Writing on Content Marketing, SEO, & Agency Growth
How We Helped HelloSign Scale Their Traffic 1,308%
Optimist is a full-service SaaS content marketing agency and this case study is based on the content marketing strategy we executed with HelloSign’s team from 2017 to 2021. It was a frigid cold day in Des Moines on January 28, 2019. Like most January days, I was...
How to Measure & Track Content Marketing KPIs Without Getting Distracted
Bryan shares his real-life experience in building a successful business and the content marketing KPIs that he uses to stay focused on the metrics that matter. Blanketed by darkness in the eerie solitude of a desolate Oakland Coliseum, Athletics General Manager Billy...
How We Grew a SaaS Company’s Leads by 571% in 5 Months
A while back, a SaaS client approached us about their content marketing and lead generation strategy. They recently launched their blog and already written some great content, but they weren’t getting any traffic. They’d discovered that great content isn’t...
Strategic Content Marketing: A Recipe for Growth
Content marketing without a strategy is a lot like throwing spaghetti at a wall. (Stay with me here.) When you're cooking spaghetti, one way to tell if it's done is--supposedly--to simply fling the noodles at the wall. If the pasta doesn’t stick, it's said to need...
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 1-2...
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...
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...
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...
The Framework We Used to Generate $1.5MM in Sales Opportunities in Our First Year
One year ago, we launched Optimist. The vision was pretty straight-forward: A full-service content marketing agency that works with clients on a monthly retainer. Our goal is to grow it to $1.5 million annual run rate in 2018. In our first year, we made a pretty big...
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...