Abby White: Hi, I’m Abby White, vice president of EndeavorB2B Content Studio.

Alexis Gajewski: Hi, I’m Alexis Gajewski, associate director of newsroom operations and development at EndeavorB2B.

Abby White: Our first most-read item is a podcast from our colleagues Erin Hallstrom and Seth Hastings. It’s the first episode they produced together, and it’s called “What Earns the Click? Headline and Subject Line Tips for Modern Marketers.” I loved this podcast. Erin and Seth are super entertaining and knowledgeable, and it gets at a problem anyone who does content marketing understands: attention is hard to earn, and vague copy is easy to ignore.

With all that AI sloppy copy out there, you have to make sure you’re still delivering sharp, engaging content to your audiences.

Alexis Gajewski: One hundred percent. Full disclosure, I love Seth and Erin. I consider them personal friends. If you’re looking for a good time and great banter, it’s wonderful. Plus, you’ll learn something too.

What’s great about that episode is it gets you out of the patterns you’ve fallen into. Sometimes we think, “This is how I always craft my headlines. This is how I always craft my subject lines.” Then when you step back and think about it, you ask, “Is that truly engaging? Does that resonate with my audience?”

They do a fun quiz with each other — would this interest you, completely out of context? It’s a fun game to play if you’re also a visibility nerd the way I am. Plus, I heard they’re going to have a wonderful guest star on an upcoming episode — yours truly.

Abby White: I’m looking forward to that one. Seth and Erin are definitely worth a listen, even if you don’t have the pleasure of knowing them personally as we do.

What I loved about the headline game is that anyone who has done content for a long time has seen the shift in the way we craft copy. Those of us who’ve been around for a few decades remember when headlines were optimized for print, and you could be as clever as you wanted. Now there’s so much emphasis on making headlines clickable, searchable and optimized for SEO.

There are more parameters, but there’s still room for experimentation. We have to make sure we’re putting content out there that the audience is actually going to be interested in.

Alexis Gajewski: Definitely. There is always room for creativity and fun. I think that’s something we forget when we’re too close to something. We think it has to be formal or professional, but our audience likes a good laugh too. They like something witty. So you might as well include that, or at least test it.

Abby White: Absolutely. That takes us into our next most-read item by contributor Delaney Rebennack, “The Rise of Raw Content.” Delaney covered the idea that with all the polished, possibly AI-generated content out there, people are searching for a little bit of a rough edge. They don’t want everything to have the same cadence or style. They’re looking for things created by a human, because that’s the voice we trust.

Alexis Gajewski: Without a doubt. I can say this as a recovering perfectionist: those things can be difficult. I’ve found that for a lot of the things I’m creating or watching, I want to feel like I’m in the room with the person. When something is too polished, it usually feels pulled further back. It doesn’t feel as much like a trusted friend or colleague saying, “Hey, I’ve got information for you.”

AI has accelerated this. I still stare at Instagram Reels going, “Is that a real hand? I don’t think that’s a real hand.” I’m just going to skip. I’m not even going to watch this recipe anymore.

Abby White: We’re all looking for extra fingers at this point. But to your point, authenticity has never not been in style. It’s a trust signal. No matter who your audience is, they want an authentic voice speaking to them. They want somebody they can trust.

Alexis Gajewski: Of course. We can see that even from reviews. Reviews matter because you trust everyday people who used the item and came back with an update. We’re looking for something similar now with influencers or experts in your space. That authenticity can’t be bought. It has to be there.

Abby White: Absolutely. If you’re producing content of any kind, it’s not that you’re trying to make it look raw or messy. You need to produce content that feels real. Content marketers know how to do that, but a lot of us have that perfectionist side. Sometimes we have to rein that in and show who we are to our audiences.

In a world where everything feels a little too polished, credibility is starting to look more human and a little less produced.

That tension between support and substance shows up differently in the next story. Alexis, this one is yours: “I Turned My AI Boyfriend Into a Yes Man, and It Ruined Everything.” Readers might remember that you broke up with your AI, went to a different AI, and now we’re at an interesting point in your relationship. What happened?

Alexis Gajewski: This goes back to the idea of becoming comfortable with AI telling us what a good job we’re doing. There’s been research about how people respond to that kind of affirmation, and it’s not usually good.

I can say for myself, I love it when AI says, “That was such a good idea. You’re really thinking about this.” But once I switched platforms, I made it my objective to get a more authentic conversation with my AI. I wanted it to help me generate better ideas and think differently, not just say, “Good idea, here’s your output.” I wanted it to flag things, offer a differing perspective and push me a little.

Abby White: I can confirm those columns are a lot of fun to edit and read. I think we all know now that your love language is words of affirmation, because you even love them from your AI.

But the article tells us that constant affirmation, even from AI, might feel good, but it can make your work weaker. We all need constructive criticism. I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and I still need that kind of criticism to push me.

Alexis Gajewski: Think about the conversations you have with people you trust. They’re never just smiling back and saying, “That was great.” They’re the people who push back. Your AI can make you better if you allow it to.

Abby White: Absolutely. The real value of AI isn’t one that perpetually agrees with you. It’s asking whether this tool is sharpening your thinking instead of flattening it.

If sharper thinking is the goal, one place marketers could use a lot more of it is conference preparation. Alexis, your next article is “The Pre-Event Strategy Every B2B Marketer Needs (and Almost Nobody Builds.)” Why did you feel it was important to do a series on this now?

Alexis Gajewski: I’ve always loved events. I love attending them. I’ve also been the person who had to stay behind and create, edit and post the content. I was always the annoying person asking, “Are you taking pictures? Are you taking videos? What do you have for me to post?”

Events can be overwhelming. Once you’re there, you kind of forget everything. That’s why this first article focuses on preparing before the event. It gets you into the right mindset so you know what you’re going to do once you arrive.

This one is great because it gives you ideas for how to use AI to create the basis for any coverage you want to do during the event. I like bringing it out now because we’re going back into conference season soon, so it gives you time to read, try prompts and get your mind in a good space.

If you’re one of those people who attends, takes notes and then never looks at them again, you’re not alone. But you could be doing so much more with this.

Abby White: For anyone who has looked at the series, Alexis also created a great playbook you can download and use with your team. The timing is perfect because summer gives you an opportunity to get your strategy together before the fall.

Conferences aren’t just something to attend. They’re a way to architect better content and bring smarter conversations back to your team.

Alexis Gajewski: To bring it back to authenticity, event coverage is where a lot of marketers become very formal. But people also want to see what the event felt like. That can help your personal brand and authenticity.

Abby White: Our final story is our podcast from last month. I’m just so excited that two of the top five most-read content items on MarketingEDGE were podcasts. It’s fun to revisit the things that resonated with the audience and talk about why. That helps us inform what we should keep covering.

Alexis Gajewski: It speaks to how everyone likes to get their information. I’ll watch a video or listen to a podcast. With an article, I’m like, “Soon, I will read that soon.” I’d love to know if people are listening to us while driving, doing dishes or making dinner.

Abby White: If you missed that podcast, it’s still on our website. We talked about the pressures AI is introducing into the marketing workflow, buyer skepticism and the reality that marketing teams are being asked to move faster while proving more.

Dashboards and metrics matter, but customer understanding and our relationship with audiences matter too. Trust and authenticity keep coming up in our content and conversations each month. They’re not new for marketers, but the way we build that trust keeps changing.

Alexis Gajewski: The only thing you can count on is change. For a long time, we were able to say, “These are the best practices,” and keep moving in that direction. Now you have to roll with everything. It can be scary, but there are also new ways of doing things.

Abby White: Absolutely. Marketing should be fun, and we’re making B2B marketing fun because we think it is fun.

What I love about looking at the most-read content on our site is that it shows this audience is getting pickier in a smart way. Marketers are trying to make stronger content, use AI more strategically and be more thoughtful about how they work with their teams.

The marketers pulling ahead right now aren’t the ones chasing every new tactic. They’re the ones figuring out what is actually useful and what helps them earn real trust with their audiences.

Alexis, thank you for joining me today.

Alexis Gajewski: Always. Thank you for having me.

Abby White: And thank you all for listening. Visit us at MarketingEDGE at marketing.endeavoredge.com, where you can find the full articles and podcasts we talked about today. We’ve also included links in the show notes.

While you’re there, don’t forget to subscribe to the MarketingEDGE newsletter, our free weekly newsletter created specifically for B2B marketing leaders. And send us an email to tell us what you want us to cover next. We’re excited to keep this conversation going, and we’ll see you next month. Bye, everybody.

*Transcript lightly edited for clarity and brevity