Episode summary
The Unexpected Ways AI Is Changing Content Marketing For Financial Advisors - Kitces & Carl Ep 184
Financial Advisor Success (Kitces)
· · 28 min · Hosts: Michael Kitces · Guests: Carl Richards
Summary
Artificial intelligence has made it easier for financial advisors and marketers to produce content, but that ease has also flooded the market with noise. Carl Richards argues that when everyone can generate newsletters, blogs, podcasts, and outreach at scale, the real differentiator is no longer volume; it is either being outrageously distinctive or deeply, hyper-relevant to a very specific audience. He says the landscape has become so saturated that he is deleting faster than he can read, and only content that is clearly for him and his family gets through.
The conversation extends that same logic to advisor marketing and prospecting. Richards says AI-driven outreach has intensified the barrage of emails, especially from PE firms and aggregators targeting advisors, and that the same dynamic will likely hit newsletters and social content. He argues that email still outperforms social media because recipients can easily unsubscribe, so staying in the inbox is a sign of real relevance and trust.
Richards does not dismiss AI entirely. He says it can be useful as an editor, idea generator, and writing-room partner, especially for cold starts and revision, but it should speed up good work rather than replace the advisor’s voice.
Key takeaways
- Carl Richards says AI has made content creation cheaper and more abundant, which has lowered the signal-to-noise ratio for advisors.
- Richards argues that content now has to be either outrageous or highly relevant to a very specific audience to stand out.
- He says AI-driven outreach is already blasting advisors with more PE and aggregator messages, making prospecting feel like noise.
- Richards says email still converts better than social because people either value the content enough to keep it or unsubscribe quickly.
- He recommends using AI as an editor, brainstorm partner, and cold-start tool, not as a replacement for an advisor’s own voice.
Notable quotes
“artificial intelligence made creating content quote unquote easier and now it's made it imposs I think”
“you either need to be outrageous way out here on the spectrum or you need to be relevant really specifically relevant”
“the bottom fell out this last 6 months at marketing firms”
“I would use it as a tool to Jcurve my production of anything I'm doing”
How the episode opens
Michael Kitsus, David Carl Richards III. — That's exactly right. DCR3, please. — DCR3. I still I have to be so careful not to turn it to DCF because I want you to be discounted cash flow apparently and I — I Yeah, then I could have a Halloween costume. I mean, the whole thing would just be so great.
Once I get to the D and the C, it's really hard to have an R after. So, I I — I get there, but I have to keep reminding myself of your last name to — For sure. I I have something I want to talk about.
Okay. What do you want to What do you want to do today? Have you noticed how bad how bad your experience is with the internet lately? Like — How much the internet sucks. I feel like — Just how bad like how bad a challenge for a while.
I think particularly like any engagement in I mean like LinkedIn or like like and so maybe maybe this is the way to frame it. content marketing, you know, like the thing that everybody's supposed to do is becoming incredibly hard precisely because there was a tool invented to make it easier.
Oh, so this is an AI conversation. — Well, I'm I'm trying — I was going to say AI slop, but maybe that that might be a little harsh. — No, I think that's right. I think that's right. I But I'm trying really hard not to ever say just AI. trying to only say artificial intelligence because I think it's important to remind us what it stands for. So artificial intelligence made creating content quote unquote easier and now it's made it imposs I think I've always thought I've been saying this for 10 years that in content marketing you can either be outrageous
Or you can be relevant and I think that has gotten critical now like you either need to be outrageous way out here on the spectrum or you need to be relevant really specifically relevant because there's so much garbage, so much noise, and so little signal.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai content creation
- content marketing differentiation
- audience engagement
- expertise from ai
- thought leadership automation
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Financial Advisor Success (Kitces), this episode and its artwork belong to Michael Kitces. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
