In 1948, Texans had an important choice to make. The second Texas senate seat was open. Would they elect the front-runner, Coke Stevenson, a former governor who was as Texan as they came? Or would they cast their vote for the young and ambitious Lyndyon Johnson?
For much of the primary, Johnson, despite a well-funded campaign, failed to muster traction against Stevenson’s down-to-earth, cowboy charm. The Texan voters didn't know Johnson, weren't impressed with him when they saw him, and had strong opinions that were incredibly hard to change.
That was the case, at least, until Johnson found his story.
After a particularly wearisome day of rallying, Johnson realized that the traditional political rallies and barbecue dinners made him look like every other Texas politician. He was competing into Stevenson's strength. Instead, Johnson pivoted into small-scale stump speeches. Texas had hundreds of small towns scattered across its geography. Leaving the most populous cities and towns, Johnson's plan was to work his way across the state and connect with the dozens of people in each town. His story would become centered around his energy, passion, and being a friend to everyday Texans.
It was a good plan, with just one small problem. Texas was a big state. Johnson had his story, but there was no way he could deliver it to the right people. At least not by driving around to each of the towns.
Taking a bet on a new technology, Johnson commissioned a four-seater helicopter. He started flying six days a week, hitting dozens of rural towns each day and delivering his new story.
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, winning him the Texas senate primary and election. From there, he would one day become the 36th President of the United States.
At Quill, our mission is to build that helicopter for our clients.
So, what does Quill do?
We work with startups, ghost-writing thought leadership and technical content. We go further than the average content agency.
Quill started in part from a quote in Ratatouille. Anton Ego, the critic, writes, “The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.”
For startups, that’s now more true than ever before. Over the past two decades, moats from incumbent companies have solidified. Network effects are more powerful, distribution channels more saturated, and switching costs more painful.
And so, startups need a new edge, something that large enterprise companies can’t copy. We believe that to be the story, a place where the startup can define itself to the world and shapes their internal culture and mission. The form that we’ve chosen to tell these stories is long-form writing.
At Quill, we split our writing into two categories. Tangible and intangible. Content and narratives.
Content, Tangible Writing
Quill produces content that attracts customers for our clients.
For a long time, content marketing has been finding keywords, incorporating them in an article, and having that one-off investment brings in recurring dividends over time.
Unfortunately, the internet today is an SEO arms race with increasingly spammy copy. Our answer to that is to write interesting, relevant content that targets prospects, gets them excited about our client’s product, and converts them to paying customers. Resources, documentation, and case studies help warm up prospects, all before anyone reaches out to start a conversation.
Further down the funnel, content acts as enablement tool for sales. Imagine a deal in which a prospect is concerned about pricing (probably not so hard to do). Sending over a case study featuring how another customer saved $x0,000 using the product is a step that builds the trust and credibility needed for the buyer to feel comfortable enough to move forward.
The crown jewel for content lies in renewals and expansions. Content is the best way for customers to learn and realize how new offerings can solve their problems. Every insightful piece that customers read adds to their connection with our clients.
This sort of cumulative goodwill is so often the difference between customers that silently pay and evangelists that love the product. It’s content all the way.
Narrative, Intangible Writing
Startups aren’t just selling to customers. They’re also painting a picture for investors, talent, and partners. Some parts of this picture come from raw numbers. Raising $x is usually a pretty good signal that the company is doing well. Other parts of this come from their narrative.
Our definition of narrative is any piece of writing that reinforces the brand image of a company. A basic example of narrative work is an essay about the trucking industry for a trucking startup. A more involved example is that same trucking startup commissioning a piece about the evolution of freight factoring and what macroeconomic variables impact factor rates.
Unfortunately, narrative is also a vague, shifty, imprecise thing. Some articles can have thousands of clicks, but short of a miracle, it’s hard to understand what impact that piece of writing had on fundraising, recruiting, or marketing.
At the same time, some of the most enduring startups of our generation came as a result of narratives. Stripe’s tagline of “increasing the GDP of the internet” and their dedication to the craft earns trust from developers. Airbnb’s story of ramen profitability and taking pictures for users shows their care for users. And Doordash’s suburban origins and rapid execution led to one of the largest IPOs ever.
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. We’re writers at heart who have seen firsthand the impact of great writing. In fact, one of the companies that we previously started grew to millions of monthly readers.
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