Hey everyone,
Araminta here.
If you're an earlier stage fintech and don't have budget for a content agency, hire a freelancer.
This is what I always tell companies that are not ready, and here's how I think about it:
If you're just getting started (0 → 1): freelance writer is great
If your focus is getting leads from content (1 → 100): this is where a content agency like ours makes sense
If you're just getting started, a freelancer is great because it'll get you publishing content without a big investment. This will in turn get your website and product appearing on Google, LLMs and just generally building the authority of the website.
The focus won't be on leads, but it's a good place to start. In order to bring in leads from content, you need to rank well.
That takes time to do, but if you spend time building up your content library with a good freelancer, you will be well on your way.
What's a good freelancer & content process?
Here's a few rules when working with a freelancer (based on my experience):
- Ask the freelancer to interview you and base the content on your knowledge. If it's based on desk research or AI, it'll sound like everyone else and won't have an impact.
- You pick the topics, not them. Start with the "Big 5", the main questions prospects have:
1. pricing questions
2. potential problems with your product
3. how you compare to competitors
4. use cases and the different ways to use your product
5. a best-in-class listicle of your category, with your product in it
Don't worry about SEO or AEO yet. If the topics are right and the quality is good, the content will reach the right audience by itself. Start with 2 - 3 per month, more of that can be a lot for just one freelancer
How do you know when you've outgrown 0 → 1 and are ready for a content agency?
Here are a few signs:
- You’re starting to see inbound leads from LLMs or organic, more than you used to, and you think this could be a real acquisition channel.
- Leads have dipped even though nothing changed with your freelancers. Freelancers do writing, not strategy, so they won't know how to help you bring back the leads.
- You know content, organic and LLMs are going to be a key acquisition channel and are finally ready to invest in it.
This literally happened with a client of ours when we first started working with them.
They came to use 2.5 years ago after working with freelance writers. They knew content was having an impact, but couldn't prove it.
They were also struggling with freelance writers: there were constant edits, the writers didn't spend enough time understanding the product, and it was hard to justify the spend to leadership. They also knew they could scale with content.
The first thing we did was update and create new content that focused on growth, while also proving it to leadership. Over 1.5 years, SQLs from the blog grew 466% and leads from the blog grew 338.5%. Today, 71% of all their organic leads read a blog post at some point.
When we wrote a case study of our work together it had to be anonymous because their content is a competitive advantage and they don’t want people to find out. 👀
You can read the full case study here: Case Study: How this Fintech’s SQLs From the Blog Grew by 466%
What about using AI tools instead of hiring a freelancer?
It can be tempting to use AI to create content fully instead of investing in an agency or freelancer, however there are risks with this.
First reason: the content won’t be the best quality and people can tell.
The first 5 articles will be great and you’ll be impressed. But after that you’ll see that they all start to sound the same and your readers will be able to tell.
This is then a taste / brand decision, if you care about branding and how prospects perceive you (written content is often the first touch point with your brand), then this may be enough to stop you continuing. But even if you you don’t mind the brand impact so much, here’s the next reason
Second reason: Mount AI. There are many examples of companies mass creating AI content, 40 - 50 articles per month, and then getting hit / shadow banned by Google.
Google implemented a new spam policy in October and they are cracking down on it. And if you are impacted by Google, your LLM visibility will be affected as well. It can take months to recover from this. It’s just not worth it.
Third reason: More content does not equal more conversions, so you’re taking a risk for very little reward. To bring in leads from content, you just don’t need to create 40 or 50 articles a month. That’s not the solution.
We have multiple cases of companies reaching out to us who went hard on creating content with AI. When they first started publishing content their traffic and maybe conversions skyrocketed.
Now it’s dipping and they don’t know what to do and they don’t understand what’s happening. Mass producing content can help at first, but it really is all about creating content that touches on the right topics (BOFU content, and all that).
How can you use AI to scale content?
This is not to say your team, a freelancer, or an agency can’t use AI to scale content, you just have to do it carefully. We’ve built our own AI writing tool called Plume, and here’s how we use it:
- A writer prepares an outline based on their research and an interview with an expert
- Plume does the writing
- The writer edits and polishes it up
Plume is based on interviews with the client's experts, existing content, and we've trained it heavily on our methodologies (BOFU content, etc).
We've found this is the only way to ensure the quality remains high and each article isn't templated and super repetitive. We also use Plume for our GPT articles (short articles to influence LLM visibility).
Even then...
- We only use Plume for clients where the product is quite straightforward (e.g. a cross border payments app)
- We use Plume for half of the content we create, the other half is written by a person as usual
If organic / LLMs / inbound are a key acquisition channel for you, it’s just not worth the risk of creating mass generated AI content. Google could penalize you, or you could suddenly lose a lot of rankings – therefore affecting your LLM visibility as well.
To summarize, make sure you’re not tempted to go all in on AI (and be careful about working with an agency / freelancer who does). And if you’re early on in your journey, it likely makes more sense to work with a freelancer rather than an agency. The best agencies are those that help with scaling.
Mint Studios Recommended Reads
- Poisoned SERPs: An update on Google ranking data in Semrush. If you've seen your ranking drastically drop the past week or so, the issue is likely to do with rank trackers themselves. Google is "poisoning search results" and this makes it a lot harder for them to track rankings accurately.
- LLM Ghost Citations: Why Your Content Is Working and Your Brand Isn't. We've seen more of this happening lately: LLMs will cite your content but not include your brand in the LLM answer!
- Prediction: the next massive Google update is around the corner. And another reason why it's not worth massing creating AI content.
Thanks for reading,
Araminta & the Mint team 🎉
We help financial services and fintech companies turn content into measurable pipeline. Learn more about what we do.
