After two to three weeks of research, I began drafting out a customer-focused strategy from the learnings. To differentiate Automata from its competitors, the strategy entailed creating pillar pages and FAQs that demonstrated its unique value proposition. For a target markets of marketing agencies and small marketing teams, the strategy entailed three unique topic clusters – content repurposing, content distribution, and challenges of small marketing teams – with eight articles each. All marketing efforts were designed to highlight Automata’s solution to its clients’ challenges. Finally, to ensure it got to the customers, I created a distribution plan.

An academic background in communication has made it evident that communication is entirely incomplete until the intended target receives, understands the message and provides feedback. With articles and pillar pages simply sitting on our blog, we were leaving money on the table. So, for every piece of content written, we repurposed for LinkedIn primarily and Twitter as well. Instead of simply writing a bland blurb and leaving the link at the bottom of the post, I extracted and broke down key insights in each repurposed post so the audience can quickly get the needed info and read the rest as their convenience.

In the first stage, I got to work searching for answers from the most important stakeholders – Automata, its ideal customers, and its competitors. With Automata, I asked questions about what the brand wanted to achieve, what is currently working and what isn’t alongside a host of others in an email that was responded to with a satisfyingly detailed email. With the competitors, I was concerned about common practices and lapses in their strategy. Research with web audit tools alongside manual content analysis did the trick here. For the customers, I was most concerned about their core motivations, challenges, desires, etc.

After two to three weeks of research, I began drafting out a customer-focused strategy from the learnings. To differentiate Automata from its competitors, the strategy entailed creating pillar pages and FAQs that demonstrated its unique value proposition. For a target markets of marketing agencies and small marketing teams, the strategy entailed three unique topic clusters – content repurposing, content distribution, and challenges of small marketing teams – with eight articles each. All marketing efforts were designed to highlight Automata’s solution to its clients’ challenges. Finally, to ensure it got to the customers, I created a distribution plan.

I made a presentation and showed it to Andrew Fraine and the good folks over at Automata alongside a few custom-made wireframes created on Figma as suggestions for website redesign. They were impressed. Specifically, Andrew said: “Wow! Thanks so much. At first glance this looks great, and I really appreciate the amount of time and effort you put into this so far.” So, once the website was redesigned, I got to work creating an editorial calendar and writing strategy-driven content. Instead of simply gathering facts from Google, every article was fuelled by data gleaned from original research, examples gotten from real life brands, etc.

An academic background in communication has made it evident that communication is entirely incomplete until the intended target receives, understands the message and provides feedback. With articles and pillar pages simply sitting on our blog, we were leaving money on the table. So, for every piece of content written, we repurposed for LinkedIn primarily and Twitter as well. Instead of simply writing a bland blurb and leaving the link at the bottom of the post, I extracted and broke down key insights in each repurposed post so the audience can quickly get the needed info and read the rest as their convenience.

Having been on the client, agency, and freelancing side of the content marketing profession, I understand the occasional reluctance to work with freelancers. There’s always the question of if they’re the right fit or if they’ll actually deliver on their promises and provide any real value. I successfully crossed out all these worries with Automata and we got started with a 6-month commitment. Today, we still work together and collaborate on growing the company.

The team at Automata had a very significant role to play in this part of the achievement. However, in the first few weeks of our partnership, Automata was accepted into the Tinyseed Accelerator Spring 2022 Batch. The program exclusively funds bootstrapped SaaS startups like Automata and matches the company with key advisors that are committed to growing SaaS startups.