Articles on Marketing, SEO, & Culture
Knowledge and advice on all things related to content marketing, SEO, and company culture.
Case Studies
The Only B2B Lead Gen Strategy that Matters for Technology Companies Right Now
There’s a paradox of opportunity happening right now for B2B technology companies. Many teams are being forced to cut back on marketing and lead generation efforts due to uncertainty. According to a survey from the B2B Marketing Zone, more than 60% of marketers expect...
The Anatomy of a $1 Million B2B Case Study
Case studies are a key component for helping most companies generate business. The truth is, though, that most case studies out there fail to deliver those leads. The reason for this? Many of them are just a short synopsis with a few screenshots, some data, and the...
How Intercom Built a $50MM ARR Empire Using Strategic Content Marketing and SEO
When it comes to building a startup, growth is king. Close second? Recurring revenue. Especially in the world of SaaS companies, having a steady stream of monthly and annual revenue is the hallmark of success. So, imagine building a business and scaling it to $50MM...
Content Marketing Secrets from Buffer’s Rise to 4 Million Users (And Beyond)
If you’ve been on Twitter at all in the last half decade, then you’ve likely heard of Buffer. The social media sharing and scheduling app has been a catalyst for a new paradigm in social media marketing. It allows users to find content or schedule messages to be...
Let’s Talk About “Growth Hacking”
“Grow or die.” “Growth is all that matters.” “Growth, growth, growth, growth.” Everyone loves growth. I get it. But most people seem confused about how growth actually works. When you’re building a company, it can feel like you’re just one brilliant idea away from...
Content Marketing Strategy
Content marketing is tough. Often, companies think that it seems like the easiest strategy for growth. After all, all you have to do is write stuff and post it on your website--right? Of course, that’s an incredible simplification. Much, much more work and thought...
All Articles
Content Marketing in 2021: The Low-Hanging Fruit Checklist
I’m going to pretend that I found myself running a SaaS company when I woke up this morning. Our goal in 2021 is to grow, hit slightly-ambitious targets, and put the wrecking ball that was 2020 far behind me. My constraints are that I have: A small budget. Maybe...
How We Helped HelloSign Scale Their Traffic 1,308%
It was a frigid cold day in Des Moines on January 28, 2019. Like most January days, I was just hoping to hold on a few more weeks until the early signs of Spring would start to thaw things out and give me that yearly boost of energy. But, it turned out that I...
The Only B2B Lead Gen Strategy that Matters for Technology Companies Right Now
There’s a paradox of opportunity happening right now for B2B technology companies. Many teams are being forced to cut back on marketing and lead generation efforts due to uncertainty. According to a survey from the B2B Marketing Zone, more than 60% of marketers expect...
Tackling Mental Health For Distributed Teams
Even the greatest strengths, especially when they get over-used, eventually perform as weaknesses. One thing to love about remote work is the (relatively) no-drama, no-bullshit work environment. I rarely engage with my colleagues about religion, politics, family...
Introducing Top of the Funnel
For a long time, the Optimist team has been looking for ways to share knowledge and help connect those in our network and our expanded universe with opportunities for growth (and money). The idea is nearly as old as our agency itself. Like most teams, we've gotten...
How Our Team Built a $1.5MM Agency in 3 Years with No Managers
Over the last three years, Optimist has grown tremendously. We started as an outgrowth of my personal freelancing work. Within a year of launching, we reached a $500,000 annualized run rate. By the end of year 2, we had doubled in size--building a seven-figure...