In a recent LinkedIn post, Ross Simmonds delves into the evolving landscape of content creation and distribution, arguing that while artificial intelligence has significantly advanced the former, the latter remains the critical bottleneck for businesses. Simmonds, the founder of Foundation Marketing and Distribution.ai, highlights a persistent challenge that often gets overlooked in the current AI-driven content boom.
Simmonds opens his post by stating the core premise behind his venture, Distribution.ai:
“I built Distribution.ai because the creation problem was mostly solved.”
He elaborates on the capabilities that AI now readily offers to content creators and businesses.
The AI Revolution in Content Creation
According to Ross Simmonds, the ability of AI to generate content has reached a point of significant maturity. He points out the rapid advancements in AI’s capacity for content production, stating:
“AI can write. AI can design. AI can produce at scale.”
This assertion underscores a widely observed trend: AI tools are becoming increasingly adept at producing various forms of content, from written articles and marketing copy to visual designs and even video elements. This democratization of creation tools means that businesses, regardless of their size, can now produce a volume of content that was previously unimaginable or prohibitively expensive.
The Strategic Gap in AI-Powered Creation
Despite the impressive strides in AI-driven creation, Simmonds argues that this is only half the battle. The real challenge, he contends, lies not in generating content, but in ensuring it reaches the intended audience effectively. He emphasizes that the strategic element is what AI currently lacks and what businesses still struggle with.
Simmonds articulates this crucial distinction, noting:
“What it cannot do without strategy is get that content in front of the right person at the right moment on the right channel.”
In his view, the proliferation of AI-generated content, if not guided by a robust distribution strategy, risks creating a glut of unseen material. The effectiveness of any content, no matter how well-crafted or how rapidly produced, is fundamentally tied to its visibility and relevance to the target audience. This requires a deep understanding of customer journeys, channel nuances, and timing – areas where human strategic thinking and experience remain indispensable.
Distribution: The Enduring Hard Part
The core of Simmonds’ argument is that effective content distribution is not merely a secondary consideration but the primary differentiator in today’s crowded digital space. He posits that this aspect of marketing and communication has always been challenging and will continue to be so, even with the advent of advanced AI tools.
Concluding his post, Ross Simmonds reinforces this point with a definitive statement:
“Distribution is still the hard part. And it always will be.”
This perspective suggests that while AI can serve as a powerful co-pilot for content creation, the strategic planning, execution, and optimization of content distribution require human expertise. Businesses that focus solely on the creation aspect, relying heavily on AI without a corresponding strategic investment in distribution, are likely to miss their mark. Simmonds’ insights serve as a timely reminder that mastering the art and science of getting content to the right audience, at the right time, through the right channels, remains the ultimate key to success in content marketing.
📝 About This Content
This article is based on insights shared by Ross Simmonds on LinkedIn.
📅 Originally posted on April 17, 2026 | View original post on LinkedIn →