BI 323: MarketMuse on How to use AI and Content Planning to Accelerate Growth
July 21, 2020
From being a science project to having 5000 customers, Aki Balogh’s MarketMuse has indeed proven the effectiveness of machines in creating a content marketing plan.
Most SaaS founders simply don’t have the time to write articles to build their content strategy. But as machines advanced through the years, they can now help automate the research involved in writing content. With the AI that powers MarketMuse, you no longer need to worry about what topic you should write about or what existing articles you can still flesh out. MarketMuse has all the answers.
In this episode, Aki discusses how machines can automate content strategy in ways we never thought before. Furthermore, he talks about how partnering with the right people and companies can bring so much value to the table. He also discusses the importance of keeping your ear to the ground in reducing churn, especially now in the time of the pandemic.
Tune in to this episode to learn how Aki used AI to make content marketing plan creation so much easier.
Most SaaS founders simply don’t have the time to write articles to build their content strategy. But as machines advanced through the years, they can now help automate the research involved in writing content. With the AI that powers MarketMuse, you no longer need to worry about what topic you should write about or what existing articles you can still flesh out. MarketMuse has all the answers.
In this episode, Aki discusses how machines can automate content strategy in ways we never thought before. Furthermore, he talks about how partnering with the right people and companies can bring so much value to the table. He also discusses the importance of keeping your ear to the ground in reducing churn, especially now in the time of the pandemic.
Tune in to this episode to learn how Aki used AI to make content marketing plan creation so much easier.
Episode Highlights
[02:39] — Aki talks about MarketMuse
● Aki launched MarketMuse, a SaaS company using AI to help content marketers, creators, and strategists to optimize their content and make better planning decisions.
● He started working on it as a science project around 2014. It eventually became a commercial enterprise in 2015 when his co-founder Jeff Coyle joined him.
● They raised around $10 million to launch the company.
● MarketMuse's ideal customers are marketing managers, content strategists, SEO specialists, managing editors, and publishers.
[08:04] — How AI helps you make a content marketing plan
● AI can be used to automate or semi-automate the research behind your content strategy.
● Content strategy involves the new articles you need on your site and the existing articles you can improve, optimize, or repurpose.
● Machines are good at reading a lot of information quickly; humans are better at analyzing, storytelling, and opinionating.
● You can get the essence of a topic using AI, but it’s up to you to inject your expertise and create better content.
[13:33] — MarketMuse’s customer growth
● MarketMuse currently has about 200 paying companies and 5,000 new and trial customers.
● Originally labeled as an enterprise platform, they lowered their price point to start servicing startups and SMBs.
● Making the product free for 3 months during the pandemic helped the company gather more user data.
[15:51] — Influencer and content marketing
● Getting their first customers were challenging because they were describing a concept and service that do not have much terminology. It eventually got easier as time went by.
● Influencer marketing significantly contributed to attracting users. Aki reached out to influencers who, in return, gained value from MarketMuse and referred to them for a time.
● They eventually hired a content strategist who wrote articles for and about MarketMuse.
[24:55] — Leveraging partnerships for lead generation and customer acquisition
● Aki uses both referral and agency partnerships to gain more customers.
● Referral partnerships have no cost and no risk.
● Agency partners use the software for attracting prospects and generating better in-house content marketing plans.
[31:46] — Why inbound marketing is a better fit for MarketMuse
● Outbound marketing, such as cold-prospecting and email blasts, does have its place, but not for customer acquisition in their industry.
● Most of their customers are content specialists who are inbound-oriented.
● They also avoid paid marketing as they see no value in it at the moment.
● Aki and his team focus mainly on conferences as they provide deeper conversations and connections.
[36:41] — How Aki determined his pricing model
● Initially, he got random inputs.
● Customer feedback is essential to determine your price.
● MarketMuse moved on to a more data-driven pricing model in 2018.
● They realized they would need varying prices catering to companies of different sizes.
[41:19] — Reducing churn rate
● For VCs, a low churn rate is a better indicator of a successful SaaS company than a high revenue. It means that you have a good retention rate and expansion.
● With an inbound-led funnel, you end up selling to various types of customers. Outbound, on the other hand, allows you to focus on your ideal customer profile.
● Track customer success (CS).
[46:09] — Revenue expansion
● In terms of revenue expansion, MarketMuse tracks product usage to look at the ROI and value.
● They also recently came up with data-driven CS health scores.
● They use a model to analyze categorical data. If the score is too low, they conduct a remediation.
[49:12] — MarketMuse’s systems & processes
● They are currently hiring at a slower pace.
● To streamline their recruitment process, MarketMuse utilizes an applicant tracking system. They also post ads on Stack Exchange to attract engineering talent.
● They use various tools to document their work processes. As much as possible, Aki tries to experiment and learn from remote companies.
Resources links can be found at https://brightideas.co/content-marketing-plan/
[02:39] — Aki talks about MarketMuse
● Aki launched MarketMuse, a SaaS company using AI to help content marketers, creators, and strategists to optimize their content and make better planning decisions.
● He started working on it as a science project around 2014. It eventually became a commercial enterprise in 2015 when his co-founder Jeff Coyle joined him.
● They raised around $10 million to launch the company.
● MarketMuse's ideal customers are marketing managers, content strategists, SEO specialists, managing editors, and publishers.
[08:04] — How AI helps you make a content marketing plan
● AI can be used to automate or semi-automate the research behind your content strategy.
● Content strategy involves the new articles you need on your site and the existing articles you can improve, optimize, or repurpose.
● Machines are good at reading a lot of information quickly; humans are better at analyzing, storytelling, and opinionating.
● You can get the essence of a topic using AI, but it’s up to you to inject your expertise and create better content.
[13:33] — MarketMuse’s customer growth
● MarketMuse currently has about 200 paying companies and 5,000 new and trial customers.
● Originally labeled as an enterprise platform, they lowered their price point to start servicing startups and SMBs.
● Making the product free for 3 months during the pandemic helped the company gather more user data.
[15:51] — Influencer and content marketing
● Getting their first customers were challenging because they were describing a concept and service that do not have much terminology. It eventually got easier as time went by.
● Influencer marketing significantly contributed to attracting users. Aki reached out to influencers who, in return, gained value from MarketMuse and referred to them for a time.
● They eventually hired a content strategist who wrote articles for and about MarketMuse.
[24:55] — Leveraging partnerships for lead generation and customer acquisition
● Aki uses both referral and agency partnerships to gain more customers.
● Referral partnerships have no cost and no risk.
● Agency partners use the software for attracting prospects and generating better in-house content marketing plans.
[31:46] — Why inbound marketing is a better fit for MarketMuse
● Outbound marketing, such as cold-prospecting and email blasts, does have its place, but not for customer acquisition in their industry.
● Most of their customers are content specialists who are inbound-oriented.
● They also avoid paid marketing as they see no value in it at the moment.
● Aki and his team focus mainly on conferences as they provide deeper conversations and connections.
[36:41] — How Aki determined his pricing model
● Initially, he got random inputs.
● Customer feedback is essential to determine your price.
● MarketMuse moved on to a more data-driven pricing model in 2018.
● They realized they would need varying prices catering to companies of different sizes.
[41:19] — Reducing churn rate
● For VCs, a low churn rate is a better indicator of a successful SaaS company than a high revenue. It means that you have a good retention rate and expansion.
● With an inbound-led funnel, you end up selling to various types of customers. Outbound, on the other hand, allows you to focus on your ideal customer profile.
● Track customer success (CS).
[46:09] — Revenue expansion
● In terms of revenue expansion, MarketMuse tracks product usage to look at the ROI and value.
● They also recently came up with data-driven CS health scores.
● They use a model to analyze categorical data. If the score is too low, they conduct a remediation.
[49:12] — MarketMuse’s systems & processes
● They are currently hiring at a slower pace.
● To streamline their recruitment process, MarketMuse utilizes an applicant tracking system. They also post ads on Stack Exchange to attract engineering talent.
● They use various tools to document their work processes. As much as possible, Aki tries to experiment and learn from remote companies.
Resources links can be found at https://brightideas.co/content-marketing-plan/