Nadya Khoja, Head of Content & Organic Growth at Sunnyside talks about how content plays a huge role in driving better engagement.
A strong organic strategy, means more visitors who you can narrow in on who already know your brand or are interested in the topics you’re covering.
1. As the head of content, could you tell us more about your role and how you go about building a revenue-focused content strategy?
At Sunnyside my role is to help the company scale acquisition via content and organic traffic growth. So it’s very much a content and SEO role. Much like a growth marketer or acquisition marketer would, I look at the funnel and try to understand what type of language, keywords, Type to enter text content categories etc, are impacting the more direct conversion points. Since Sunnyside is in the D2C space, much of the initial focus is owning the categories we are trying to position ourselves as, and then using top of funnel content and traffic to drive more attention to that category. For instance, we consider ourselves the go to resource for mindful drinking, and so a lot of the content strategy revolves around being visible for that and educating people on the subject.
2. How crucial is an ICP from a content standpoint?
It is important but I think it depends on the business model and channel. For Sunnyside, since it’s very consumer driven, a lot of the top of funnel content we develop is highly intent based. It’s not always going to be specific to an ICP, but with our paid strategy, we definitely get very specific with our targeting.
3. What are some of your favorite tips for choosing the right keywords for SEO?
I think keyword research is important to diversify. I would suggest varying across high volume, medium and long-tail keywords. It really all depends on your goals and your strategy. But researching for every stage of the funnel and really understanding how your audience researches before making a decision is crucial. Start with customer research, and use that to guide your keyword decision making.
4. Content plays a huge role in the success of inbound marketing. But do you think it alone can drive results, or your inbound strategy shouldn’t be limited to content?
This is a tricky question since consumer behaviour changes often. If organic search was your only strategy during COVID for instance, you might not have seen the value. Having a balance between understanding evergreen and trending topics, and knowing where your audience lives is the most important. Inbound is great if you’re either confident in a long lifecycle and have the resources to educate and nurture an audience, whereas paid might work better to get direct impact faster. Either you’re sacrificing time, cost or effort. You can’t have all working perfectly, so choose what you’re comfortable with foregoing.
5. How can interactive content spark conversations and drive better engagement?
I think interactive content combined with a good angle and narrative can work well. Like everything it depends on the execution and the topic and audience. Again, it depends on your goal. If you want traffic, you have to accept that content might not always convert or generate leads. If you want qualified leads, you need to be ok with lower volume. The method is important, but it needs to be paired with the right outlet and right angle.
6. Ad spending on social media is constantly increasing. Why does organic growth complement the paid strategy?
I always tell clients and marketers that paid works best when you know who you are targeting and have a bigger and more qualified audience to retarget. The reality is paid will always require you to spend more to get more. If you have a good audience to retarget, you can lower cost and improve efficiency.
A strong organic strategy, means more visitors who you can narrow in on who already know your brand or are interested in the topics you’re covering.
And it goes both ways. But it’s important to focus and measure. Without tracking what you’re doing, you’ll never know what’s working.
7. Video consumption is at an all-time high. What content advice would you give to marketers using videos to boost conversions?
At the end of the day, content is a form of education and entertainment. It doesn’t matter what the format is. What works on once channel well, will likely work well on other channels. It comes down to the message and the story you are telling, and adding that element of engagement people want. If TikTok is what your investors are saying is the place to focus on, just making a tiktok account and selling your product likely won’t work. Reverse engineer what the most successful brands are doing, and find a way to use that formula to tell your own story. Video is a way people consume information and educate themselves. If you’re not overselling and approaching it with the goal of actually making something interesting that helps your audience, chances are it will perform better. My rule of thumb is always that if I’m bored writing/ producing a piece of content, someone will be bored reading it.
8. How would you define a growth marketer?
Simple. Someone who uses data to ask compelling questions. Someone curious who can see gaps in a category. Someone who is creative enough to leverage that data to tell a story. And someone who can execute quickly and effectively to drive revenue.
9. You did a six-year stint at Venngage. How was the journey? What were your major takeaways?
This is a loaded question. I can’t share everything but in a few words; patience, humility, grit, independence and a hard exterior go a long way. Also hiring for energy and hustle and curiosity will always go farther than a long resume.
10. Where do your passions lie? What do you think defines you as a person?
Entertaining. I love seeing other people enjoy something I created. I can never sell or work on something I don’t whole-heartedly believe in. I love meeting new people and hearing their stories, especially if they are passionate too. It’s energizing and fulfilling
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Nadya Khoja is the Head of Content at Sunnyside. She has been featured in Forbes, CBC, Wall Street Journal, and many other notable publications. She has spoken worldwide, educating various business leaders about building and executing scalable marketing strategies.
Sunnyside (formerly Cutback Coach) is a system for creating a more mindful approach to drinking to help you reach your goals. Our members are seeing major benefits, including a reduction in weekly drinks, improved sleep, a healthier diet, money saved, and an overall improved sense of well-being.