You Don’t Need to Create More Content. You Need This.
Engagement isn’t a myth. You’re just doing it backwards. Real content create conversation and conversation converts into customers.
👋 Hi, I’m Ritika a Customer Marketer and the CMO at By Default. Welcome to the 69th edition - One minute on customer insights.
To the founders who have tried creating content, but because of no conversion quietly want to quit, or who feel like they're stuck in a content hamster wheel: This one's for you 💐.
Every week, I talk to founders who pour hours into content - LinkedIn posts, newsletters, tweets, blogs - hoping to finally attract the right users.
But instead of engagement, they get… No conversions. No DMs. No new users.
🔁 Create content → Post it everywhere → Hope it magically brings customers.
Sound familiar?
But there’s one powerful mindset shift that can change everything:
Stop speaking to everyone. Start speaking to one person.
Let’s simplify:
✨ One person who reads your email.
✨ One person who comments on your post.
✨ One person who replies to your poll.
✨ One person who shows up when you show up.
That person? They're your gold mine. Because they’re giving you a rare gift: insight.
Instead of seeing content as a broadcast to everyone, treat it like a door to real conversations.
And those conversations? That’s where product-market fit hides.
Step-by-Step: Turn Content Into a Customer Discovery Machine
Here’s how to move from “posting and praying” to creating content that starts real, actionable dialogues:
Step 1: Identify your 1–3 engaged people.
Don’t chase virality, look for consistency.
Who always likes your posts?
Who opens your emails?
Who replies to your polls, even occasionally?
👉 Action: DM or email them. Ask:
“I noticed you’ve been following along. Curious, what made this resonate with you?”
Start the conversation.
Step 2: Ask questions in your content.
End a few pieces with a prompt, not just a CTA.
Examples:
“What’s the #1 struggle you’re facing with [your problem]?”
“Have you ever felt like this? DM me, I read every message.”
“How have you been solving this problem? Any tool that’s helping you?”
People engage when they feel seen. Make it easy to respond.
Step 3: Write like you’re talking to one person.
Not an audience. Not a “persona.” A real human.
I’ve been running this newsletter for so long, and a few times, some founders reply to the emails saying they really enjoyed the last post, they find it useful with actionable tips, they feel like they have someone to rely on and more. So, I made sure my content is solving their problem which is also resonated by many other silent readers.
Relatable = Resonant = Response.
Step 4: Follow the trail of resonance.
The best feedback loop? Comments, DMs, and quiet signals (like watch time or email replies).
👉 When someone says “This hit home”, dig deeper.
What words did you use?
What pain point did you touch?
What moment made them nod?
Use that as your new baseline.
Step 5: Celebrate tiny wins.
Stop chasing 1,000 likes. Start tracking conversations.
One DM > 100 impressions.
One user call > 10 new followers.
One reply > 20 likes.
Momentum builds person-by-person, not post-by-post.
Why This Works (Especially If You Don’t Have PMF Yet)
When you’re early-stage and still searching for product-market fit, your biggest currency is insight, not traffic.
You need to understand:
Who actually feels the problem you solve?
What language do they use to describe it?
Where do they already hang out?
And you’ll never find that in the echo chamber of analytics. You find it in conversations.
A founder I advised stopped obsessing over low LinkedIn impressions. Instead, she focused on the three people who consistently liked her posts. She DMed them. Got on Zoom. Discovered they were all content marketers at small B2B startups—not the early adopters she originally thought.
I helped her pivot messaging, refined the product, and signed her first paying customers, all because of three people.
I've created a Notion System that is your low-BS system to track the actual humans engaging with your stuff, figure out what’s landing, and quietly build a GTM strategy that doesn’t suck.⬇️
Don’t build a following.
Build trust.
And trust starts with one real person at a time.
Start there. You’ll be amazed at what follows.
🔥 Let’s build your customer discovery system—one conversation at a time. Reply to this email➡️, I’ll be happy to share how I help founders turn insights into traction.
👀 Random things to keep an eye on
Think twice before you feel like quitting
This `leaked` memo from SiloNova
Thank you for being a consistent reader of this newsletter; it wouldn’t have reached here without your support. 🤗
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