Why Customer Success And Content Marketing Go Hand-in-Hand

Summary:

Have you ever wondered what customer success and content marketing have in common? The answer is simple; it's a lot more than what most realize.

Your content marketing and customer success teams must work hand-in-hand. Your customer success team is in the trenches daily, while your content marketing team creates engaging and valuable content for your customers at every stage of the cycle.

What happens if these two functions work separately?

The result is lost opportunities: Companies are missing out on sales opportunities and opportunities to reduce churn. This blog post will review why customer success and content marketing go hand in hand.

Customer Success and Content Marketing Are Two Company Functions That Must Work Hand-In-Hand

The Customer Success function and Content Marketing are complementary disciplines that must be utilized together to drive positive business outcomes. Content Marketing is a strategy that helps companies engage with their potential customers & current customers. 

In contrast, Customer Success helps companies retain customers by creating best-in-class experiences at every stage of the client's lifecycle. Both functions can support customers on a day-to-day basis.

Let's look at some examples of how these two functions can work together!

First off, content marketing is about creating high-quality content that informs, educates, or entertains your customers (and prospective customers.)

It's also about creating a sense of community and making your audience aware that you are the solution to solve their problems or needs. This is where we create blog posts, use cases, case studies or videos—anything that keeps them coming back, helps them at various stages of the journey, and learn more about you or how to use the products and services they received from your brand.

Customer success, meanwhile, is all about using customer data and feedback to improve the experience of your customers and contribute to their positive experiences.

Information obtained by your customer success team contains crucial insights to help you improve the overall client experience. These insights should also help you identify content needs.

While not always obvious at first glance, all of this information can be valuable when creating client onboarding material, retention strategies and any future marketing material.

It's important to remember that most brands share a wealth of information on their websites for their current customers, not just prospective ones. 

So what if we used content marketing to create educational resources that helped customers better understand the value of our products? What if we made a video explaining why they should choose our product over another? Or you could post a blog article that gives them an idea of what they'll receive from you when they sign up for your service. The sky's the limit. 

The Most Effective Content Marketing Campaigns Focus on Outcomes, Not Features

When you're creating content, you should focus on the outcomes, not the features. In other words, don't just talk about how your product works; instead, showcase the results a customer achieved when they used your product along with the how. But, remember, the outcome is what is desired.

Potential buyers want to know the results, what transformation they will experience, etc. You'll see that this approach is efficient because people are more likely to remember an outcome than a feature.

For example, if you sell a software solution for product sellers, and this software shares search volume predictions for various products, don't just share "how-to" guides; create case studies showcasing client results.

What is the outcome of using your software? In your case studies, you can also share the "how," but remember to share the desired result.

Sharing examples of the outcome clearly shows how your product helps customers achieve their goals.

Here are some examples of content to create to showcase the desired outcome: 

• Video testimonial of your clients sharing life before they purchased your products or services vs. what life is like now. 

• Use cases teaching the how and sharing a few testimonials of various client's experiences. (Outcomes and results)

• Share a case study showcasing the growth or transformation experience by your latest 50-100 customers. 

• Create a guide showcasing how each of your product features helps with various desired outcomes/results. 

Leverage Micro Case Studies to Help Your Content Marketing Efforts

Micro case studies are a great way to show your customers how your product or service can help them. Think of them as “zero-click” testimonials that can be used in any content marketing format—from blog posts to videos.

These stories are often told in video format, but you don't have to create a video for every micro case study. You can also write about one of your customer's stories as an article on your blog or include it within a slide deck for an upcoming webinar presentation.

How to create micro case studies: 

• Survey a specific number of current and past clients. 

• Ask them questions specifics to the outcome and results your solution offers. 

• Ask them specific questions related to your product or service features. 

• Ask them to rate things such as ease of use, their experience as a customer, certain features etc. 

• Ask current customers if they will use certain new features and why. 

• Gather the data and make this available on your website as a case study and repurpose it as other content forms such as social media content, graphics, videos, short-form videos etc. 

• You set the rule for a micro case study, feel free to survey 50-100 current and past customers or even less if needed. 

• You can also create a recurring content series with your micro case study, addressing 1-2 points per video or blog post from your case study results. 

• You can use tools such as Stencil or Google Slides to put together your micro case study. 

Create a Customer Story Based Around a Framework of Best Practices

You can use customer stories to help you create content that makes your customers happier and more engaged. Customer stories are an excellent way to engage with prospects and customers, whether you're trying to sell them a product or generate leads from your website and social media.

If done correctly, they'll help you build credibility and trust with the people who matter most—your readers.

This framework should be unique to your business. For example, if you've created a specific methodology in your business that you use in your client journey, here's what you'll do…

• Write down each point or steps in your unique methodology and what current customers are experiencing at each stage of your methodology. 

• Create an infographic showcasing these different stages and outcomes. Be sure to highlight some typical results obtained at each stage. 

• To present your case, you can even add some statistics from a micro case study, as covered in the point above. 

Showcasing your unique framework and methodology will allow you to stand out as a business.

Instead of considering these two teams as separate entities, it would be more efficient to examine how these two functions work together to engage customers throughout their journey. Separate entities can and should work together. 

When it comes to content marketing and customer success, several common key benefits have been identified:

• Improved engagement with customers through better insights into their needs, interests, and preferences

• Increased customer retention rates

• Better product adoption rates

• Increased lifetime value rates

• Increased referrals

• Increased user experience

Customers who have a positive experience with your products and services are more likely to become brand ambassadors and upgrade their products and services, which will in turn increase their lifetime value.

That's why content marketing is so crucial for every company that wants to stand out.

Content helps companies build trust and educate their audience, leading to increased sales conversions over time and higher customer retention rates over time.

Customer Success and Content Marketing professionals, combined, form this unique knowledge-force that will help your brand propel forward. Of course, the more inter-department collaboration you have within your company the better as everyone is working towards a common goal. 

These two functions work hand-in-hand because they both contribute towards building a better brand image overall while also helping each other get their message across through different mediums such as blogs, social media posts, internal communications, customer surveys, onboarding process documentations and more.