How to Create Customer-Centric Content with Katy Katz @katykatztx #VCBuzz

Your customer should be the focus of your content marketing strategy, right in its center. How to build your marketing strategy around your customer? This is exactly what we are going to discuss today with @katykatztx who wrote a great article on the topic.

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About Katy

Katy Katz @katykatztx is digital marketer who loves working with SaaS companies, speaker, senior consultant for @SmartBugMedia; board member of @searchHOU and @HoustonIMA

Connect to Katy on Linekin

Questions we discussed

Q1 How did you become a digital marketer? Tell us your career story!

I managed social media for an art gallery during a college internship and was mesmerized with the potential reach of digital. I’ve worked both in-house and agency. For me, the best part of digital is the ability to make decisions on quantifiable insights.

Currently with @SmartbugMedia, the #1 customer-rated Hubspot partner (shameless plug!)

https://twitter.com/jessytroy/status/846757405191028739

There are good things about both. More control in-house. But I like the quick pace and variety of agency work.

More variety when you have client work to do, more experience too! @katykatztx @jessytroy #vcbuzz

— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) March 28, 2017

Q2 Please define “customer-centric content” and elaborate why businesses should be focusing on it!

A customer-centric content strategy focuses on the benefits to the customer instead of just the features of a product/service.

Customer centricity brings to light the conversation of inbound vs outbound marketing and how to educate with content.

In a customer-centric strategy, your KPI is customer success & satisfaction. Content is conceived & crafted with that in mind.

Check out what @NikkiElizDemere has to say about customer success here. I love her writing!

If you lay the right groundwork – personas, buyer’s journeys, and editorial calendars – you will increase conversions.

.@NikkiElizDemere is also our previous host. Here's her chat script -> https://t.co/23smdmiV16 #vcbuzz

— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) March 28, 2017

Q3 How to better understand your customer to create content for them? Do you use personas to define your ideal customer?

Personas define the language, goals, and motivations of your ideal customer. They help you write to customer needs.

Personas define the language, goals, and motivations of your ideal customer. They help you write to customer needs.

@SmartBugMedia has a really comprehensive guide with important questions to ask in persona interviews.

@katykatztx I came across a few persona-building tools. Have you tried any? #vcbuzz

— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) March 28, 2017

I have not tried the tools myself. I use a set of questions and then custom design. How did you like the tools?

@katykatztx The one from @Hubspot seemed pretty neat! https://t.co/GfO9hCg2ty #vcbuzz

— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) March 28, 2017

Yeah, they do a great job with tools!

Centering a post around your reader is one of @problogger ‘s ‘4 Pillars of Exceptional Writing’.

Personas also help you think of content on a deeper level. I.E. It’s easier to write motivationally for a friend than a stranger.

Q4 What types of content are we talking about here? What should the businesses be starting with when working on customer-centric content?

Persona research and the buyer’s journey should be one of the first things you do when starting any content strategy. Your ideal customer should be considered in every single piece of your editorial calendar – from the blog to the ‘about us’ page.

Once you’ve mapped a buyer’s journey, make persona goals part of the plan. I.E. What customer goal does this blog solve?

Be intentional with your writing so that you remember to think of your customer first, after a while it will come naturally.

https://twitter.com/jessytroy/status/846766330376278016

It seems counterintuitive, right? But the important thing is to think about what the customer should take from the page. This blog post from @Hubspot has some great examples of ‘About’ pages that are customer-centric.

Q5 What are your favorite content marketing tools and why?

There are so many good ones! @Hubspot and @Buffer are favorites for delivery. For research, I like @Moz and @AHREFS.

I’ve also been really enjoying a new tool by @Buzzsumo called Bloomberry – It aggregates questions.

My whole team is remote so we survive by Google Docs and project management (we use @Teamwork) but I’ve also used @Trello.

Lastly, I tend to think faster than my fingers so I wouldn’t survive without @grammarly!

Our previous content marketing chats:

• Content Marketing Through Story Telling w/ Todd E. Jones @tejones of @grafixcatmedia #VCBuzz
• Writing to Impress: Content Marketing Twitter Chat with Don Sturgill @DonSturgill #VCBuzz
• Niche Content Marketing: Twitter Chat with @LindsayGriffith #VCBuzz
• Content Marketing Experiments: Twitter Chat with @JustinPLambert #VCBuzz
• Is Viral Content Marketing Only For “Fun” Niches?
• Advanced Content Marketing Twitter Chat w/ @KathrynAragon #VCBuzz