Groove is a customer support software that almost failed. It almost went into oblivion. In April 2013, the brand tried content marketing but it didn’t work.
It threw up a cheap Tumblr blog, published some some list posts on different topics, and waited for results but nothing happened.
Traffic remained at a standstill.
Only a handful of entrepreneurs invested in the product.
The money that rolled in couldn’t even cover the bills.
“We’re dying,” Alex Turnbull, the CEO, confessed to a mentor. “If we don’t turn things around fast, there won’t be a Groove.”
Things were so bad and the startup team knew they had to pull the strings fast. They knew they had to do things differently to get out of the rough patch.
The Startup Journey Blog Is Born
They went aground to consult and came up with the idea of a blog that chronicled “A SaaS Startup’s Journey to $100,000 in Monthly Revenue.”
The blog was an instant hit as it attracted 1,000 email subscribers within 24 hours. Today, the blog boasts of a monthly readership of 250,000 people.
Turnbull says, “content is the only marketing channel we invest in, and over time, it has helped us grow to nearly $500,000 in monthly revenue.”
So, what did Groove do right?
Got a Hook for the Blog
Groove’s hook was to share its entrepreneurial journey in a transparent manner. It was a unique angle and style. It was refreshing and resonated quickly with their audience. It differentiated Groove’s blog from other business blogs. It gave people a reason to read, comment, share, and recommend the product.
Turnbull says they focused on “content that could actually help our market, rather than what we thought might look nice on a blog.”
Got Post Topics from Audience
Instead of guessing, Groove asked patrons of their product the challenges they were having. Back then, customers received a simple email with the following question:
Groove collated answers and turned them into blog posts which their audience loved. Why? They spoke directly to audience needs.
Groove also participated in online communities and made posts out of challenges which were receiving a lot of attention:
Leveraged Heavily on Storytelling
Stories connect people with people instead of some faceless corporation. Groove understands this. They made use of stories in posts and a particular test they run showed posts that begin with stories get a higher engagement rate.
These 2 posts had the same content but one started with a story while the other had a quick intro. The post that started with the story had 300% more people reading to the end!
See how I used storytelling in this post on fear.
Cultivated Relationships with Influencers
Groove didn’t have much of an audience initially so they built relationships with bloggers who had large audiences. They felt they could leverage on their followership to get people to view their content. But, instead of sending the usual “I have made a post, can you tweet about it?” email, Groove sent the following email to each of the bloggers:
The result?
Over 85% of the bloggers requested for the link to the post. Others shared through social media. While some others gave feedback that enabled Groove to improve their content.
Was Ready to Mess Up
Groove was not afraid to fail. It conducted several tests that did nothing to its bottom-line but it kept on testing stuff.
One of the tests was that of the posts that began with a story and the other that didn’t. This test alone revealed storytelling as a vital engagement tool.
Want to Succeed with Your Business Blog?
Groove leveraged on a story. What’s your own brand story? What’s the hook for your blog? What’s your outreach plan? Why should anyone read your blog instead of others in the same category?
When done right, content marketing is a powerful business-building tool.
What’s your biggest business blogging challenge?
Ready to 2x Your Sales with Killer Content?
Hire Iyabo Oyawale to write for your business today! She is the Founder/Copywriter at CopyVista, a freelance copywriting team, that specializes in B2B tech marketing. She makes one bold promise: “I write engaging long-form SEO content that turns casual users into die-hard fans.” Wanna test this claim? Schedule a free 15-minute call here.
3 replies on “Killer Business Blogging Lessons from Groove”
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[…] Marketing TakeAway: Sharing real stories and real people can enable your brand to stand apart from the thousands of tech companies vying for attention. Just like it helped Drift. Just like it helped Groove. […]
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