The latest articles from the Animalz blog. Dig into content strategy, writing advice and original research and data.| Animalz
We’re wrapping up season two of the Animalz Podcast with insights from enterprise content leaders at companies like Zapier, Dropbox, Autodesk, and Microsoft. After more than a dozen interviews, clear patterns emerged about how the best teams operate at scale. From defining content’s strategic role to securing distribution before production, these leaders shared the systems... Read more » The post How the Enterprise Content Engine Works: Season Wrap-up appeared first on Animalz.| Animalz
Search is fragmenting and changing how your audience finds you. Classic SEO still drives compounding organic demand through Google rankings. But new players are intercepting that traffic before it reaches your site. AI Overviews from Google, answer engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity, and conversational search tools now capture informational queries and serve synthesized answers instead... Read more » The post SEO vs. AEO: A field guide for B2B SaaS content marketers appeared first on Animalz.| Animalz
Using just one AI model is like having a team of one. You wouldn’t hire a single person to be your developer, designer, writer, and analyst. So why expect one AI model to excel at everything? Instead, spend time with different models. Learn which one has the brains for your task and the personality to... Read more » The post The TIP Method: Choose the Right AI Model for Every Task appeared first on Animalz.| Animalz
“To me, that’s just a continuation of a trend we were already seeing with zero click. Platforms were already making this a pattern in our content consumption habits.” In this episode, Kate Pluth shares how AI is reshaping content marketing. LLMs are now “just another zero-click platform,” where people expect instant answers instead of clicking... Read more » The post Kate Pluth on Scaling Content at Dropbox With AI and Taste appeared first on Animalz.| Animalz
Lauren Everitt breaks down Okta’s newsroom model — second‑day security coverage, C‑suite video, and practical AI workflows that scale without losing voice.| Animalz
“AI is a leveler for better or worse… it’s lifted new marketers up, but it’s pushed the bar even higher for the good ones.” In this episode, you’ll learn from Kirti Sharma why trying to make content “for everyone” is a mistake. You’ll also see what it takes to stand out when AI is everywhere.... Read more » The post Kirti Sharma (Adobe) on Original Content AI Can’t Copy — and Buyers Remember appeared first on Animalz.| Animalz
Jennifer Clark shares how Zoom’s lean content team drives revenue with smart workflows, AI tools, and a pod model for enterprise-scale impact.| Animalz
“What we ended up building out was a 40-person organic marketing organization … starting with content as the place to move the needle.” That’s how Mallory Russell describes her journey at Square, where she grew a solo blog into an enterprise content engine. Her story shows what’s possible when you rethink search across every algorithm,... Read more » The post Mallory Russell on Earning AI Mentions and Winning Discovery Beyond SEO appeared first on Animalz.| Animalz
Some companies publish content that just feels a cut above the rest. The kind you wish you’d created. That teaches you something new. Content that sounds like a real person, not a press release. That kind of content isn’t luck — or even just great writing. It usually points to something deeper: a content culture.... Read more » The post The Three Maxims That Power Strong Content Cultures appeared first on Animalz.| Animalz
Zapier’s Lane Scott Jones reveals the ROCS formula that proved 454 % ROI, scaled a four-person team to thirty, and lifted output 30% with smart AI.| Animalz
Aditya Vempaty from MoEngage shares a distribution-first content model: weekly customer calls, borrowed authority partners, and ruthless pruning for ROI.| Animalz
"Coined concepts" provide the key to lodging ideas in the hearts and minds of your readers.| Animalz
Culture is not something that begets success, rather, it is a product of it. All companies start with the espoused beliefs and values of their founder(s), but until those beliefs and values are proven correct and successful they are open to debate and change. If, though, they lead to real sustained success, then those values and beliefs slip from the conscious to the unconscious, and it is this transformation that allows companies to maintain the “secret sauce” that drove their initial su...| Animalz
Learn how Rhonda Hughes turned scattered content teams into strategic partners with clear roles, smart systems, and real business impact.| Animalz
Thenuka Karunaratne of daydream explains how companies can build SEO moats with AI and proprietary data.| Animalz
Hosts Ty Magnin and Tim Metz synthesize insights from their season exploring AI & content, revealing where the real value lies beyond the hype.| Animalz
If you haven’t heard Christensen’s classic explanation of disruption in the steel industry, it’s a business lesson worth a few minutes of your time.| Animalz
Alex Halliday of AirOps shares how sophisticated AI workflows can create content that's impossible for competitors to copy.| Animalz
Ines Lee shares how she balances AI efficiency with human creativity as Head of Content for Ali Abdaal's 6-million-subscriber YouTube channel.| Animalz
Parthi Longanathan of Letterdrop explains why his company pivoted from SEO to LinkedIn and how B2B companies can build trust through social selling.| Animalz
Stewart Hillhouse shares his framework for the AI-enabled content team of the future with practical prompting techniques and campaign strategies.| Animalz
Distributing content isn't as hard as most content marketers make it out to be. In this post, we explain the secret to driving traffic to every piece of content.| Animalz
Kaizen, for example, means “continuous improvement” and describes a system of empowering employees to suggest improvements on the assembly line. Kanban, the visual project management concept now built into tools like Airtable and Trello, was first created by an engineer at Toyota.| Animalz
If we understand the formula to make one successful game, why can't we create successful games every time? After all, the thinking goes, isn't success just something that comes when you've nailed down the machine, the formula, the system that gets you there? Here's veteran game maker Tadhg Kelly on why most mobile games still aren't successful: | Animalz
Great writing will never be enough to grow a blog. Content must be paired with an SEO strategy to be successful. Here are two frameworks you can use.| Animalz
Kyle Coleman of copy.ai reframes AI content as "synthesized, not generated" and reveals how his team built a $50M pipeline on just $37K.| Animalz
Lex founder Nathan Baschez explains why writers should use AI as a personal trainer rather than a replacement, offering a balanced approach to AI adoption.| Animalz
The Animalz Podcast returns with seven pioneers in AI and content sharing their real successes and hard-won insights. Where's the real value in AI?| Animalz
AdEspresso, the Facebook Ad optimization tool founded by Massimo Chieruzzi and Armando Biondi, is an example of a business whose blog has successfully ridden a wave of growth. In this case, it’s a once-in-a-generation trend—but that guarantees nothing. AdEspresso’s content marketing has been a runaway success thanks to timing and, more importantly, great execution.| Animalz
The best content strategy is the one that prioritizes quality and depth, not volume and breadth. Think like a library, and not a publication.| Animalz
How "mature" is content marketing in your industry? Use this simple framework to choose the best content strategy for your business.| Animalz
We've distilled 150 million pageviews into a dozen strategic takeaways for B2B content marketers.| Animalz
Google is not all-powerful. Discover how "Intent Gaps" provide the key to ranking for the most competitive keywords.| Animalz
Before we go any further, let’s clarify what exactly we mean by actionable content. It’s a style of writing that shows readers how to accomplish a task. It’s very tactical and includes step-by-step directions. It’s usually created within a content strategy that (1) demands high volume and (2) is focused primarily on SEO. Think of posts like “5 Ways to Get More Twitter Followers” and “How to Write Subject Lines That Double Your Open Rates.” Imagine lots of screenshots annotated...| Animalz
Take inspiration from the HubSpots of the world and you're basing your content strategy on the tactics that worked five years ago.| Animalz
Learn how to create consistently great blog post ideas by building your own "idea farm."| Animalz
How do you compete with an AI that's read most of the internet? You don't - you team up. Here's how to augment your writing workflow with GPT-3.| Animalz
Is ChatGPT Pro's $200 price tag worth it? We tested the AI model extensively to help you decide if the premium features justify the 10x cost.| Animalz
A perfect example is Wistia’s Shooting Video with an iPhone. This post introduces some really useful tips to anyone interested in shooting better video with an iPhone. Many of the people who find this post won’t be ready to buy Wistia, but some will be doing research for a work project and will remember this resource.| Animalz
Technical SEO for content marketers is little understood. This post walks content creators through best practices for improving site architecture and removing old content.| Animalz
Perhaps the most significant barrier to creating great content is finding people with subject matter expertise who are willing to write blog posts. More so than strategy, more so than distribution—this is so often what creates the ceiling on a blog's growth. When the writers are also the practitioners, your content immediately stands out.| Animalz
Content marketing is most often used to drive top of funnel traffic. The content creates awareness, then calls to action, pop-ups and drip campaigns are supposed to take care of the rest. But it's never that simple—and it's not because content marketing is ineffective. | Animalz
We recently did a webinar on this topic, which you can watch below.| Animalz
Animalz is an agency that provides high-end content marketing solutions to SaaS and tech companies.| Animalz
Learn how breakthrough ideas are really born — through blog posts. Discover the traits of blockbuster content that influences people and industries.| Animalz
Tim is the Director of Marketing and Innovation at Animalz. He's also the creator of Lifeline, a pomodoro timer app for macOS. Tim lives in Koh Samui, Thailand. 🏝️| Animalz
Wirecutter carved out a $150-million niche by understanding one core tenet of content marketing: opinions are not optional.| Animalz
5 advanced strategies for showcasing customer success (and prying open that wallet).| Animalz
There are lots of ways that content can influence revenue without outright converting a customer.| Animalz
Mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive (MECE) is a core problem-solving framework in management consulting - and a powerful method for better writing.| Animalz
In content marketing, getting the right answer from the wrong person isn’t good enough. You also have to prove that you're part of the "in-group."| Animalz
BLUF is a military communications acronym—it stands for “bottom line up front”—that’s designed to enforce speed and clarity in reports and emails.| Animalz
Ryan is the Content Director at Ahrefs and former CMO of Animalz.| Animalz
Writing is mostly thinking, and thinking is hard. To write well, follow these five steps, all of which just happen to start with the letter E.| Animalz
Curious what content marketing really costs? We're sharing real content pricing examples and the key factors that impact your content budget.| Animalz
Persuasive communication is a timeless challenge with an ancient solution. You can apply it to your writing in three simple steps.| Animalz
Great writing is clear thinking. Discover the 10%, 30%, 90% framework we use for writing world-class article outlines.| Animalz
Salesy. Insincere. Shallow. Most blog posts stink of "marketing," and these four mistakes are usually to blame.| Animalz
doola CEO Arjun Mahadevan explains how he grows his social media presence through consistent, strategic content.| Animalz
Skiplevel's Irene Yu explains how she transformed her software engineering expertise into a content-driven growth engine for her startup.| Animalz
Reclaim's CEO Henry Shapiro explains how he uses a founder-led content approach to drive growth for his startup.| Animalz
Don't let AI fill your blank page! Find out why that seductive 'Button' kills your creativity and how to use AI without losing your mojo.| Animalz
Jess Cook shares how she combines content marketing and PR in her role as Head of Content and Comms at Island.| Animalz
Learn why Megan Morreale thinks traditional content marketing is dying — and what this means for the future.| Animalz
Discover how a printed book generated millions in pipeline and positioned Unit21 as a thought leader in fraud prevention.| Animalz
Discover how SupportLogic created a content strategy to protect their organic traffic from AI-generated search results (and saw 500% growth).| Animalz
Refreshing old content is one of the easiest ways to drive more traffic. Learn why content decays in the first place, then choose your refresh strategy.| Animalz
Thought leadership is powerful, persuasive, and totally misunderstood. Here's our process for getting started.| Animalz
A good content marketing strategy is the key to getting a return on your content investment. Learn the essential elements of the perfect content strategy.| Animalz
Mark Rogers, Director of Content Marketing at Freshpaint, explains how to create a simple yet impactful content strategy by focusing on a central idea.| Animalz
“If you build it, they will come” is a classic startup mistake. It’s the belief that customers will find your great product without a distribution strategy. Sometimes they do. Often, they don’t. Content marketers fall for this same trap all the time. We pour ourselves into crafting a perfect piece, hit publish, and hope for... Read more »| Animalz
How one Google patent is changing the content marketing game.| Animalz
There’s a copycat crisis in content marketing. Explore the search results for virtually any lucrative keyword, and you’ll find a bunch of articles with lookalike titles, headers and examples. Increasingly, “SEO content” has become a synonym for meandering “ultimate guides” and formulaic “7 ways” listicles. Similarities between blog posts chasing the same keywords are unavoidable—there’s... Read more »| Animalz
Discover advanced AI research tactics for content teams and learn how tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity can transform your research process.| Animalz
Blog posts tend to follow a few familiar “shapes”—that is, the data plotted in Google Analytics tells the story of the post. You can read these shapes without knowing much about keyword volume or traffic sources. You can probably even tell if the post is going to be a hit or a dud within a few weeks of publishing. But this is all anecdotal. We wanted to find out if the patterns we see are indicative—and, more importantly, predictive—of success. So we looked very closely at a few blo...| Animalz
Nearly all SaaS companies use content to generate leads, but that’s usually where the collaboration between content and sales ends. The content team has a job to do, the sales team has a job to do—each works independently of the other. Animalz is a small (but growing) company, and for the last 18 months or... Read more »| Animalz
150 million pageviews. 100 companies, just like yours. Dozens of realistic performance benchmarks.| Animalz
Everything you need to know about AI-generated content: risks, tools, processes and predictions.| Animalz
Learn how to embrace the awkwardness of interviewing to improve your content: faster writing, better SEO, and more traffic.| Animalz
SEO is the growth engine that powers many companies. So how might it change on the back of generative AI?| Animalz
Unpacking the legal, practical and strategic risks of using AI-generated content in your marketing.| Animalz