosting the event to do all this?
A. When you host, your content is coverage — “here’s what happened at our event.” When you attend, your content is commentary — “here’s what we observed, and here’s what we think about it.” Commentary is actually a stronger thought leadership play. It’s opinionated, it’s timely and it doesn’t require you to own the stage.

Q. What’s the biggest mistake companies make with event content?
A. Treating content capture as an afterthought rather than part of the event strategy itself. If your team isn’t briefed before they leave, you’ll come home with great memories and half-formed ideas that never make it to the page.

Q. Do we need a big team or budget to pull this off?
A. Not at all — even a solo attendee with a smartphone and a notes app can come home with usable content. The key is going in with a plan rather than hoping inspiration strikes on the show floor.

Q. How soon after the event should we start publishing?
A. Lead with your most time-sensitive content — reactions, hot takes and trend roundups — while the conversation is still active on LinkedIn and in your industry’s feeds. Longer-form content like case stories or white papers can follow over the next 30–60 days.

The post How to Turn One Trade Show into Months of Content appeared first on FahouryInk.

A good friend is trying his hand at writing a novel and asked me to read a rough draft.

This is a dude whose personal reading interests lean heavily toward biographies, historical nonfiction (aka battlefield strategy) and classic literature. Case in point: He’s the only person I know who’s voluntarily read War & Peace. As an adult. For fun.

So he’s not exactly up on the common tropes and storytelling techniques that contribute to a compelling, well-crafted piece of contemporary fiction.

I found myself explaining the concept of “in media res”. That’s Latin for “in the middle of things,” a writing tactic that starts in the midst of the action rather than chronologically.

Some popular examples: The Godfather kicks off with Connie’s wedding, not with Vito’s rise to power. That comes later.

Raiders of the Lost Ark doesn’t open with Indy in the classroom, but rather in the middle of the dark jungle with a young, wild-eyed Alfred Molina (who you just somehow know can’t be trusted).

And in 1984, everyone is under totalitarian rule when the story starts, which draws readers in much more effectively than explaining how we got there. You’re already trapped in Winston’s claustrophobic world by the time Orwell reveals how society reached that point.

In media res in marketing content
The in media res technique can be a powerful tool to use in your content because it immediately drops your audience into compelling action or conflict (aka a pain point), bypassing slow-building  introductions.

Here are some effective applications:

Email subject lines and openers. Skip the boring stuff like “Our quarterly newsletter.” Instead, try something like “The client hung up mid-pitch—here’s what we learned.” You’re pulling people in with the most interesting part right away.

Social media posts. Don’t make people wait for the point. Hit them with it: “Three minutes before our biggest product demo ever, the server crashed.” Now they’re hooked and want to know what happened.

Videos. Open with the good stuff. Show someone celebrating their win, then reveal how they got there. People care more about the transformation than the detailed problem explanation.

Case studies and testimonials. Lead with the result. “Nick’s CPA firm increased its revenue by 300% in six months.” Now everyone wants to know how. Then you can walk them back through what actually happened.

Landing page headlines. Get to the transformation fast. “How Edison cut its battery sales cycle from 6 months to 6 weeks” hits harder than asking, “Is your sales process too slow?”

Blog post openings. Start with a moment that stops people in their tracks. “I spent $40,000 on a marketing campaign that got us exactly zero customers.” That kind of raw admission makes people think “okay, I need to hear this story.”

Everybody wonders how the (metaphorical) sausage gets made
Leveraging the power of in media res requires identifying the most compelling moment in your narrative and starting there, then filling in the context as you go. This works because once you show people something dramatic or surprising, they can’t help but want to know the backstory. It’s just how our brains are wired.

The biggest mistake B2B marketers make is assuming their audience needs context before they’ll care. They don’t. They just need a reason to keep reading.

In media res isn’t just a literary device. It’s a trust signal. When you lead with something authentic and compelling, you’re telling your reader: I respect your time, and I’m not going to make you work for the good stuff.

Who doesn’t want that?

The post Marketing Content: Start Where it Gets Good appeared first on FahouryInk.

Let’s be honest. A lot of what passes for thought leadership these days isn’t leading at all. It’s a well-formatted list of things everyone already knows, dressed up with a stock photo of a lightbulb and a headline that promises to “transform your approach” to something.

(Ed. note: Ironically, a search for a photo to accompany this article included thousands of light bulb images, plus one of a man wearing a dog collar.)

AI didn’t create this problem. But it has absolutely supercharged it.

Generative tools can now produce a polished, confident-sounding 1,500-word article on virtually any business topic in about 30 seconds. Which means the barrier to publishing has essentially vanished — and the barrier to being noticed has never been higher.

The Momentum Value of Thought Leadership 2025 report found that 59% of B2B buyers have encountered nearly identical thought leadership content from at least two different providers. Whoops!

The sea of sameness? Oh, it’s here.

Information is no longer your edge
For a long time, thought leadership worked because the people writing it knew things their audiences didn’t. A regional accounting firm could publish a clear explanation of the new lease accounting standard and look like heroes. A benefits broker could break down SECURE Act changes before most plan sponsors had finished their morning coffee and suddenly be the smartest person in the room.

That asymmetry is gone. AI can gather, synthesize and explain virtually any regulatory update, industry trend or market shift faster than any human team. Your audience can ask a chatbot the same questions they used to bring to you — and get a pretty decent answer.

What AI can’t do is tell them what you actually think about it.

This is the shift that separates thought leadership that builds authority from content that just fills a feed. The companies winning right now aren’t the ones pumping out the most articles. They’re the ones willing to take a position, name a tension, challenge an assumption or share something that genuinely surprised them in their own client work.

What ‘different’ actually looks like
Consider two HR tech companies writing about the rise of skills-based hiring. One publishes a thorough overview: what it is, why it’s growing, five steps to get started. It’s accurate. It’s useful. It’s also exactly what three other vendors published last quarter.

The other company publishes findings from their own data showing that skills-based job postings in financial services are growing at twice the rate of other industries — but that retention rates for those hires at the 18-month mark are lagging. They don’t just describe the trend; they offer up insights, then provide solutions.

Guess which one gets shared in a Slack channel and forwarded to a CHRO?

Original data is one route to differentiation. So is the willingness to say something counterintuitive. A payroll and HR platform that publicly argues “your onboarding process matters more than your benefits package” is a lot more interesting than one that claims HR professionals should invest in their people.

The second statement? Hellooo, Captain Obvious. The first gives your audience something to think about — or argue with.

Argument is good. It at the very least starts a conversation.

The hidden influencer hurdle
Here’s something that should recalibrate how you think about thought leadership: a lot of the people influencing your deals are folks your sales team has never met.

The 2025 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report found that hidden decision-makers — finance leads, operations managers, procurement specialists, internal compliance teams — are actively consuming thought leadership content.

They’re doing their own research, forming their own opinions and using what they read to either champion or quietly squash vendor conversations before an RFP is ever issued.

These readers aren’t looking for a primer. They’re looking for something that helps them make the case internally. A managing director at a mid-market CPA firm isn’t going to forward a client an article that says “advisory services can create value for your business.” They might forward one that says “here’s why most CFOs underestimate the cost of staying in compliance mode.”

Specificity is the point. Perspective is the point. Generic content doesn’t give anyone ammunition to advocate for you. Bold content does.

AI as a tool, not a ghostwriter
None of this means AI has no role in thought leadership. It has a significant one — just not the one a lot of marketing teams are using it for.

The most effective approach treats AI as infrastructure, not authorship. Use it to research what’s already been written on a topic so you can find the white space. Or repurpose a well-developed point of view into a LinkedIn post, a brief or an executive summary. Use it to do the time-consuming baseline work that frees up your human experts to do what AI genuinely cannot: form an opinion based on real experience and defend it with real conviction.

A direct mail agency using AI to analyze campaign performance data at scale and then having their strategists interpret what it means for specific verticals? That’s smart.

A financial services consultancy using AI to transcribe and synthesize client interviews and then having a partner write about the patterns they’re seeing? Also smart. The same consultancy using AI to generate the entire finished article with no human perspective added? That’s how you end up sounding like everyone else.

The credibility math is simple
Here’s the thing about thought leadership that AI genuinely cannot replicate: it requires someone to actually lead. That means staking out a position before consensus forms. It means being willing to say “here’s what we’re seeing in our work with clients” rather than “industry analysts suggest.” It means occasionally being wrong in public and being thoughtful about why.

The same Edelman-LinkedIn research found that 73% of B2B executives consider thought leadership a more trustworthy indicator of a company’s capabilities than traditional marketing materials. That trust has to be earned — through consistency, specificity and the kind of genuine insight that can’t be prompted into existence.

AI has made it effortless to sound like you know something. The opportunity for B2B brands right now is to prove they actually do.

The post Your Thought Leadership Ain’t Leading Nobody Nowhere appeared first on FahouryInk.

Do you know the difference between large language models and natural language processing?
What about AI-optimized content versus traditional SEO? Or B2B versus B2C when you’re actually selling to both?

Consider this your cheat sheet for terms that trip up even seasoned marketers, broken down into plain English so you can actually use them with confidence.

Answer engine optimization (AEO)
Also referred to as generative engine optimization (GEO), this is the practice of tailoring your content so it appears in AI query results.

Above the fold
The portion of a web page visible without scrolling, named after the broadsheet newspaper layout of old. It’s prime digital real estate where you want your most important content or messaging.

Archetypes
Personality types that brands embody to connect emotionally with customers and shape how they communicate and position themselves in the market.

Attribution
Identifying which marketing touchpoints deserve credit for conversions. It’s like figuring out whether to thank your website, a direct mail campaign or Sue from sales for bringing in that big client.

Audit
A systematic examination of your content assets to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. Consider it a health check-up for your marketing — sometimes uncomfortable but always revealing.

Bait piece
Also known as a lead magnet, a bait piece is useful content web visitors can download in return for giving you their contact info, generally an email address. This allows you to continue the conversation, generally through a nurture campaign (see below).

BOF
Bottom-of-funnel strategies aimed at converting qualified prospects into customers. This is the “Let’s make it official” stage where you help them take that final step to purchase.

Business-to-business (B2B)
B2B marketing focuses on products or services sold to other companies. It’s like selling industrial-sized chocolate fountains to caterers instead of personal-sized ones to chocolate enthusiasts.

Business-to-consumer (B2C)
B2C marketing targets individual purchasers for personal use. This is marketing directly to the people who will use your product, without decision-by-committee or procurement processes in the way.

Conversion
When a potential buyer takes your desired action, turning from prospect to lead or customer. It’s that magical moment when casual window shopping turns into, “Shut up and take my money!”

Call to action (CTA)
This is the mechanism that brings your potential buyer to the next step in the sales process. Your CTA could be an “add to cart” button, a link to sign up for your newsletter or a QR code that puts them in direct contact with a sales rep.

Customer journey mapping
An analysis of how customers interact across channels to uncover patterns, identify intent signals, (hopefully!) predict behavior and personalize experiences at each stage of the buying process.

Curation
The art of gathering, organizing and presenting existing content (both yours and others) to provide value to your audience. It’s like being the content DJ — mixing others’ tracks into your unique playlist.

Direct to consumer (DTC)
A retail model where brands sell directly to customers, eliminating middlemen to gain greater control over pricing, customer relationships and brand experience. Etsy is a prime example of the DTC sales model.

Dwell time
How long visitors spend on your page before returning to search results. The longer they stay, the more content they theoretically consume.

Earned media
Publicity gained through promotional efforts other than paid advertising, like press coverage or social shares — the digital equivalent of word-of-mouth popularity.

Funnel
A visual representation of the customer journey from awareness to purchase. It’s your customer’s adventure map, showing how they transform from “Who are you?” to “I can’t live without this!”

Generative AI
AI that produces original content (like text, images or video) based on learning from existing data and responding to prompts. But it’s only as good as the information it has to work with.

Infographic
Visual representations of information or data designed to make complex info easily digestible — like the graphic novels of the data world.

Intent signals
Behavioral clues that suggest a prospect is actively considering purchasing from you. These could include downloading a white paper or research report, adding an item to their cart or multiple visits to a pricing or service page.

Large language model (LLM)
An LLM is a type of AI that can recognize and generate text, among other tasks. LLMs are trained on huge sets of data (hence the name “large”).

MOF
Middle-of-funnel tactics that nurture leads who are considering their buying options. This is your chance to say “Let me tell you why we’re awesome” while they’re actively comparison shopping.

Natural language processing (NLP)
The field of AI that enables computers to understand, interpret and manipulate human language, allowing machines to process text and speech to grasp meaning, sentiment and intent.

Nurture campaign
A sequence of timed emails or direct mail pieces tailored to prospects based on their behaviors and stage in the buying journey. These are designed to educate, build relationships and move prospects closer to buying over time.

On-page SEO
Optimizing individual web pages to rank higher in search results through relevant keywords, meta tags and quality content.

Owned media
Content channels that your brand controls, like your website, blog or social accounts. We’d argue social isn’t exactly “owned” since you’re at the mercy of the platform, but that’s another post.

Paid media
Exposure purchased through channels like display ads, sponsored content or PPC campaigns.

Personas
Fictional character profiles based on market research that help marketers understand their target audience’s needs, behaviors, goals, pain points and buying habits.

Repurposing
Transforming existing content into different formats to reach new audiences, extend its lifespan and make the most of your content investment. Like turning yesterday’s roast chicken into today’s amazing tacos — same ingredients, fresh experience. A simple example is providing a transcript of video content for those who prefer reading to watching.

Retargeting
A marketing approach that targets users who’ve previously engaged with your business to encourage them to return and complete a conversion. These can take the form of digital ads, postal mailers or nurturing emails.

SERP
Search Engine Results Page, showing listings in response to a search query. It’s the digital equivalent of the Olympic winners’ podium — positions 1-3 get trophies and everyone else gets participation ribbons.

Social proof
Evidence that others have purchased, used and approved of your products or services. Social proof can include online reviews, sharing of your content or media mentions of your brand or product.

TOF
Top-of-funnel marketing focuses on raising awareness and attracting new prospects. This is where you cast a fairly wide net and say “Hey! Over here!” to potential buyers who might not even know they need you yet.

User-generated content (UGC)
Your fans, buyers and brand evangelists do the work for you, publicly sharing their experiences or opinions. Picture an unboxing video and you get the idea. UGC builds trust and provides social proof (see above).

Whew, that was exhausting! Marketing evolves constantly, and so does its vocabulary. Bookmark this blog for the next time someone drops a buzzword in a meeting and you need a quick translation, and check back often for updates.

Any terms we’ve missed? Email us at compost@fahouryink.com.

The post The Definitive Guide to Content Marketing Terms appeared first on FahouryInk.

You’ve seen it in your analytics. Someone lands on your latest blog, reads the first paragraph, scrolls a bit and then — poof! — they’re gone. Your bounce rate is through the roof and you can’t figure out why. You had a great headline! A solid hook! But somehow readers are still bailing faster than passengers on a sinking ship.

Here’s what’s probably missing: a nut graf.

And no, that’s not a typo or some weird marketing snack. It’s the secret weapon that keeps readers glued to your content.

What is a nut graf?
The term comes from old-school journalism, short for “nutshell paragraph.” It’s the part of your article that tells readers exactly why they should care about what you’re saying. Think of it as your content’s elevator pitch to the reader.

In marketing content, the nut graf usually shows up after your opening hook — somewhere in those first three or four paragraphs. It answers the question every reader is silently asking: “Okaaaaay, but why should I keep reading?” A good nut graf provides context, shows relevance and makes a clear value proposition. It’s not fancy. It’s just honest.

Why your content fails without it
Readers are busy, distracted and probably have 47 other tabs open right now. You’ve got maybe 15 seconds to prove that sticking around is worth their time. Without a nut graf, even amazing content feels like it’s wandering around without a GPS.

Imagine you click on a post titled “5 Ways to Boost Your Email Open Rates.” You’re excited! But then the intro rambles about the history of email marketing, throws in some vague statistics and finally (three paragraphs later) mentions something about subject lines. By then? You’ve already bounced.

This is the “so what?” problem. Readers can’t figure out what they’re getting from your content, so they leave. Your analytics probably show a massive drop-off right after the intro, and that’s usually because there’s no nut graf doing its job.

How to write an effective nut graf
Start with your audience’s actual pain point. What problem do they need solved? What goal are they trying to reach? Then connect your content directly to that need.

Be specific about the payoff. Instead of “this post will help you with email marketing,” try something like: “If your email open rates are stuck below 20%, you’re leaving money on the table. Here’s how to fix your subject lines, timing and preview text to get more eyes on your offers.”

Keep it concise — two to four sentences usually does the trick. And whatever you do, don’t bury it. If prospects have to scroll past six paragraphs of throat-clearing to find out why they should care, they won’t make it that far.

The bottom line
The nut graf is your promise to the reader. It says, “Hey, I know you’re busy. Here’s exactly why the next few minutes matter to you.” It’s about respecting your reader’s time and being upfront about what you’re offering.

Go audit your last few blog posts. Do they have clear nut grafs? Would a stranger know within 30 seconds why they should keep reading? Master this one element and watch what happens to your engagement metrics.

The post Why Every Piece of Marketing Content Needs a Nut Graf appeared first on FahouryInk.

As a huge #HamFan, I couldn’t resist a mashup — what lessons could content marketers learn from this remarkable global juggernaut?

Turns out, a whole lot. 

1. Start with “why” and make it urgent.

The opening number establishes stakes immediately (and better yet, in the form of a question). “How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman… grow up to be a hero and a scholar?”

Winning content hooks audiences by asking and answering compelling questions. Instead of “Introducing our new payroll software,” try “How do you pay 49 employees across 5 states without losing your mind or breaking labor laws?” 

2. Multiple perspectives deepen the story.

The musical shares historical events through different characters’ eyes, especially in the brilliant, back-to-back “Helpless” and Satisfied” songs.

In content marketing, this means broadening your messaging beyond just your brand voice. Customer stories, employee perspectives and partner viewpoints build credibility with potential buyers.

3. Repetition with variation builds memory.

Key lyrics and melodies are repeated throughout the show with evolving meaning. Apply this to your messaging with anchor phrases that carry through campaigns but gain new dimensions as your story develops.

For example, if your tagline is “Business made simple,” use it to illustrate different strengths across your content assets: Simple onboarding, simple reporting, simple growth.

4. Antagonists make better stories.

The Hamilton-Burr dynamic creates tension that drives the narrative. Content marketing shouldn’t shy from acknowledging challenges, competitors or the status quo you’re disrupting.

Continuing the payroll software example above, call out “Why most HR software makes you want to run for the hills” before explaining what you do differently.

5. Use relatable, conversational language.

Lin-Manuel Miranda (a stone-cold genius, BTW) made 18th century politics feel urgent and contemporary. Your content should aim to turn complex, dry subjects (compliance, technology, process improvement) and make them feel relevant to today’s problems.

For example, lose the “Understanding FLSA Overtime Regulations” headline in favor of “Three emails your employee sent that could trigger a wage lawsuit.”

6. Borrow the cabinet battle format.

Those rap battles in Act 2? That’s comparison content done right — showing opposing viewpoints clearly while making your case.

That means addressing common objections directly; for example, a blog post on “In-house HR vs. PEO: An honest look at both” that presents the other side fairly before showing the clear advantages of your product.

7. Authenticity beats perfection.

“History Has Its Eyes on You” and the vulnerability in Hamilton’s mistakes make him real. Content that shows struggle and learning connects better than polished perfection.

Let’s say you’re creating a series of videos. Think about including the outtakes, the “take 21” moments and the behind-the-scenes chaos that demonstrate your commitment to a great product along with your humanity.

The real lesson from Hamilton?
History has its eyes on your content. Make it count by being bold, authentic and impossible to ignore. Now go write like you’re running out of time.

The post 7 Content Marketing Lessons from “Hamilton” appeared first on FahouryInk.

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty ruthless about unsubscribing. The last think anyone needs is another daily email promising to “revolutionize your workflow” or “unlock hidden potential.”

But these five newsletters (plus a bonus runner-up) have survived multiple inbox purges because they actually deliver something useful like a genuinely fresh perspective or an entertaining read.

Here are the faves we currently can’t live without:

Marketing Dive
Wide-ranging marketing gold in practically every issue. We especially value the intel on big-brand creative, clever AI usage, activations and video to see how we can apply them on a smaller scale for growing companies.

Austin Kleon
The author’s “10 things worth sharing this week” format is consistently a breath of creative fresh air. Includes ear-worthy playlist recommendations, must-read books and peeks behind the scenes at Kleon’s artistic process, latest inspirations and family life. A testament to the power of authenticity.

SmartBrief on Marketing Innovation
Great tidbits on what’s new in the marketing tech world, fresh tactics, brand collabs and notable content creators. SmartBriefs is a goldmine across a gazillion industries, not just marketing. Go down the rabbit hole here.

Marketing Brew
Touts itself as “marketing news you’ll actually want to read,” which is not an overstatement. Brand strategies, sports marketing, programmatic and more — it’s all here, in a quick-read format that keeps you in the loop without the noise.

Exploding Topics
This Semrush creation puts you way ahead of the competition with recaps of under-the-radar trends worth exploring — new product categories, tech, strategies and sentiments destined for greatness. The free version is fantastic, so imagine the power of the paid version.

Runner Up (of the moment): Pivot 5
This AI-focused gem is a daily quick scan of major players, start-ups and smart use cases to spark your next big idea. The old-school graphics are easy on the eyes and an oddly comforting relief from the usual neon gradients and AI-generated chaos.

The best newsletters aren’t trying to be everything to everyone
They pick a lane, stay consistent and respect your time. These six have earned their inbox real estate. Give ‘em a shot — and if they’re not your thing, the unsubscribe button is a quick fix.

Shameless plug: Our monthly Creative Compost must be doing something right — it’s got a gratifying 56% open rate and pretty impressive click-throughs. Take it for a test drive.

The post 5 Marketing-ish Newsletters Worth the Inbox Space appeared first on FahouryInk.

Along the way, we’ve of course been following lively industry discussions about spotting AI-written copy.

As a lover of the m-dash, I’ve fought back when pundits claim our carefully honed drafts “must be AI-generated.” But there are definitely some scenarios — from turn of phrase to structural formulas — that seem to be the default for today’s generative AI.

A few egregious examples you may have noted:

• The suddenly ubiquitous phrase “turning chaos into clarity”
• Opening sentences like “In the ever-evolving world of…” and “In an era of XYZ…”
• Rhetorical questions (“Have you ever wondered why…”)
• Excessive use of adverbs like truly, incredibly, significantly or substantially

So we decided to conduct a little experiment. We asked two AI tools to create a blog on business challenges specific to the food manufacturing and distribution industry.

Once the post was generated, we then prompted the AI as follows: Can you revisit the copy you just generated and remove any of the usual AI “tells” like a specific sentence structure or vocabulary/phrasing?

Here’s the verbatim result from one of the tools:

Done. I’ve removed the common AI tells including:

• “Let’s be honest” opener
• “Here’s the thing/twist/paradox/reveal” constructions
• “Notice I said X, not Y” pattern
• “Translation:” explanations
• “This isn’t about X, it’s about Y” formula
• “Choose wisely” ending
• Clichés like “chickens coming home to roost”
• Overly neat “The opposite is true” structure

The content and stats are all the same, but it now reads less like an AI dispensing wisdom and more like a human who actually writes for a living.

Huh.

The other AI tool generated similar results and took it one step further — dialing down on the m-dash usage.

So we doubled down. “What are more common AI tells beyond what’s in this blog?”

That resulted in a pretty useful laundry list broken out by category:

Transition phrases
“Moreover…”
“Furthermore…”
“Additionally…”
“It’s important to note that…”
“It’s worth noting that…”
“That said…” (overused)
“With that in mind…”

Hedging language
“It’s crucial/vital/essential to…”
“The key is to…”
“Remember that…”
“Keep in mind that…”

Vocabulary red flags
Overuse of landscape, ecosystem, leverage, optimize, seamless, robust, comprehensive, delve, navigate, multifaceted, paramount
“Game-changer” / “game-changing”
“Unlock” (unlock the potential, unlock success)
“Harness” (harness the power of)
“Elevate” (elevate your strategy)
“Revolutionary”
“Cutting-edge”

Metaphors AI loves
Journey/roadmap metaphors
Building/foundation metaphors
“Goldmine” or treasure metaphors
War/battle metaphors (winning, dominating, conquering)
Sports metaphors

Conclusion patterns
“In conclusion…”
“The bottom line is…”
“At the end of the day…”
“So there you have it”
Ending with questions directed at reader (“What will you do?” “Are you ready?”)
“The choice is yours”

Now you know what to avoid to make your content stand out from the sea of AI-generated sameness.

Keep in mind, the real tell isn’t any single phrase. It’s the cumulative effect of writing that feels too clean, too balanced, too eager to please.

If you’re using AI to create marketing content and then trying to disguise it, you’re likely spending more time on the cover-up than it would take to just write the thing yourself.

Humans relate to humans, messy and imperfect as we are. Keep reminding yourself of that when creating your next piece of content and see how it performs.

The post When AI Snitches on Itself appeared first on FahouryInk.

I’ve been thinking a lot about friction lately.

More specifically, friction points in business — how we as business owners can improve the client/customer experience by removing unnecessary irritations that slow down (or in some cases, completely halt) the sales process.

One example comes to mind because it happens so frequently — the dreaded ad journal.

We’re fortunate to have an abundance of philanthropic clients. These companies are always willing to support non-profit causes by attending fundraising galas, volunteering at events and advertising in the ad journals that accompany these activities.

The client will send us the specs to create an ad, and invariably they look like this:

Full page — $500
Half page — $250

That’s it.

Now, you’re probably thinking, “Duh, a full page is 8-1-2 x 11 inches. What’s so hard about that?”

Not so fast, my friend.

Could be that.

Could also be 8×10.

Or 5-1/2×8-1/2.

(Ed. note — the organization that prompted this post finally confirmed on 10/10 that their “full-page” ad size is 4.7 in wide by 7.6 in tall. Go figure).

And don’t get me started on color vs b&w. Or preferred file formats. Or deadlines.

Not clearly stating vital details like these up front causes unnecessary delays, prompts countless emails and calls, and is a wholly frustrating waste of time.

Some more examples:

Making customers create an account before browsing. Forcing registration just to see prices or product details drives people away. Let them explore first and create an account only when they’re ready to buy.

We recently saw this in an annual employee benefits guide we were creating. A portion of this client’s benefits were specifically opt-out. To do so, employees were required to go online and take the time to register for the carrier portal. Just to opt out.

Forcing buyers to hunt for basic information, like store hours. What’s on your contact page? Retailers, if the information doesn’t include your current business hours or a clickable phone number, that’s friction.

I’m not gonna chase you for details on how to give you my money. I’m simply going to the next similar business listed on my Google results.

Offering a discount code immediately when a visitor hits your site. Please, that’s like using the “L” word on the first date.

Have some dignity and at least let people poke around for a minute or so. Because having to unsubscribe because your product’s not for me is just one more annoyance that taints your brand experience.

PDF forms that can’t be filled out digitally. Requiring people to print, handwrite, scan and email forms in 2025 is just bananapants crazy.

Oh, the irony of needing technology to make something less technological. Not sure why, but doctors’ offices seem to be the most notorious offenders here. Do you really want to have to read/interpret my shitty handwriting? Ain’t nobody got time for that.

The bottom line
Every friction point you eliminate is a gift to your customers — and to yourself.

Think about the last time you abandoned a shopping cart, gave up on a form or chose a competitor simply because they made it easier. Those moments add up. They cost real money, real relationships and real opportunities.

The good news? Eliminating most friction is entirely within your control. You don’t need a massive budget or a complete website overhaul. You just need to pay attention to the small stuff that’s making people work harder than they should.

So here’s my challenge: Take 15 minutes this week and walk through your own customer journey. Try to buy from yourself. Try to contact yourself. Try to get the information you promise to provide.

I guarantee you’ll find at least one thing that makes you think, “Wow, this is annoying.”

Fix it.

Your customers will thank you. Your team will thank you. And your bottom line will definitely thank you.

Because in the end, sweating the small stuff isn’t about being nitpicky — it’s about respecting people’s time and removing the barriers between them and doing business with you.

The post The Hidden Cost of Making Customers Work Too Hard appeared first on FahouryInk.