Why Your AI Content StrategyIsn’t Working(Anymore)
Everyone is leaning into AI to keep up. But when everyone’s blindly using the same tool, everything sounds exactly the same. The algorithm didn’t turn against you - it just stopped rewarding content nobody was actually connecting with.
AI doesn’t understand culture
Ai can write you a caption in three seconds. What it can’t do is understand what your specific audience finds interesting right now, what cultural moment your brand should be responding to, or what reference is going to make someone stop and think “that’s exactly it.”
It works by pulling from what already exists, which means it will always produce something that already feels familiar. And familiar doesn’t stop anyone scrolling.
Where to look for inspiration
This is the part that requires more effort than opening chatgpt, but it’s also where the interesting work starts.
If you’re a fashion or beauty brand, stop looking at other fashion and beauty brands for references. You’re all pulling from the same places and it shows.
Your own community
The comments, the dms, the questions your existing customers are asking, that is primary research. It’s telling you exactly what they need, what language they use, and what they’re confused about. Most brands sit on that information and never use it.
Travel & Place
Think about where your audience actually spends their time - and then go there. The café that gets featured in wallpaper before everyone else finds it. An independent concept store that curates like a gallery. A food market with a genuine visual identity.
These aren’t just backdrops, they’re also communities. The people running spaces like these are often building something with the same intention you are, and that’s where real collaborations come from. Not a cold partnership brief, but a genuine shared sensibility that turns into a shoot, a pop-up.
Film, art architecture
The references that will make your content feel genuinely different are almost never coming from within your own industry.
Life of pi movie has great colour references. A tadao ando building has a composition. A cy twombly painting has a texture. None of your competitors are looking there, which is exactly why you should be.
Substack
Substack has quietly become one of the most useful places to understand what your audience is thinking about right now.
Find the writers your ideal customer follows. Pay attention to which letters get the most replies and comments. Notice the language they use, the references they make, the questions they’re sitting with.
That’s the kind of cultural intelligence that tells you what your audience cares about before it surfaces anywhere else, and it’s sitting there completely unused by most brands.
If your content feels like it’s just filling space (and you’re not quite sure how to build something more intentional) - that’s a conversation worth having. Get in touch today →