Think about the last time you walked into a room full of people you did not know. Everyone is pleasant enough and conversations start easily, but nothing really lands. Then, at some point, someone tells a story; it is honest, a little vulnerable and completely specific to them. The way you feel about that person is altered and your memory of them changes and sticks.
Your content needs to create that same moment.
The difference between content and influence
AI has changed what is possible for organisations of every size. Anyone with access to generative AI tools can now produce content that is well structured, grammatically clean and professionally presented. That is genuinely useful, but it has also made it easier to produce content that sounds like everyone else.
While content informs, it is influence that changes minds, builds trust and moves people to act. The two are not the same thing, and volume does not close the gap between them. We see this across every type of work we do, from grant applications to government tenders to award entries and sponsorship documents. The organisations that stand out are never the ones that produced the most content. They are the ones with a clear voice, an honest perspective and a real understanding of who they are writing for.
Influence builds the way relationships do. Slowly, through accumulated moments of recognition, the person in the room who eventually earns your trust is not the one who spoke the most. It is the one who showed up consistently, was clear about what they stood for, and meant what they said. Content works exactly the same way. Showing up regularly with a clear and honest voice builds familiarity, and familiarity builds trust and that trust is what eventually moves people to act.
You need to understand who you are trying to reach
Before you write anything intended to influence, you need to do the work of understanding who is reading it.
When we write business award entries for clients, one of the first things we do is research the judges. Who are they? What industries have they worked in? What kind of writing are they familiar with? What do they value? That research shapes every decision about tone, language, structure and emphasis. An entry written for a panel of finance professionals reads differently from one written for a panel of community leaders, even if the underlying story is the same.
The same principle applies to grant assessors, procurement evaluation panels, potential funders and media contacts. They all have a context. They all have a frame of reference and the organisations that consistently perform well in competitive processes are usually the ones that have taken the time to understand that frame before they start writing.
Before you publish, ask two questions
Does this sound like us? And does it speak specifically to the people we are trying to reach? If you cannot answer yes to both, then it’s back to the drawing board.