Investing in content marketing is fantastic for your business growth goals. That’s especially the case if you focus on customer-centric content. Publishing valuable resources can help you reach and engage your target audience. And it can be the key to converting customers and ensuring they remain loyal to your business.
But it’s important to note the difference between regular (generic) content and posts you create with your ideal customers in mind. The first category can help boost brand awareness or even conversions. Yet, the second is far more likely to deliver the results you’re after.
Are you aiming for content production and distribution success? If yes, approach the process from a customer-oriented point of view.
This article will give you an overview of the most impactful benefits of creating customer-centric content. Plus, you can use the featured examples to inspire your marketing strategy. That way, you’ll get more bang for your buck and ensure your efforts yield next-level outcomes.
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Improve audience reach and maximize website traffic
According to some of the latest data on consumer behavior, people spend 44% of their waking hours looking at screens. Their preferred activities include watching videos, browsing social media, playing games, or reading. So, to grab their attention, you have to produce such content. But it’s essential to remember that whatever you publish needs to be able to cut through a lot of noise.
Here’s the deal, though. Most brands are upping their production efforts in 2024. Impression’s Marketing Landscape survey discovered that:
- 47% of marketers expect their content marketing budgets to expand this year
- 73% predict that their activity will result in growth
In other words, getting eyeballs on your content means working against an ever-growing number of competitors. And remember, they’ll be trying just as hard as you are to attract and convert customers. That’s why you must explore ways to guarantee your work delivers results.
Creating customer-centric content is a great way to overcome common challenges. And, when done right, it comes with many significant benefits. One of these is the power of user-oriented content to maximize brand awareness.
Focusing on your target audience’s wants and needs improves your brand’s reach. Moreover, producing content that appeals to your ideal customers can get more people to visit your website. And, if you can boost site traffic, you can also use a variety of page optimization strategies to improve conversions.
Featuring customer-centric content won’t instantly make all your posts go viral. That’s a separate process that can take a lot of trial and error. Plus, even then, virality is not guaranteed. Nonetheless, there are various tactics you can try when optimizing posts to appeal to potential customers. They’ll help you expand your brand’s exposure by delivering value and relevance.
Conduct research to identify topics relevant to your audience
To create user-oriented content, you must first identify your target audience’s pain points.
You can do this by:
- Conducting consumer research
- Analyzing available customer data
- Experimenting with social listening
- Monitoring your competitors
What matters is that you arrive at a list of topics you can cover on your company blog and social media channels. Then, start producing exciting content around said topics.
Some of the best examples of customer-centric content come from the beauty industry. That’s because many beauty brands are working to eliminate consumer confusion. Just take a look at the Moroccanoil homepage. It includes a Find Your Perfect Products section featuring a Hair Quiz. This quiz is an excellent example of user-oriented content. It addresses a common pain point — consumers’ confusion about what products to buy. It delivers stellar results. It provides web visitors with personalized shopping recommendations. And it gives them a roadmap for attaining their hair goals. All this increases their chances of success.
Don’t limit your content to awareness-stage buyers
Want to improve audience reach and website traffic with customer-centric content? In that case, ensure that your posts can attract consumers populating any stage of the buyer’s journey.
One of the main oversights content marketers make is thinking that all consumers start their shopping journey from zero. But the fact is, the sales funnel has evolved into a cycle in most industries. And this means many buyers looking for solutions already know what they need. So, their product research won’t start from scratch. Instead, they’ll look at evaluation and purchase stage resources from the beginning of their buying journey.
For this reason, you need to stop limiting your content to a single stage of the buying process. Sure: creating resources that aim to answer a specific set of questions is a great way to drive conversions. But remember that your audience might be ready to jump from one stage to the next with a single touch.
For example, to reach buyers in the consideration stage of the sales funnel, produce posts that fit their requirements. These buyers are evaluating options and trying to find the best solution to their needs. You need to present them with content that makes it easy for them to collect relevant information. Still, remember that they could also be looking to solve a pain point immediately. So, try to optimize your content to help them reach their goals.
For inspiration on how to do this, check out the Zwilling Kitchen Knife Guide. It’s an excellent example of consideration stage customer-centric content. It presents information helpful to buyers in both the mid stages of the funnel. But there’s something that this guide does exceptionally well. It answers specific questions about Zwilling’s line-up and features ecommerce product page links. This simple hack updates the article from a mere consideration-stage piece of content. It creates a conversion-driving resource that speeds up the entire buyer’s journey.
(Image Source: Nothing But Knives)
Use a variety of distribution channels to maximize exposure
Don’t forget that Google isn’t the only place people look for solutions to their pain points.
Recent research from Jungle Scout shows that social media is one of the more popular places for product research. In fact, Amazon and Google outperform only it. So, explore a variety of distribution channels to ensure your content creation pays off. Doing so will help you enrich your content strategy with posts that fit your audience’s needs.
Look at Key One Realty Group’s Top 10 Real Estate Companies In Dubai article for inspiration on how to do this. The resource contains helpful information tailored to the brand’s target audience.
You’ll notice that the brand publishes similar posts on multiple social media platforms. These include LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.
Sure, the distribution strategy may be unconventional for the real estate industry. But the fact is that more and more young people are starting to explore their options for investing in property. So, the brand’s distribution approach isn’t unconventional. It’s smart because it’s perfectly optimized for reaching and converting a larger audience.
Maximize web visitor engagement with customer-centric content
Customer-centric content can help boost website engagement rates.
Research shows people’s attention spans have shrunk over the past few decades. Consumers have little patience for irrelevant web content when searching for information. Most web designers know this.
So, one of your primary web content goals is to make your web visitors absorbed by the posts on your website. That’s how you can maximize their chances of converting. And it’s why you need to tailor your online presence to align with their needs.
With customer-oriented content, you can do this in several ways. For one, always choose the best formats for your strategy. The right format can go a long way in boosting visitors’ willingness to interact with your pages.
Secondly, do your best to improve your site’s technical performance (by focusing on load speed and responsiveness). This will help encourage web visitors to stick around. It’ll also ensure they associate your brand with a pleasant browsing experience.
However, remember that even basic blog posts can allow you to boost engagement rates. Just aim to produce resources that help your audience solve a pain point.
Consider how your audience wants to collect information
Just listen to what your target audience wants. Then, all you need to do is give that to them. Providing solutions to pain points is one of the most effective tactics for creating engaging, customer-centric content.
When it comes to content, research shows that multimedia formats reign supreme.
- According to Wyzowl, 91% of consumers want to see more online videos from brands. (The format is a great way to learn about solutions and inspire purchases).
- 9 out of 10 podcast listeners like the format for its ability to provide entertainment and educational value.
- 80% of people prefer shopping with augmented reality. AR empowers them to make smarter buying decisions.
With this in mind, it’s no surprise that many brands search for ways to make their blog posts more engaging with images, video, audio, and other features.
For example, visuals play a big role in helping readers follow instructions. So, brands like Slack use this knowledge to boost content engagement. The company regularly includes animated GIFs to supplement its product update announcements. And the results of this strategy are impressive. Just check out the New Workflow Builder announcement below. The small change transforms a piece of company news into an engaging, educational post about maximizing Slack tools.
Use your expertise to get consumers to engage with your brand
Customer-centric content doesn’t always have to push the envelope in terms of innovation. Yes, using images and interactive features can boost site engagement. But you can achieve equally impressive results with a different tactic. Simply provide your audience with straight-to-the-point information.
So, if you’re looking to use customer-centricity in a way that’ll help your posts stand out, why not do so by relying on your experience and expertise?
One of the greatest benefits of investing in helpful resources is that it doesn’t need a huge budget. You need expertise and a willingness to share your insights with your prospects. You can establish your brand’s credibility as long as you have that.
You can encourage readers to keep returning to your site for information and solutions. Gentle persuasion can unlock valuable opportunities to nurture them into customers.
For example, look at eTraining’s Slips, Trips, & Falls in the Workplace article. You’ll notice that it’s a short-form blog post outlining the five most common causes of workplace accidents. The article is an excellent example of user-oriented writing. Why? Because it respects its audience’s need for concise information. And, yes, such brevity does come at the cost of detail.
However, the brand’s primary goal is to engage and capture leads. So, they’ve found the right balance between helpfulness and article length. This helps earn prospects’ trust.
Plus, eTraining encourages newsletter sign-ups and offers extended insights through free resources. Subscribing is the next step in the sales funnel. It ensures readers have the highest chance of becoming customers.
(Image Source: eTraintoday Inc.)
Boost conversion rates and improve customer loyalty
Why do brands invest in content marketing? According to Semrush’s State of Content Marketing Report for 2023, most brands want to harness content for its potential to drive website traffic and boost brand awareness. But, if you take a closer look at the survey results, you’ll find that:
- 34% of businesses invest in content to generate leads.
- 25% want to boost sales.
- And 23% wish to increase customer loyalty.
So, when exploring the benefits of creating customer-centric content, remember that tailoring posts to your audience’s needs could significantly improve your bottom line. And not just because a well-written article can help you sell more products.
Use customer-oriented content to create a market for your solutions
One of the advantages of customer-centric educational content is that it allows you to establish a market for your solutions. You can do that even in the top stages of the sales funnel.
According to consumer behavior research, sales pressure often negatively affects purchase intent. That’s particularly true if you’re targeting awareness-stage buyers. So, if you’re trying to use sales-oriented content to boost conversions, you should find a better approach than pressing for a sale.
One excellent option would be to focus on educating consumers. Then, you can gently move them through the sales funnel.
However, there’s a risk with this tactic. Prioritizing value over sales does have a positive effect on conversions. But, not supplementing educational content with commercial product mentions could expose you to the risk of losing customers to your more commercially inclined competitors.
To employ customer-centric content to improve your bottom line, do your best to enhance each post with subtle (and relevant) mentions of your solutions. Product mentions won’t look out of place when done right — like in Digestive Warrior’s Is Bone Broth Making You Sick article. And they might even get web visitors to check out your solutions, allowing you to shorten the sales cycle thanks to a few well-placed internal links.
(Image Source: Digestive Warrior)
Write resources that will enhance brand credibility and trust
Brand credibility plays a tremendous role in deciding whether your target audience is willing to purchase from your brand.
According to Edelman, 81% of consumers consider brand trustworthiness when shopping. And most people seek out reviews before deciding what business to buy from.
With this data in mind, it’s evident that you must use all available resources to enhance brand trust. Customer-centric content could just be the thing you need.
One of the great benefits of investing in customer-oriented resources is that they prove your organization cares about helping customers and not just making sales. You can position your business as a user-first entity by delivering objective and transparent value. And, even when a post doesn’t result in a sale, it’ll boost your brand’s reputation, making it more likely that future web visitors will opt to buy from your business over your competitors.
For a great example of a business producing this type of customer-oriented content, check out the Top 7 Search Fund Investors for SMB Acquisition guide from Smash.vc. Note how the brand boldly presents web visitors with links to some of its competitors. Why? Well, it’s simple. Smash.vc knows that its services can’t be the right fit for all prospects.
Nonetheless, it recognizes the potential for establishing itself as a trustworthy entity in its industry. So, the organization prioritizes customer value over profits instead of trying to win business at any cost. That’s how it builds its trustworthy reputation. And how it makes sure it becomes the number-one choice for high-quality leads whose needs it can successfully meet.
Improve CLV by reducing churn rates
One of the best ways to get the most out of your marketing strategy is to encourage customer loyalty.
Think about it. Each sale you ever make comes at a cost. And the more new customers you convert, the more you’ll spend on acquisition.
However, there’s a smarter way to use your marketing budget. You can effectively offset that cost by getting customers to buy more from your business and maximizing customer lifetime value. One of the best ways to do this is to create customer-centric content that focuses on lowering churn rates.
If you equip customers with valuable information, you can help them get more out of their purchases. That automatically leads to higher customer satisfaction rates. It also lowers their chances of canceling a subscription or opting for one of your competitors’ solutions the next time they make a purchase.
For instance, look at Lanteria’s 5 Quick Tips for Maximizing Your Microsoft HR Mobile Apps post. It’s an excellent example of a post aiming to boost customer loyalty. As a guide for HR specialists, this article ensures that all prospects know how to make the most of the Microsoft ecosystem.
So, why does this work?
Well, Lanteria offers a solution that integrates with Microsoft. By sharing this valuable knowledge, the brand makes sure its potential customers will continue using Microsoft products. And, thanks to lowered churn rates, these customers will continue to use Lanteria’s solutions far into the future.
Reduce the number of customer support requests
Finally, as you explore the benefits of creating customer-centric content, remember that customer service and experience play a huge role in getting people to choose a particular solution.
According to research, consumers are willing to pay 13% more on average for products with a superior customer experience. So, if you can create posts that boost CX, you’ll improve customer satisfaction rates.
This is especially true for posts for the post-purchase stage. That means reducing the number of customer support requests. Your team will then have more time to focus on customer acquisition.
You already have all the info necessary to answer your client’s questions. That’s the great thing about CX-boosting customer-centric content. If you go through your customer support logs, you can identify common questions.
And you can even do further research to see what questions prospects are asking in your industry. Then, you can collect this data and use it to enhance existing web pages.
For a great example of customer-centric content that aims to support buyers, check out the Notion Personal product page. You’ll notice that it includes a Questions & Answers section to answer FAQs. But, even more impressively, this section of the page also includes a link to the brand’s Help Center.
The simple user-oriented choice shows that Notion is a brand ready to deliver a stellar experience. It also empowers all users to get the most out of the software, regardless of their experience.
In closing
Creating customer-centric content comes with huge benefits. Your goals might be to boost reach, maximize engagement, or improve conversions. Either way, rest assured that a user-oriented approach will help you reach them.
To get results, do your best to base your efforts on the strategies and examples covered in this article. They’re great starting points for improving the potential of your website.
Plus, seeing how each allows you to position your brand as user-first, they’re guaranteed to impress your target audience. That’ll make it easier to convert prospects into loyal customers.
