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Back when Google was young, traffic was a black box and SEO felt like magic. Today, it’s anything but. The process is industrialized and predictable. If you have a budget, getting traffic is easier than ever: publish at scale, buy backlinks, boost domain authority, rank faster. With AI, it all moves even faster.
The problem is that traffic itself is no longer the goal. Discovery has moved away from websites. Google gives answers directly in search results. People find what they need in social feeds, emails, or AI assistants. They don't click through.
And still, companies follow the same familiar process and ignore brand building. Why invest months building something intangible when you can pay for rankings?
Well, because changes in how we search for information because of AI and stuff just tanked your traffic. And your competitor can always outbid you for links.
Brand means someone searches for you by name and remembers what you said. They bring up your article in conversations.
That doesn't happen by accident.
In today's newsletter:
Most companies have one, maybe two of these pieces. You need all four.
Have one strong opinion about your industry or product category. Something that makes you mad. If it doesn’t trigger an emotional reaction, it’s not good enough.
Say it in your homepage copy, in your blog, on LinkedIn, in sales calls. Everywhere.
At Zmist & Copy, every piece we publish says the same thing: chasing keywords without a brand is pointless. That line is on our website. In our case studies. In my LinkedIn posts. In this newsletter.
When a prospect books a call, they already know our position. We don't need to convince them.
Repetition builds recall.
Your content should prove you understand the exact problems your customers need fixed.
We wrote about full-cycle development for Modeso after they surveyed 200 European tech leaders. The data showed what frustrated them most about working with agencies. The article addressed those specific frustrations and demonstrated how Modeso's process solves them.
That's what I'm talking about.
When we say our keyword strategy works, we point to Eleken. "SaaS design agency" had zero search volume. We wrote it anyway because it targeted their exact buyer. That one page generated hundreds of qualified leads.
Generic statements like "our approach drives results" mean nothing. "We generated 200 leads from a keyword with no search volume" sticks.
Your brand doesn't live on your website alone.
Wiseboard's CEO publishes newsletters on LinkedIn. He also shares his insights at offline events and online webinars. Every touchpoint reinforces the same POV.
When someone finally lands on the website, they've already seen the message three times.
Most content gets written one piece at a time. A blog post here, a case study there. No connection between them. We needed a system to make sure every piece we create builds a brand.
The Context Engine breaks down into three models based on where your reader is:
Top of funnel - Content that establishes your POV. This is where you pick fights with industry norms and show why your approach differs.
Middle of funnel - Content that demonstrates you understand your customers’ specific problems and can solve them.
Bottom of funnel - Content that shows outcomes, what happened when someone chose your solution.
When we audit client content, most pieces score high on maybe one dimension. Strong brand-building content hits all three.
Here's how each model works in detail: The Context Engine
We've turned the Context Engine into a template you can use to score your own content.
Get the template on our website.
Score each piece of content across the three dimensions: POV strength, problem alignment, proof quality.
If most pieces score low on POV, you're publishing content that sounds like everyone else. If proof is weak, you're making claims without backing them up.
Low scores across all dimensions? You're not building a brand.
Score your content to see where you stand.
I spent this morning scoring content for a client who insisted their blog was "pretty good." Turns out, pretty good means forgettable. Try the template and let me know what you find.
Kateryna
P.S. If we aren't connected already, follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram. If you like this newsletter, please refer your friends.
P.P.S. Need help with quality content? Zmistify your content with Zmist & Copy.
Every content marketer eventually faces a choice: build the machine, or write the message it sends.
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