Off the Page with Amy Lecza

In her Off the Page interview, Amy Lecza, head of content marketing at G2, praises the often- underused tactic of integrating product-driven data into content marketing efforts, and advocates for a new, slightly contrarian movement in content marketing—“slow content.”

MEET AMY LECZA

Amy Lecza is the head of content marketing at G2, where she works alongside a team of writers, editors, SEOs, and marketers to deliver content that helps people choose the best software and services for their businesses.

Like most talented content marketers, Amy got her start in journalism and also dabbled in public relations. Prior to joining G2, she spent several years in the agency world, developing content marketing campaigns and strategies for franchise businesses across the world.

The common thread throughout much of her career—writing.

“I'm passionate about the way strong writing can impact the world, from helping small businesses thrive, to assisting customers in making big decisions about game-changing software, to simply reading an article that brings a new perspective to everyday life.”

TELL ME ABOUT A RECENT PIECE OF CONTENT THAT MADE YOU JEALOUS.

I love the Ahrefs blog. They have such an interesting way of using their own data in actionable ways.

They recently published a piece on meta keywords that I found really insightful because the examples are fantastic and data-heavy, without being too promotional of their own product.

WHAT CONTENT MARKETING SKILL OR TOOL ARE YOU LEARNING THIS YEAR?

Quantitatively, I'm learning more about APIs, specifically the Semrush API. Any way that I can get better data about our content is worth learning, in my opinion!

Building a solid foundation of top-of-funnel blog posts means that your team will have the ability to innovate and experiment while the "content machine" runs in the background, bringing in the traffic you need to quantify your team's efforts.

Qualitatively, I'm hoping to improve my ability to create a healthier work-life balance. With the switch to working remotely, I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling like the split between work time and non-work time is more tenuous than ever. This year, I'm being more intentional about creating strong boundaries, spending time doing non-work activities that fulfill me, and encouraging my team to do the same.

WHICH OTHER BRAND’S CONTENT DO YOU ADMIRE MOST?

There are so many, for lots of different reasons.

For SEO-driven content, Ahrefs, Semrush, Smart Insights, Moz.

I'm an advocate of slow content.

For non-SEO-focused content, I'm really impressed by how B2C brands use content in completely different ways than us in the SaaS world. For example, the Universal Standard fashion brand has some of the best email marketing and social media content out there.

IF YOU COULD RECOMMEND ONE BOOK TO EVERY CONTENT MARKETER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

I loved Radical Candor by Kim Scott.

There's still a surprising lack of leadership books written by women, and this is one of the best out there. It's great for leaders as well as those earlier in their careers—I learned so much from this book.

I also recommend Untamed by Glennon Doyle as a meaningful read. Though not specifically marketing focused, it's impossible to finish this book without giving your priorities a good, hard look and wanting to shake things up a bit.

WHICH INDIVIDUAL OR ORGANIZATION WOULD YOU LOVE TO COLLABORATE WITH ON A CONTENT PROJECT?

Ahrefs.

Both our brand and theirs gather an incredible amount of data, and I'd love to see what we could do together.

WHAT DON’T NON-CONTENT MARKETERS UNDERSTAND ABOUT CONTENT?

Content marketing takes time to be effective.

Yes, there are short-term benefits, but for most effective content, you're playing the long game.

Our most significant traffic doesn't show up for four to six months. Also, traffic isn't the only metric that can and should matter when it comes to measuring content marketing. It's a mistake to apply broad strokes.

WHAT PART OF THE CONTENT-MARKETING WORKFLOW DO YOU WISH WENT FASTER?

If I had to change one thing, I wish that keyword mapping went a little quicker—it can be tedious.

But overall, I'm comfortable with the speed at which our content workflows run. Rushing good content turns up subpar results.

For most effective content, you're playing the long game.

I'm an advocate of slow content—giving writers ample time to create, getting lots of eyes on the writing through various review steps, and then making sure it looks and feels good on the page.

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST UNDERRATED TYPE OF CONTENT?

Top-of-funnel educational blog posts.

"Content" means something different to everyone, but building a solid foundation of top-of-funnel blog posts means that your team will have the ability to innovate and experiment while the "content machine" runs in the background, bringing in the traffic you need to quantify your team's efforts.

WHAT TYPE OF CONTENT MARKETING DO YOU SECRETLY HOPE GOES EXTINCT SOON?

Ebooks.

I've never met a sexy ebook. Good content should change often—we're constantly refining our content, bringing it up to new standards, and refreshing it in a variety of ways. An ebook is just so....stagnant.

WHICH CONTENT MARKETING TALENT WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO HAVE?

Data visualization, for sure.

I can tell when something looks good or bad on the page, but I wish I had a stronger sense of “the why” behind it. Storytelling through data is a skill I'm still working on!

WHAT IS YOUR MOST TREASURED CONTENT MARKETING TOOL?

The AP Stylebook. Anyone who knows me knows this to be true!

WHAT DO YOU MOST VALUE IN YOUR TEAMMATES?

I learn so much from my teammates every single day. I value their solutions-oriented mindset—it's one thing to raise an issue, but proposing a solution helps everyone and reiterates a connection to collective ownership.

WHEN YOU HANG UP YOUR CONTENT-MARKETING HAT(S), WHAT ONE WORD DO YOU HOPE COLLEAGUES AND CLIENTS WILL USE TO DESCRIBE YOU?

Advocate.

I aim to be a strong advocate for my team, both for them as individuals in their career journeys and for the value of content marketing throughout the company and industry.