Lauren Lang, Senior Content Marketing Manager, Constructor.io
Lauren Lang is a brand and content strategist based in Boulder, Colorado. A former copywriter and college writing instructor, Lauren helps B2B SaaS and tech companies communicate authentically with their users and build long-lasting customer relationships.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
I've been actively engaged on LinkedIn for the past year, and it's been the single greatest investment I could have made in my professional development and my business. I've been able to build meaningful professional relationships on the platform, and I've learned a lot from other content creators there. Plus, the discipline of creating content every day has really helped me hone in on my areas of expertise and find what resonates with potential clients.
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
I just began a new role as Senior Content Marketing Manager at Constructor.io, where I’m helping build the future of AI-backed product search and discovery for e-commerce companies. It’s such an interesting field to be in right now, especially as companies will no longer have the same means to track consumers across websites with privacy coming to the forefront. This is cutting-edge technology that allows companies to serve users better without invasive measures, which is a really ambitious and exciting mission.
I’ve also been an independent content strategy consultant since 2015. I work with marketing leadership to develop actionable plans and processes for content creation and distribution. I also consult with fellow writers and marketers in the industry on content marketing best practices and skill development.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
I love many things about tech culture: the constant iteration, the focus on solving user problems, and the idealism that complex problems can be solved through code. However, communicating technical solutions to non-technical audiences is a challenge. It requires a lot of research, a lot of empathy, a lot of data, and a lot of creativity.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
In one of my previous lives, I was a college writing instructor, and at one point, I was struggling with the lack of opportunities for me to advance in my career without a PhD. I liked teaching, but I was torn; I was paying the babysitter more than I was bringing in, and I didn't know what to do next. Finally, my friend and colleague at the time said, "You know, there's more than one way to make a life."
It was exactly what I needed to hear, and I've pivoted several times in my career since then. It's freeing and empowering to know that you don't have to follow the prescripted path just because it's there. I've found time and time again that there are no wasted experiences in life. The experience I've had in previous careers has made me a better marketer and a better consultant today, and though my road has been more meandering than most, I've come to view that as an advantage.
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
I have strong family support from my spouse and daughter, and those mean everything. As a result, I stand much taller and feel safe taking risks knowing they'll have my back. But I've also reached midlife, and there comes the point where you realize that the days, hours, minutes are flying by a lot faster than they used to.
So, I'm also motivated by what I still want to accomplish personally and professionally, and I'm finally finding some progress by breaking big goals into baby steps and taking those steps every day.
Have you ever heard that saying, "Be the type of person who, when she rises in the morning, the devil says, 'Oh crap, she's up!"? I feel like that person these days, and I have to say it feels pretty good.
What are you proud of in your life so far?
I've had my fair share of medical challenges in life. First, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was a toddler. Then four years ago, I was diagnosed with moyamoya, which is a rare, progressive neurovascular disease that required brain surgery. After the surgery, I had some pretty serious complications, including a stroke that necessitated speech therapy, so I could regain my processing speed, e.g. my rapier wit.
When words are your bread and butter, having your mental faculties threatened is especially scary. I'm proud that I've been able to live with both of them in a way that I will not allow them to define me or what I'm able to take on. Diabetes helped me have empathy as a child for other people who felt left out. It also inspired me to take up CrossFit about five years ago, so I could stay in better physical health.
Fighting back from the brain stuff helped me put everything in perspective, so I was able to scale my consulting business. Of course, I would trade both of these illnesses in a second - who wouldn't? - but I'm also a better person for having gone through them. Iron sharpens iron, as they say.
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
I do love LinkedIn as the messaging back-and-forth doesn't put my inner introvert on the spot. I started dating my spouse on AOL Instant Messenger back in the day, even though we'd met each other in person. So while there's no substitute for IRL, I'm also firmly convinced that great relationships can happen asynchronously. It's part of my deep-seated optimism and faith in tech.
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
As much as I love to lament about the humanities (English) degree and wish I would have majored in business or something, all the time I spent reading fiction has been invaluable to my life as a marketer. In addition, scientific research has shown that people who read fiction show more empathy to other humans.
In marketing, so much of my work relies on a deep understanding of a target audience and having the empathy there to help me listen and understand gives me a competitive advantage. I also think my teaching experience has helped. Content marketing is primarily education, so being able to explain concepts in terms that people can understand is essential.
I have the dubious privilege of knowing what it's like when a lesson completely bombs, which makes it a little easier to course-correct and pivot in real-time in my current career.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
This question reminds me of a quote from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams:
"You know," said Arthur, "it's at times like this when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young."
"Why, what did she tell you?"
"I don't know; I didn't listen."
This is to say that I honestly think that "knowing" more when I started out wouldn't have meant much. I wasn't listening anyway because I wasn't in a place to receive. We only learn by walking the path ourselves.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?
There are so many people who I admire that I'm afraid I'll leave someone out! Of course, I've had great bosses, great teachers, and great colleagues and contacts that I've accumulated throughout different stages of my career. But in general, the people I admire most are the ones who are generous with their time and expertise.
Being smart is one thing, but the people who have taken the time to help educate me and empower me to grow in my career are the people I admire most. I think that's one reason why I went into teaching and now "teach" others through content.
Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
I'm a proud member of the CrossFit cult (but I promise not to talk about it too much!). I live in beautiful Boulder, Colorado, where we have mountains and rainbows and hot air balloons galore, so I love hiking and spending time outside. I'm also a textile crafter - I sew, quilt, and knit when I have time, which is not often, but it's something I like to do as a creative outlet.
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?
I was laid-off from a full-time role I'd just started in March 2020. So, I made a quilt and volunteered by doing some free marketing to support local businesses that were impacted by the pandemic. And then, I started taking clients again in the fall once things began to pick up a bit in B2B and other businesses were finding ways to adapt. It really highlighted how important it was to me to own my own business and drive my own bus.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?
I've had several bosses and teachers who have helped me along the way, as long as several career coaches. Still, I've never had an official mentor or mentored anyone in an official capacity.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
Start creating content yesterday! Don't underestimate the opportunity that will come from sharing your expertise and showing potential clients who you are, what you do, and why.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
Progress isn't as sexy as it looks in the "Flashdance" training montages. Most of it is putting in the work and waiting.... trusting, but not knowing for sure if your efforts are going to pay off. Unfortunately, we're so conditioned to expect instant gratification that we think things that take a long time aren't worth the effort.
That's wrong, of course, but it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between the sustained effort that leads to progress and just a waste of time. And I think a lot more people are programmed to think every effort is the latter.
Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?
"The trouble is, you think you have time." - Buddha.
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?
My world is B2B tech, and there are so many that are getting it right! For example, Ahrefs is killing their content marketing these days. On the other hand, Metadata.io recently published a great piece about why their product might not be right for customers, and this sort of radical candour to customers was delightful and really strategically smart.
There are a lot of other companies that are really tapping into Jobs to Be Done research and going deep to understand their users, and that research shows in their ability to publish empathetic, relevant content that their audience needs to move forward.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?
For me, success is feeling valued and making an impact. There are so many different ways we measure it quantitatively - ROI, number of customers, NPS scores, revenue, etc. But it's really only successful if I feel like I've made a difference and made even just my little slice of the world better for someone else. Ideally, it's both.