Pictory is a video editing platform designed to make video creation easy for content marketers. Users can generate professional-quality videos from text scripts, complete with realistic AI voices, matching footage, and music.
We sat down with Pete Bennet, Head of Growth at Pictory.ai, to discuss how Surfer has become an integral part of their content marketing strategy, empowering their team to overcome previous content challenges and streamline their SEO workflow.
Pictory's Challenge
When Pete took over his role at Pictory, he identified content marketing as one of the drivers to the company's growth.
Pictory faced a multi faceted challenge centered around the need for efficient, SEO-friendly content marketing.
A common challenge among fast growing companies that want to capitalize on organic traffic.
SEO expertise
While Pictory's marketing team is competent, they are not necessarily SEO experts. This posed a problem as Pete, being in a leadership role, didn't have the bandwidth to train them in the nuanced field of SEO.
This was an issue given their ambitious content output goals of up to three blog posts a day.
With a high frequency of content production, it was crucial to have a streamlined, structured workflow.
Fragmented SEO tools
Each tool they considered served a purpose, but the lack of integration made the process cumbersome and inefficient.
Instead of juggling between various SEO tools and platforms like Google Search Console, Pictory wanted to invest in a scalable workflow that streamlined their content publishing.
"I wanted to try and get everything into one platform that we could build our workflows around rather than having to go outside and bring everything together... because we, at the moment, are publishing between one and two, sometimes even three blog posts a day, and that means that the team need to have a structured workflow rather than cobbling together different tools." - Pete Bennet, Head of Growth at Pictory
The use of disparate tools made this difficult, leading to inefficiencies in time and effort that they couldn't afford.
Lastly, while cost wasn't the primary concern, the idea of paying for multiple subscriptions for different tools was less appealing compared to a unified solution.
Pete emphasized the need for an "all-in-one" platform that could handle everything from keyword research and content creation to SEO optimization and direct publishing to their blog.
The solution
Pete and his team explored other options before settling on Surfer to address their content needs.
They found that the search engine optimization tools they considered fell short in terms of user friendliness and workflow integration, especially for writers unfamiliar with SEO.
Their complexity made them less suitable for Pictory's team, which needed a more straightforward, easy-to-use platform.
Ultimately, the decision came down to finding a tool that balanced technical capabilities with ease of use and workflow integration.
All-in-One Platform
Surfer provided an all-in-one solution, eliminating the need for multiple SEO tools. This streamlined approach made it easier for the team to focus on what they do best: creating content.
User-Friendly Interface
Pete likened Surfer Content Editor to a "sat nav for SEO," highlighting its ease of use.
Surfer's user-friendly interface allowed new team members to produce content at a professional level.
"... I now no longer need SEO experts. I need good writers and I need writers that are SEO aware. But really, we tend to look at Surfer as kind of like a sat nav that takes us to where we need to go in terms of the SEO." - Pete Bennet, Head of Growth at Pictory
Surfer emerged as the best option for Pictory's requirements because it provided a comprehensive, all-in-one platform that their team, regardless of their level of SEO expertise, could easily adopt.
Results
By leveraging Surfer's Keyword Research, Content Editor, and AI writing features, Pictory was able to increase their content output from 2 articles per month to approximately 10 blog posts a week.
Pictory has also adopted Surfer AI to write content in addition to hiring writers.
Takeaways
- Pictory's experience with Surfer underscores the tool's effectiveness in simplifying the content creation process and enhancing SEO efforts.
- Using Surfer's tools has meant that Pete and his team can focus their energies on creating quality content about an industry they are experts in without having to learn everything about SEO.
- Often, companies want to add SEO to their marketing campaigns but postpone it due to a lack of search engine experience. With tools like Surfer's Content Editor, you don't need to be an SEO expert or hire one.
Pete is keen on scaling his Surfer usage in line with the growth of his team and awaits the results of their newly optimized content strategy.
