Content as a retention strategy | TDSU Ep. 27

being a part of the conversation.

In a world where

it's all different media, but it's a conversation, right? Whether it's 60 seconds long on TikTok, or it's long form on YouTube, or it's the written word in newsletters or on LinkedIn, it is a conversation.

And if you are not a part of that, you might as well not exist.

You guys ready? Fantastic. What's up Lifers and welcome

to The Daily Standup with Lifetime Value where we're giving you fresh, new perspectives on customer success every single day.

I've got my man Rob here. Rob, do you want to say hi? 

What's up Lifers? 

And JP's here.

JP, do you want to say hi?

Hello,

Do you want to finish that?

Keep going. 

is it me you're looking for? 

It is. Thanks. And Jared's here.

Jared, do you want to say hi?

What's going on, everybody?

And I am your host. My name is

Dillon Young. Jared, thank you so much for being here. Would you please introduce yourself?

Absolutely. So I'm Jared. I have been in customer success since 2018. As a CSM, worked in social media, marketing, managed services, B2B, SaaS, I've done a lot. And I-- had my own podcast for a while where I interviewed customer success leaders. I prefer to be the interviewee than the interviewer.

So I'm super excited to be here. 

You're welcome. You're welcome. I need to know why you, am I-- maybe I need to rethink

what I'm doing, but

anyway,

we, we can take that offline.

Jared, you know what we're doing here. We ask you a single question.

We want to know what's on your mind when it comes to customer success. 

A lot is on my mind. I was laid off last year with so many other people. JP was one of those people as well.

And when I was laid off and realized how terrible the job market was, I'm like, "I need to do something. I need to make some money or just do something to keep my sanity while I look for a job."

So I decided to start a copywriting business for software companies because I honestly think there are--

Way too many software companies don't really understand the value of consistent customer focused content and the power that

has on attracting and retaining quality customers. So that's what I'm out to do.

So that's what I want to talk about is

content and customer marketing within the SaaS realm. 

Real quick. What's the name of your company? I know this, but let's get it on wax. 

Sure. It's Sharp Brand Copywriting. 

And what's the website?

sharpbrandcopy.com

Tell me more about, how you came about this idea.

Was it an experience

you had or, just lay it out for us.

Well, I started blogging on LinkedIn. Well, sorry, I started writing on LinkedIn and blogging about customer success back in 2020.

So writing online wasn't really a new thing to me. I felt like I was pretty good at it. And it's funny, a few months before my layoff, I started reaching out to some people that own software businesses, or were well known in the customer success space and ask, "Hey, do you mind if I do some writing for you?

Can I write some blogs? Can I do some emails? Can I write whatever you need?" Totally free. I was just

trying to expand my expertise.

And then a few months later, I get laid off. I'm like, "Well, maybe I should keep leaning into this and see what comes of it."

Interesting. Why do you think companies don't understand the value? That's not a challenging question. I'm asking, like, tell me more about your perspective about that.

Maybe it's less of...

it's not like they don't really understand it. It's more of they don't have the time or the bandwidth because they're so focused on important things like sales and revenue and taking care of their current customers. So I get that. And I understand that, but I think with customer success moving from a less reactive profession and more of a proactive profession.

I think that companies need to understand that a huge part of being proactive with attracting and retaining customers is putting out that consistent content. Be it blog posts, podcasts, webinars, videos, email nurture campaigns, eBooks, those kinds of resources. All of those things play into retaining your customers and educating your customers and even, heck, entertaining your customers.

And all of that plays into making them your long term customers.

And it all really comes down to having a content strategy. And most companies don't really know what that is.

Most creators don't know what a content strategy is. So it's about having a content strategy, figuring out what content works for your customers and what their pain points are, and, creating content in regards to all of that, which is a lot to do.

Yeah. I think I would, boil that down. Not that your description wasn't good, but what I started to think about is always being a part of the conversation.

In a world where

it's all different media, but it's a conversation, right? Whether it's 60 seconds long on TikTok, or it's long form on YouTube, or it's the written word in newsletters or on LinkedIn, it is a conversation.

And if you are not a part of that, you might as well not exist.

And that's really what copywriting is. it's about joining the conversation that's going on in your customers heads and also verbally amongst themselves, that is what quality copywriting does. It helps you join those conversations.

JP, I saw you smirking at me when he was talking about creators don't have a strategy.

That wasn't a knock on you, Dillon. 

It was... 

[jibber jabber] 

You know, I'm a smiley guy.

My quick thoughts are whenever someone talks about content strategy, I often think about the giant that is

Apple. And how...

they've done something that's incredible, which is, I don't know if they,

we could talk about like the merits of their product

and how that performs against everything,

but there's, they've created not just a community, but

a culture.

There's a culture around Apple products,

right? Like nowadays, somebody might not think I have no rizz cause I got an Android.

I don't care because I've actually, I, you know, I've got charisma. I don't need rizz. I've got the whole thing, baby. You know what I mean? So anyways I think that a lot of companies whenever I hear about messaging and marketing, I often think about,

you know, what is it toward?

And I see that we also have this one to many or many to many strategy that's also happening in like customer success. And I feel like everything is really pointing towards the same thing, which is being able to like, create a culture around your product and the customers.

Because you want to talk about-- we had a guest who was on talking about being a sticky.

I mean, that's the ultimate sticky is when you're part of a community that's using the product and you're all participating, you're exchanging information, it just creates a better experience. Of course, creating it is the difficult part. Part of that is I think somewhat organic, but like you said, Jared, I think that if you, have a great content strategy, it is toward the aim of ultimately creating that culture.

Rob, your thoughts?

So the modern Rizzler has spoken. So I actually like one thing JP said a lot around creating a culture around a product. Well, that's the one highlight I would say in particular that stood out to me. I think one of the challenges-- so I've been in these conversations with CEOs before and to answer your question Dillon around why C level people often have a hard time wrapping their head around the value of this kind of thing...

It actually makes me think of a conversation I was having yesterday. I have a friend who has a documentary company and he does video case studies, video testimonials, for companies that are looking for certain improvements in real metrics,

so the conversation we were having, I asked him, I was like, "David, what's your strategy?"

He's like, "Storytelling."

I was like,

"Okay, well, how do you convey that in a way that it speaks to the minds and the hearts of a CEO?"

And we evolved the conversation to say: 

reduce customer acquisition costs, increased sales velocity, increased retention and various other metrics

 that you can see on a spreadsheet.

So basically being able to take the creative side of these domains like documentaries and copywriting

and to turn them into metrics that you can see on a spreadsheet, I think that helps bridge the gap and

it gives these really important topics, copywriting is such an important topic, and it gives these topics more of a voice and a seat at the executive table in a way that they might not otherwise.

Jared, do you have any final thoughts?

Yeah, so I, just to piggyback off what Rob said, I actually just wrote a LinkedIn article called basically like, 

"What brands can learn from Taylor Swift's rise to stardom." 

And it's all about her ability to tell stories in her songs. I think that is probably the number one reason why she has become so famous is through her storytelling.

She's very talented. Don't get me wrong. But yeah, just storytelling is if you're telling stories with your content, with your copy, then amazing things will happen for your business guaranteed. 

As long as the stories you want to hear are about a billionaire jilted blonde woman.

Who takes her private jet to get coffee. Yeah.

Yes. Yes. Takes it from Nashville to Kansas City, 15 times a year. Yeah, as long as you're okay with that. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Yes, no, I think it's a great, 

It's a great analogy. It just so happens, Jared, that literally 20 minutes ago, JP and I were trashing Taylor Swift. 

Oh, okay.

I'm not a Swiftie, but like, I like her, but you know I just...

We don't think 

she has any rizz. 

Edit that out. I want no Swifties coming 

We don't talk politics or Taylor Swift on this show. 

 Religion?

Fine. No politics, no Taylor Swift.

Sounds good. like that rule. 

No. I appreciate it, Jared. Awesome topic. Really, one that we don't hear a ton. I mean, we hear strategy all day, every day. But I do believe that the way we tell stories and the way we engage with our customers on a regular basis and through multiple channels is extremely important.

So thank you so much, Jared. Until next time, we've got to say goodbye.

Sounds good. Thanks. Thanks for having me on guys. I appreciate it.

Thanks for coming on.