Why Quill Exists
1139 words, 6928 characters
In 1948, a heated battle was underway in Texas for the second senate seat. In the Democratic primary, Coke Stevenson had a wide lead against his competitors and in a blue state, winning the primary was as good as winning the seat. As the previous governor of Texas, Stevenson was well regarded throughout Texas and drew mass appeal from his down-to-earth, cowboy persona. But, one of his opponents in the primary was none other than Lyndon B. Johnson.
Despite a well-funded campaign backed by wealthy donors, Johnson was quite far behind in the polls. That was the case, at least, until he went one step beyond the others.
He commissioned a helicopter and started flying six days a week, hitting dozens of rural towns each day. Delivering his stump speech, Johnson drew crowds far larger than any that Stevenson had managed to muster throughout the entire course of the primary.
Johnson’s bold strategy paid off in a big way - it turned his whole campaign around.
His helicopter tour became known as the “Johnson City Windmill” and rural votes for the primary swayed increasingly in Johnson’s favor. After the ballots were counted and the dust had settled, Johnson emerged victorious and sealed the Texas senate election. From there, he went on to become the vice president, and eventually, the 36th president of the United States.
Our mission is to build that helicopter for each one of our clients. We’re a team of ex-YC writers that delivers growth through premium content.
We work with companies that have an existing product and well-defined identity. We supercharge their growth through case studies, newsletters, documentation, and general blog posts. Whether it’s driving volume to top-of-funnel, enabling sales, or engaging existing customers, we use content to create incredible results. We produce everything ourselves, in-house, because we take pride in high quality material that you can rely on. We don’t subscribe to churning out fluff pieces packed with SEO keywords. We care way more about packaging valuable information into something that you’re proud to show to your customers and even your parents.
So, why is content important?
We liken premium content to Johnson’s helicopter. With the help of said helicopter, Johnson was able to broadcast his message to thousands of people he would have never reached otherwise. Content’s not a magic instant-growth potion, nor will it grant you product-market fit (though as founders, we’d love to be sounding boards). Rather, content is a way to extend and amplify your product momentum. Today, when most people hear the term, they think only of SEO pieces designed for top-of-funnel. We make sure to design for all parts of the funnel - marketing, sales, and customer success.
Top-of-funnel Marketing
Words on a webpage are great at top-of-funnel marketing because for many companies, written content is the first impression they leave on their users. Publish an article, get it indexed by Google, and that one-off investment brings in recurring dividends over time. But, an unfortunate side-effect of the SEO arms race is an internet filled with increasingly spammy copy - your users see right through it. So on one end, we have polished masterpieces where the traffic gain doesn’t justify the investment. And on the other end, we have subprime clickbait overflowing with keywords that bring in readers but deteriorate your brand. Both are suboptimal. At Quill, we write intentional, interesting content with sufficient volume for relevance and relationship-building. We document who you are and help you attract target users, get them excited about your product, and convert them to paying customers.
Sales Enablement
Further down the funnel, content acts as enablement tool for sales. Imagine a deal in which one of your prospects is concerned about pricing (probably not so hard to do). Content can step in to build the trust and credibility needed for the buyer to feel comfortable enough to move forward. Sending over a case study featuring how another customer saved $x0,000 using your product shortens the sales cycle so you can win more deals. Even before the start of a formal deal, well-crafted copy is part of today’s buyer journey. With a sea of options to choose from, buyers are more educated than ever, and as a result they expect value up-front. Resources, documentation, and case studies help warm up prospects, all before someone from your team reaches out to start a conversation. If you’ve sold both inbound and outbound sales, you already know the difference it makes!
Customer Success
And finally, once you’ve landed the customer, it’s time to think about renewals and expansions. The same case study mechanic that established trust in prospects during the sales cycle can be employed here as well to help keep the customer relationship warm. Content is the best way for customers to learn and realize how your new offerings can solve their problems. Writing deep industry reports also builds customer confidence and establish your domain expertise. Product walkthroughs can make your product a joy to use and are a convenient outlet for gathering feedback. Every insightful piece that your customers read adds to their experience and builds your brand.
This sort of cumulative goodwill is so often the difference between customers that silently pay you and evangelists that love you and sell on your behalf. It’s content all the way.
Why Quill?
We started Quill because content can be an awkward puzzle piece. For most companies, it isn’t a core competency (we’re one of the rare exceptions, content’s our breadwinner). Everyone and their mom would love to have world class documentation or an exceptional blog. The problem is that to get there requires a conscious investment on the part of the company when there are dozens of competing priorities. That’s where Quill comes in. We’re here to create an asset for you. Based out of SF and DC, we’re writers at heart who have seen firsthand the impact of great writing. In fact, one of the companies that we previously started was an online publishing company that ranked in the top 1,000 websites worldwide by traffic. We’ve taken great care to design Quill for long-term partnership. We’re able to spend time diving deep into your product, from codebase to market positioning. Our experience allows us to understand and produce for any level, whether it’s strategy at 10,000 feet, or a code snippet elaborating how a particular endpoint works. And because we handle the load associated with sourcing high quality writers with the necessary expertise as you grow, Quill scales alongside you. We’re laser focused on producing the best content for you, it’s literally all we do!
Interested?
If you’re interested in working with us, zing us an email at richard@hirequill.com or dan@hirequill.com: