A Tale of Two Content Marketing Strategies
A story of rethinking what’s been proven to work. And Geoff Roberts on growing his bootstrapped B2B SaaS with content, but without targeting SEO keywords.
Geoff Robert’s story is interesting.
Let’s begin in 2010 when he joined Buildium as Director of Marketing. Upon joining, they had one goal: Rank highest on Google for the term, “property management software.” Five years later, in 2015, Geoff and the small marketing team he initially led crushed that goal.
So well that about a decade later, in 2024, Buildium:
Still ranks in the top #3 on Google, and
Gets over 65% of its organic traffic from the term:
But it wasn’t just ranking and traffic.
Ranking #1 for this term at the time drove tremendous business outcomes. In those five years, Buildium saw free trial volume go up from 350 to over 1,500 per month. They went from startup to over $20 in ARR (annual recurring revenue). And as Geoff shared with me, growing to a valuation of $130M, ranking #1 for that single keyword drove about 40% of the business:
On the back of such success, would anyone be wrong to treat SEO-focused content marketing as the de facto way of growing a business?
The allure for such conformity may beckon many, but not Geoff Roberts. His approach for growing Outseta, again with content marketing, proves the need to question the presumed infallibility of the status quo.
As Co-Founder & CEO, Geoff took the time to recognize that blindly clinging to the success formula of Buildium might not be the compass to guide Outseta’s journey. Outseta was a collection of tools with matured players in their respective categories. Email marketing, CRM, billing software, help desk, and authentication software cramped into an all-in-one solution. Trying to rank content for each of those categories wasn’t just a stretch.
It wasn’t likely to propel Outseta as it did Buildium.
Geoff’s first divergence from the familiar path came in the form of personal storytelling. Instead of search-focused content, Geoff shared raw, unfiltered tales of his entrepreneurial struggles. The content he publishes on the Outseta blog weave narratives of sleepless nights, triumphs, and the turbulent roller coaster typical of the life of a startup founder:
His decision to share his struggles wasn’t just an exercise in catharsis. It’s a very strategic move. Outseta’s target audience comprised fellow startup bootstrappers who, like him, must weather storms of uncertainty. Peeling back the layers of his experiences with content created a connection that transcended the digital realm. Prospects were no longer just prospects; they were kindred spirits navigating the treacherous seas of entrepreneurship.
The response was palpable.
Comments trickled in, not first praising the tools Outseta offered but expressing gratitude for the vulnerability Geoff displayed. Outseta was no longer just another software; it became a beacon of shared experiences. A safe harbor for those traversing the unpredictable waters of startup life. In this unconventional dance of transparency and authenticity, Geoff was orchestrating a different kind of success through content marketing.
The second prong of Geoff’s content-driven growth strategy for Outseta is even more telling. It involved a keen ear for the digital murmurs that echoed in the vast expanse of online conversations. His small team became vigilant observers, tuning into discussions on problems Outseta could solve.
Instead of waiting for users to find them through search, Geoff became an active participant in the digital dialogue. When a question surfaced in forums or social media platforms that resonated with Outseta’s capabilities, Geoff didn’t just respond; he wrote guides addressing those concerns.
These guides weren’t just pieces of content; they were valuable resources crafted with the precision of a surgeon addressing a specific ailment. Geoff’s approach was akin to a helpful neighbor sharing insights, not a salesman pitching a product. By doing this, potential customers didn’t need to stumble upon Outseta through a search engine; they found them through links to guides addressing concerns and solving problems that mattered to them.
The impact was profound.
Outseta’s online presence transcended the rigid confines of search rankings. Geoff’s guides became reference points in discussions, shared among others grappling with the same challenges. Outseta wasn’t competing for keywords; it was contributing to conversations and earning trust through expertise.
As the months unfolded, Outseta’s success story diverged from the trajectory Geoff and the marketing he led followed at Buildium. The reliance on search-focused content marketing had been replaced by a more nuanced and agile approach. Outseta’s growth wasn’t tethered to the whims of search algorithms; it thrived on genuine connections and problem-solving.
Geoff’s unconventional approach bore fruit.
Outseta’s customer base has expanded not through clicks from search rankings but through the resonance of shared experiences and valuable contributions to online discussions. The lessons learned from his time at Buildium weren’t discarded; they were transformed into a more adaptable and responsive model. Outseta’s success wasn’t confined to a singular keyword; it emerged through using stories to address problems a very specific target audience was willing to take out time and actually read:
The company’s growth to an estimated $5M ARR speak volumes about the power of authentic connections and a need to rethink the conventional way of growing a company through content marketing.
You must realize that this need to rethink the traditional content marketing approach isn’t just a needed strategic shift; it’s a natural evolution. The landscape has changed, and the one-size-fits-all approach of anything to rank highest on Google no longer dictates success. Geoff Robert’s and Outseta’s story is a testament to the importance of adaptability, the power of storytelling, and the value of actively engaging with the audience.
This tale isn’t just a narrative of two companies.
It’s a reflection of the dynamic interplay between strategy and context, between tradition and innovation. More importantly, consider it a clarion call to B2B content marketers and tech entrepreneurs alike. They compel us to look beyond the allure of search-focused content marketing and refocus on the human element of real storytelling. They challenge us to pivot from chasing elusive search rankings to crafting story-driven content that resonate deeply with our audience’s experiences and ambitions.
By doing this, we can:
Attract and filter the right ICPs
Engage and show them how our products works
Persuade and convert them into fans and customers.
Stories can transform every piece you craft into a funnel. Outseta’s growth through content proves this. And this is the thinking behind VEC Studio’s Product-Led Storytelling approach, as illustrated above. This isn’t to say ranking high on Google doesn’t have it’s place. It does. But with stories, you’re more likely to resonate with your target ICPs.
It’s why, for Geoff, stories is what kicks things off:
Geoff Robert shared so much more.
You should👇
Crafted in VEC Studio
Geoff Roberts does one thing very well.
He writes for one person.
Specifically, bootstrapped tech founders.
“Write” is a placeholder in this context.
Replace it with create or produce, one point holds. Executing content marketing that build owned audiences of prospects, as Outseta has done, starts with creating content for one ICP at a time.
Says John Steinbeck, the Nobel Prize winner:
First Round Capital also exemplified this.
They built an owned audience of over 130k email subscribers. To achieve this, their media arm, First Round Review, focused on who they wanted to reach that was most likely to become customers from day one.
Hear it from their Fmr. Head of Content:
As these examples have shown, if your B2B marketing team wants to build demand-generating owned audiences…
Writing for One ICP Does the Trick
Look at this illustration:
👆🏼that happens when you try to create content for an audience.
SaaS Marketers often do so to make a piece appealing to as many readers as possible or to drive more traffic. The problem with these good but self-serving intentions is that it misses the fact that only one person reads your online content at a time.
So when your ICPs find this content, they won’t read it because the generic info aimed at an ‘audience’ won’t feel specific to their needs. And they won’t know who to share it with because they didn’t read it in the first place.
Compare that to this:
The litmus test for all B2B marketing assets is getting ICPs to read them. Nothing else will happen if they don’t. They won’t learn the unique ways your product solves their problems, join your audience for more content, or imagine why they should choose your product over competitors.
Writing for one ICP at a time solves those.
It is also an antidote to claims that people have short attention spans and, as such, don’t read long-form content. Here are two examples to prove why nothing could be further from the truth.
One.
First Round Review’s articles are above 3,000 words. Yet, on average, they get shared 2,000+ times. Scratch that. Hundreds of busy tech founders actually read and share them.
Two.
VEC Studio’s pieces go beyond 2,500 words on average.
This newsletter is about that.
But because we craft every piece for one ICP at a time, those ICPs, when they find our content, read, join our audience for more, and share them with their friends (who then join our audience, too).
Don’t take my word for it:
For a more on writing for one ICP at a time…
Thanks so much for reading.
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