F#CK! Finally, someone said it — Quality >> Quantity.
Everyone associated with digital marketing has a list of the best marketing books; even Shopify has one!
In 2022, Randy Frisch’s book “F#ck Content Marketing: Focus on Content Experience” has been in the catbird seat and won praise for its bold memo in the B2B content marketing world — just like the Jerry Maguire moment. The author pushes you to broaden your horizon and rethink how you approach B2B content marketing.
Many questioned the book’s integrity because of the title. Does Randy have the statistics to back his argument, or is he just trying to jibe at the competitors?
“Do you run around and swear at everyone in the office?”
“Do you talk to your kids like this?”
“Do you intend to insult the marketers?”
To everyone’s surprise, content marketers or readers keen to learn content marketing breeze through the pages as Frisch’s outlook on the subject keeps hitting the sweet spot. For example, if your marketing strategy relies on whether or not to push more content out, you need a new strategy. Every second of the day, we are exposed to tons of information—half of it is valuable, and the other half is taking a back seat and forgotten like the family’s middle child.
Engaging through experience (in content & marketing)
Content is at the core of every marketing strategy. Obviously! But it does not mean putting ‘X’ pieces of content adds up to ‘Y’ revenue. Good content understands that the reader evolves and thus varies in the customer’s journey. Here’s why:
- The buyer’s permutations and expectations vary at every stage of the customer’s journey. Therefore, creating an immersive content experience is not just a marketer’s role.
- Many of us talk a lot about content, but often we don’t know how to use it. As a result, directionless content can’t drive demand or build a relationship with the customers.
- People think content is just a promotional email or a blog post. No wonder there is a cavity between content experience and customer experience.
Frisch’s book focuses on driving demand, revenue & relationship through content experience in three segments. Each segment has detailed chapters with relevant explanations and renders a holistic approach.
It’s time to inhale experience and exhale sales-qualified leads!
Focusing on excellent content has become overused advice now. Moreover, he states that 70% of the content produced goes to waste. For B2B marketers, content is not sexier; it has a plethora of jargon that targets specific customers within their industry. In contrast, Randy Frisch book prompts marketers to focus on the customer experience. They have become synonymous with an actionable content framework with a defined direction and no-nonsense context.
To quote Randy, “When you create content, you are creating a business asset that can be leveraged.”
He further talks about how to personalise the content experience to scale up and how to commit to content experience.
On personalisation
Personalisation is not “XYZ name, XYZ address and XYZ job title”. Randy intrinsically explains content experience is not Pandora’s box. Instead, it has the potential to be personalised down to “I know what you like or dislike.”
Personalisation in context to marketers
- I know your name
- I know your company
- I know your industry
Personalisation in context to buyers
- The company/product understands how to solve my problem
- They know my name
- They know my job title
Personalisation in context to content experience
- Gain customer’s trust
- It reflects what people care about
- Drive business to growth
B2B marketers rely more on AI and CRM tools and focus less on human interactions. But are they able to curate an environment where the audience feels welcomed? Like Netflix, Spotify and Disney have become the masters of creating a desirable environment where the audience willingly consumes the content in any format. The book uses many relevant examples.
The awakening takeaway is that content should be close to an in-person experience. People come to you looking for answers to specific problems; it will take more than a single content asset to solve them. Forget about converting them immediately! According to Frisch, content marketing is about tactically owning the experience at every stage of the customer journey.
The framework reflects a process with five steps:
- Centralising content
- Organising content
- Personalising content
- Distributing content
- Generating results.
The traditional procedure for content marketing is curating, distributing, and promoting. Frisch unpacks the content experience framework to leverage content in an easy-to-follow language backed by statistics. The framework connects content with key marketing strategies, including inbound, demand generation, account-based marketing, and sales enablement. Are you creating content that gets read and shared?
The book nudges us to ask and answer challenging questions
“How many people came to that piece of content?”
“How many people consumed this asset? And moved on to the next asset or continued to consume the content.”
“Is your content able to render the churn rate?”
Let’s get the mystery out of the way, “Minor personalisation for major results” is the winning mantra of the book. It has become one of the best content marketing books because it goes beyond content creation. The complexity around the subject fades into the background as you flip through the pages. So, are you ready to look at the content through the lens of an immersive experience?
No. of pages: 160 pages.
Reading time: 03 to 04 hours.
Rating: ★★★★✫
Up for a quick read? Read more book reviews here.
