Brand-Centric vs Customer-Centric Content

Imagine you’re at a party. You meet two types of people – the ones who only talk about themselves, and those who make you feel like the centre of conversation. When you think about business in this light, if you think about brand trying to captivate your audience, which approach would, or should you take?

Digital marketing often boils down to deciphering the eternal riddle – “What is King?” Is it the brand narrative that sways the audience or the subtle customer dialogue that resonates with them? Undoubtedly, content has claimed the throne, yet the kingdom remains divided into two distinct territories – brand-centric content and customer-centric content.

However, to look at this complex landscape solely through the lens of content would be a simplification. Enter the concept of ‘Context’. It represents the environment or backdrop against which your content is delivered. It adds relevancy to what you are saying.  

Brand-centric content might showcase your company’s vision, mission, and unique selling proposition, while customer-centric content may appeal to the consumer’s emotions, preferences, and needs. Yet, without the right context, even the most compelling narrative can fall flat. 

To truly engage with your audience, your brand narrative needs to fit the context of their lives – their challenges, their aspirations, their daily realities. Similarly, your customer dialogue needs to echo within the context of their experience with your brand. When content is served with context, it becomes more relatable, more compelling, and essentially, more human.

So, the true challenge lies in decoding the type of content that deserves to wear the crown. It isn’t just any content; it’s content that sparks riveting conversations, captures unwavering attention, and persuades customers to take meaningful actions.

The puzzle pieces will begin to fall into place as we dig deeper into the dichotomy between two central types of content.

Defining Brand-Centric vs. Customer-Centric

 

Let’s begin by understanding what brand-centric content entails. Look at it as your brand’s autobiography. It revolves around your brand’s journey, its vision, its offerings, and its unique selling proposition. It’s all about how your brand perceives itself and then the image it wishes to project to the world.

A case in point is Apple’s iconic “Think Different” campaign, where they celebrated the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in square holes – those who see things differently. It was a campaign that resonated with Apple’s core brand ethos of innovation and disruption.

Another example is SpaceX. Its story orbits around the audacious vision of making life multi-planetary. It make the company stand out as a force of ambition and innovation, and it also appeals to those who share this vision of the future. That’s brand-centric storytelling at its best.

In contrast, customer-centric content is about understanding the customer. It prioritizes their needs and desires, tackling their challenges, and providing relevant solutions. It’s not about convincing them to sign up for a newsletter or make a purchase. Instead, it’s about creating value for them, addressing their pain points with compelling narratives that reflect their reality. The focus here is not just to inspire action but to build trust and a lasting relationship, making your brand a partner in their journey.

Let’s talk about HubSpot. What sets HubSpot apart is its commitment to educating marketers and providing them with the tools they need to succeed in an increasingly complex digital landscape. Their website is packed full of resources: a marketing blog boasting a plethora of articles on every conceivable marketing topic, detailed “How To” guides, and free courses on their HubSpot Academy. Even their software product is designed to make the marketer’s life easier, integrating various tools (like SEO, content management, and social media management) into one platform.

But they don’t just speak “at” their customers, they engage them in conversation. Through active social media presence, open dialogue in comments and discussion sections, and responsive customer support, they make sure their users feel heard and valued. This approach is both customer and brand-centric: while it helps their customers, it also fuels HubSpot’s reputation as a caring, customer-focused brand.

Also consider Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign from 2014. Instead of just weaving a brand-centric narrative, Coca-Cola pivoted to a customer-centric strategy by printing popular names on their bottles. The idea was to make consumers feel seen, recognized, and part of the Coke story, leading them to “Share a Coke” with their loved ones. According to Coca-Cola Hellenic, the world’s third-largest Coca-Cola anchor bottler, this switch to a customer-centric narrative led to a 2% increase in soft-drink sales. It validated the effectiveness of a customer-first approach.

The Mirage of “A Great Brand Story Is Enough” 

Now, here’s where things get a tad tricky. There’s a common fallacy in digital marketing – the belief that a compelling brand story is all it takes to captivate customers and drive conversions. However, in reality, this is more of a mirage than the oasis many people want it to be. 

Why? Because this argument assumes that customers see your brand exactly as you do. It presumes that your brand’s perception of itself aligns perfectly with your customer’s perception of your brand. But if we glance at market research and customer behavior studies, we know that’s far from the truth. 

Customers hail from different backgrounds, have varying levels of familiarity with your product, and perceive value differently. Therefore, a brand story that resonates with one group of customers might not strike a chord with another. This variance underscores the need to shift the focus from the brand to the customers.

How to Shift to a Customer-Centric Narrative: 3 Tips

Changing lanes from a brand-centric to a customer-centric narrative is not a spontaneous maneuver; it calls for conscious and deliberate effort. It requires marketers to let go of brand biases, put audience needs at the forefront, and speak the language that resonates with our customers.

 

 

1. Taming Your Brand Bia

Brand bias often infiltrates our content in the form of excessive emphasis on our brand’s features, complex industry jargon, or an elaborate brand history that might not resonate with the average customer.

 However, adept content creators know how to keep this bias in check. They focus on what’s truly important to the customer, not  just what the brand thinks is important.

2. Putting Your Audience Above

Crafting customer-centric content means flipping the narrative. Instead of starting with your brand and what you offer, start with your audience and what they need. 

For instance, if you’re marketing a fitness app, don’t start with the app’s features. Instead, begin with how it can help users meet their health goals. This shift from what you offer to what your customers get can significantly enhance your content’s resonance. Going a step further and understanding whether they are motivated by moving towards something (“You’re just 3kg away from your goal weight”), or away from something (“You’ve already lost 4 kg’s!”) will further increase your communication.  

A brand that uses this approach is Headspace, a mindfulness app. Rather than highlighting the app’s features, they focus on the benefits of mindfulness, demonstrating how using Headspace can reduce stress, enhance focus, and promote better sleep.

3. Speaking Your Customers’ Language

The final piece of the puzzle in creating customer-centric content is to articulate your ideas in a language that resonates with your audience. This involves using simple, relatable language that’s devoid of industry jargon or complex terms. 

Online eyewear retailer Warby Parker is renowned for its customer-centric approach. They avoid technical language when describing their glasses and use simple, clear language instead. This approach ensures customers fully understand what they’re buying and the value it provides.

Outsmarting the Subtle Self-Centeredness of Content Marketing

At times, content marketing can inadvertently transform into a monologue that reflects more of the brand’s voice than that of the customer. This subtle self-centeredness can be detrimental as it deviates from the core objective of content marketing – engaging and persuading the customer. 

In the end, while “Content is King” is an adage that holds, it’s important to remember that the real king is content that not only speaks to your customers but listens to them too. It understands their language and persuades them to take action. As digital marketers, it’s our responsibility to regularly examine our content and ensure it serves our customers as much as it serves our brand.