About Optimist

We Help Marketing Leaders Align Content to the New Buying Landscape

Optimist is a full-service content marketing agency that offers consulting, advisory, and execution for B2B technology companies.

We help marketing leaders reset, realign, and transform their content programs to drive pipeline and revenue in the new buying reality.

We exist for teams facing uncomfortable but urgent questions:

  • Why is organic traffic down?

  • Why is content output high but pipeline impact unclear?

  • Why are buying journeys harder to influence?

  • How does AI change discovery, evaluation, and trust?

  • What replaces the old SEO playbook?

We help answer those questions — then build and execute the strategy that follows.

We are a consulting and execution firm that designs content systems around modern buyer behavior, integrated organic visibility, and commercial outcomes.

The Landscape Has Changed

B2B content marketing is undergoing structural shifts:

  • Search behavior is moving from traditional SEO to SEO + GEO — integrated visibility across search engines and generative AI systems.

  • Buyers self-educate more deeply before engaging sales.

  • Content saturation has reduced the marginal impact of volume-based strategies.

  • Marketing teams are under pressure to prove pipeline contribution.

Old playbooks optimized for rankings and output are no longer sufficient.

Marketing leaders now need to rethink strategy, re-architect operations, and re-align content to revenue influence.

That is the work we do at Optimist.

What We Do

Optimist partners with marketing and revenue leaders to:

  • Diagnose what is broken or misaligned in existing content programs

  • Design new strategies aligned to modern discovery, evaluation, and buying behavior

  • Operationalize execution systems that drive measurable pipeline contribution

  • Embed with teams to implement, iterate, and scale

Our engagements span strategy, advisory, and execution, with a single goal:

Make content a predictable engine for pipeline acceleration.

Strategy & Advisory

We help leadership teams:

  • Evolve content strategies from SEO focus to GEO/AEO and AI visibility

  • Map real buyer journeys and influence points

  • Define audience, narrative, and messaging architecture

  • Establish measurement models tied to pipeline and revenue

  • Prioritize investments across channels, formats, and initiatives

  • Align content strategy with GTM, sales, and product motions

This work results in clear plans, documented frameworks, and executive alignment — not just recommendations.

Execution & Enablement

Strategy only matters if it ships.

We partner with internal teams to:

  • Build content operations, workflows, and governance

  • Produce and deploy high-impact content tied to defined influence goals

  • Implement analytics and reporting tied to pipeline contribution

  • Train and enable internal teams for sustained velocity

How We Work

Our process is built to plug right into your existing team, augment your existing workflows, and align perfectly with your stakeholders for every step of the content process.

Here’s what to expect when working with Optimist:

  1. Strategic Discovery: We learn about the business, your goals, your needs, and how we can serve your team best.
  2. Workflow Architecture: We mold our process to fit your team. From hand-offs and approvals to CMS, we make sure we map out the full, end-to-end content process to eliminate headaches and scale without creating gaps in the operation.
  3. Tight Alignment: We work together—literally. Shared Slack channels, account access, and deep integration with your team is how we stay aligned, in sync, and on target. We even work directly with your internal stakeholders and SMEs to build deep brand expertise.
  4. Execution & Iteration: Minimal hand holding, maximum execution and accountability. Our team offloads every possible task we can. We operate as an autonomous team you’ve hired to run content (because we are—and you have). We report back on metrics and stay plugged in to evolution and shifts happening in the business.

Our Services

Optimist is a full-service content marketing agency that helps teams with everything from content strategy, writing, and design to reporting and analytics.

Content Strategy

  • Positioning and messaging development
  • Content roadmaps and editorial strategy
  • SEO + AEO strategy (search and generative AI visibility)
  • Content campaign planning

Data and Insights

  • Survey creation
  • Data collection
  • Data analysis

Content Creation

  • Content planning
  • Briefs, outlines, and research
  • Content writing
  • Copy and brand editing

Content Design

  • Custom graphics and visual content
  • Data visualizations and data content
  • Editorial design
  • Motion graphics and reels

Content Optimization, Repurposing & Atomization

  • Social content
  • Content refresh and optimization
  • Content consolidation and pruning

Content Ops

  • Content workflows
  • Stakeholder engagement and management
  • SME interviews
  • Content admin and production

Reporting and Analytics

  • Content reporting and custom dashboards
  • Content cannibalization analysis
  • Content opportunity analysis
  • Content competitor analysis
  • Attribution and measurement

Our Clients

We partner with B2B SaaS and technology companies that:

  • Are under pressure to prove marketing’s pipeline contribution

  • See declining returns from legacy SEO or content volume strategies

  • Need to adapt to AI-driven discovery and evaluation

  • Want strategic partnership — not vendor output

Optimist clients include growth-stage and enterprise brands in fintech, retail tech, HR tech, health tech, and beyond. We believe content should be the core of marketing and GTM strategies. That’s why we build proprietary frameworks, benchmark reports, and data-driven content assets that help brands stand out, establish authority, and drive measurable results.

What We Deliver: Content Types & Capabilities

The Optimist team has deep expertise in a wide variety of content deliverables, assets, and campaigns to support the entire funnel.

SEO & AI Content

  • Long-form, search and AI-optimized content
  • Tactical guides and product-led content
  • Competitor comparisons and BOFU pieces

Thought Leadership Content

  • Data-backed benchmark reports
  • Proprietary frameworks and playbooks
  • SME-backed thought leadership articles and guides
  • Trends, predications, and forecast content

Demand & Lead Generation Content

  • White papers and ebooks
  • Original studies and research reports
  • Email and campaign content
  • Case studies and customer spotlights

Social, Short-Form, & Zero-Click Content

  • Executive social content
  • Long-form social posts
  • Visual social content
  • Reels, stories, and motion graphics

Sales & Enablement Content

  • One-pagers and data sheets
  • Competitor teardowns and battle cards
  • Partner marketing content
  • Use case content

Our Experience &  Case Studies

From Series B startups scaling into new markets to enterprise leaders expanding globally, Optimist specializes in helping B2B technology and software companies prove ROI and scale content into a true growth engine.

We have demonstrated and a strong track record with companies in a wide range of industries and verticals:

  • Fintech and financial services
  • HR and benefits tech
  • Healthcare and health tech
  • Retail tech and ecommerce
  • Business and financial automation software
  • Developer tools, SDKs, and web hosting
  • Marketing and sales technology

Optimist has a deep track record (nearly 10 years) of proven expertise scaling content creation, driving growth in traffic and conversions, and generating massive ROI.

Some highlights from our client work:

  • HelloSign: Scaled organic traffic by 1,300%, leading up to acquisition by Dropbox (Read case study)
  • DreamHost: Built a content engine to scale production and support 100+ new assets per month across their blog (6 languages) and 7 social channels (Read case study)
  • Stampli: 10x page-1 SEO rankings, 2,000% increase in organic traffic value, 400% lift in MQLs and conversions
  • Glide: 12x traffic growth and 14x leads attributed to content
  • Kubera: 2,961% increase in organic traffic, 4,200% increase in product sign ups
  • Plytix: 757% increase in traffic and MQLs; content #1 driver of leads and pipeline
  • Pixelcut: 43X blog traffic growth in just 9 months

Read all of our case studies for more success stories.

The Optimist Team

Optimist was founded in 2016 by Tyler Hakes.

Tyler is a 20-year veteran of content marketing with a background in consulting, technology startups, and B2B software.

Learn more about Tyler.

Optimist also includes a senior team of freelance strategists, operators, and creators who’ve been in the trenches building growth engines for some of the fastest-growing and most influential B2B companies in the world.

We also built one of the world’s largest communities of content marketers (5,000+ members) because we don’t just practice this craft—we lead it.

Meet the full Optimist team.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Optimist do?

Optimist is a content marketing agency that helps B2B marketing leaders realign and transform content marketing programs to drive pipeline and revenue. We provide consulting, advisory, and execution support to redesign strategy, rebuild content operations, and implement systems that perform in modern buyer and discovery environments.

What problems does Optimist solve?

We help marketing teams solve challenges such as:

  • Declining organic traffic or lead flow

  • Unclear pipeline contribution from content

  • Content teams producing high volume with low impact

  • Shifts in buyer behavior and self-education

  • Adapting strategy for AI-driven discovery

  • Replacing outdated SEO-only playbooks

Our work focuses on resetting strategy and rebuilding execution around revenue impact.

What is the shift from SEO to SEO + GEO?

Traditional SEO focuses on visibility in search engine results.

Modern discovery now also happens inside generative AI systems (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and AI-powered search experiences).

SEO + GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) means designing content and digital presence to be visible and influential across:

  • Traditional search engines

  • AI-generated answers

  • AI-assisted research and evaluation flows

Optimist helps teams integrate both into a unified organic visibility and inbound strategy.

How does Optimist approach content strategy differently from other content agencies?

We start with business outcomes and buyer behavior, not content calendars.

Our approach:

  • Diagnoses what is misaligned

  • Redesigns strategy around real buying journeys

  • Aligns content to pipeline influence points

  • Builds operational systems to execute consistently

  • Implements measurement tied to revenue outcomes

This ensures content strategy is a commercial system, not a publishing exercise.

Does Optimist only work on strategy, or do you execute too?

Both.

Optimist delivers:

  • Strategy and advisory — research, planning, frameworks, and alignment

  • Execution and enablement — writing, editing, design, strategy, operations

We stay involved through implementation so strategy becomes reality, not documentation.

Who does Optimist work with?

We partner with:

  • B2B SaaS companies

  • Technology and software firms

  • Marketing leaders responsible for pipeline performance

  • Teams navigating declining SEO performance or AI-driven change

Our clients range from high-growth startups to enterprise organizations undergoing transformation.

How do you measure success?

Success is measured through:

  • Pipeline contribution

  • Lead quality improvements

  • Buying journey influence

  • Revenue acceleration

  • Operational efficiency gains

We prioritize business metrics over content output metrics.

How does Optimist support internal teams?

We embed alongside internal teams to:

  • Design workflows and governance

  • Provide execution support

  • Implement analytics systems

  • Transfer knowledge and capability

Our goal is to leave teams stronger, faster, and more self-sufficient.

Is Optimist focused on AI in marketing?

Yes — specifically how AI changes:

  • Buyer discovery

  • Content visibility

  • Evaluation behavior

  • Measurement models

We help teams adapt strategy and operations to perform in AI-mediated discovery environments, without chasing trends or gimmicks.

How is Optimist different from traditional agencies?

Traditional agencies focus on:

  • Producing content

  • Managing editorial calendars

  • Reporting engagement metrics

Optimist focuses on:

  • Solving strategic misalignment

  • Designing revenue-linked systems

  • Embedding execution

  • Delivering commercial outcomes

We act as strategic operators, not external production vendors.

What types of deliverables does Optimist provide?

Deliverables typically include:

  • Content and buyer journey strategy

  • Messaging and narrative architecture

  • Operating models and workflows

  • Measurement frameworks tied to pipeline

  • Execution plans and roadmaps

  • Enablement materials for internal teams

Deliverables are designed for immediate operational use.

How long do engagements last with Optimist?

Engagements vary, but most range from:

  • Short diagnostic and reset engagements (4–8 weeks)

  • Multi-phase transformation programs (3–9 months)

  • Ongoing advisory and execution partnerships

Scope depends on team maturity and transformation needs.