How to Win Attention When the Internet is Drowning in Slop

The internet is drowning in slop.

You know it. I know it. Your prospects definitely know it.

Every marketer with a ChatGPT login is now pumping out “10x content” in 1/10th the time. The result isn’t better content. It’s infinite content-shaped oatmeal.

And because there’s so much of it, the old distribution playbooks are broken. SEO is a hostage situation. PR is a pay-to-play game where you pay to get ignored. Trust is at an all-time low because we’ve all been burned by “thought leaders” who turned out to be prompt engineers in a trench coat.

So how do you actually get attention in 2026?

You do the one thing AI can’t do.

You combine Deep Domain Expertise with Proprietary Data.

The Only Moat That Matters

Here’s the reality: AI can generate “insights.” It can write “trends.” It can even sound reasonably smart about your industry.

But it cannot access your Data Under Management. It cannot see your transaction logs, your customer usage patterns, or your financial benchmarks.

And it definitely cannot interpret that data with the nuance of someone who has spent 10 years in the trenches.

That combination—Expert + Data—is the only defensible signal left.

The Playbook (Short Version)

I’ve written about this in depth with the Hard Signal Protocol and the Expertise Amplification Method, but here is the cheat sheet:

1. Audit Your “Hard Data”: Stop looking for “content ideas.” Look for data assets. What financial, operational, or behavioral data do you sit on? (Hint: Money is the ultimate truth. Look for dollar values first).
2. Apply the “Buy Intent” Test: Ask your domain experts: “If a prospect sees this number trending the wrong way, do they open a PO?"
   • Low Intent: “Industry tenure is dropping.” (Interesting, but who cares?)
   • High Intent: “Companies using legacy tools are overpaying by 40%.” (Urgent. Actionable. Money.)
3. Amplify with Experts: Don’t just publish a chart. Get your domain experts to explain why it matters. Use the Expertise Amplification loop to validate it with external pros.
4. Be the Mirror: The best data marketing doesn’t sell your product. It holds up a mirror. It lets prospects benchmark themselves. If they don’t like the reflection, they buy your product to fix it.

The Bottom Line

AI can fake style. It can fake structure. It can even fake confidence.

It cannot fake your data.

In a world of infinite noise, the only thing that cuts through is the hard signal of truth. Be the source of truth, and you won’t have to worry about the algorithm.

(Want to see this in action? Check out my teardowns of Redfin and Profound—they built entire businesses on this exact premise.)