When I joined Zmist & Copy, our founder Kate told me that everyone on the team takes turns pitching and writing an article for this blog. I knew I wanted to start with this one.
See, I’ve been hunting examples of great content like Harry Potter chased the golden snitch in Quidditch (yep, it’s that serious). And what better place to share a few of them than on the content agency’s blog? 😎
In this article, I unpack eight such examples. I dug into what made each one work and spoke to people behind them. Some are long-running strategies. Others, one-off plays. But all of them delivered results (think leads, reach, credibility, traffic) by smartly using a single content format or channel.
So if you’re building a strategy or just need a spark, these examples prove there’s more than one way to win with content. 👇
→ Ebooks that took off organically in a 1M+ community.
→ Finance infographics that drive 20% of inbound leads.
→ An annual B2B report that influenced $1.2M in pipeline.
→ Reddit posts that brought in a startup’s first 1,000 customers.
→ A YouTube strategy that gets a B2B company 200+ product demos.
→ A tech newsletter that grew to 50K+ readers.
→ A blog built by three people that pulls in 2M+ views per month.
→ A bold ToFu experiment that brought a (then) small brand 3K+ leads and 700K+ views.
Example #1: Eleken's ebooks that took off organically in a 1M+ community
That “work smarter, not harder” motto? Eleken, a SaaS design agency (and one of our longtime clients), ran with it – and made it work.
They were sitting on dozens of well-performing blog posts, clustered around topics like UX research, product ownership, growth metrics, and more.
The plan was simple: turn those content clusters into ebooks as lead magnets. But the results went beyond that. The books took off organically in the UX world – featured on platforms like UX Magazine (1M+ community) and shared by influencers like Vitaly Friedman, with hundreds of reposts and likes.
“It was really a ‘work smarter, not harder’ play,” says our founder and CEO, Kateryna Abrosymova, who was behind the idea. “Eleken already had the content – it just needed a new container. We grouped articles, added intros, and treated it like a product.”
Kate’s playbook for getting more from your content
Many companies focus heavily on SEO just to rank, and forget about actually converting visitors once they land. Kate suggests this playbook to make your content work harder:
→ Step 1. Narrow your focus. Create a landing page (or homepage) for a specific customer segment with a clear offer.
→ Step 2. Add proof. Write case studies to back up your claims.
→ Step 3. Cover bottom-funnel SEO. Think: “X vs. Y,” “Best tools for [pain point],” “Cost of [solution],” “Alternatives to [competitor].”
→ Step 4. Build a lead magnet. Wrap up your best content, like Eleken did, into something downloadable (ebooks, checklists, templates).
→ Step 5. Distribute it. Use your high-performing blog posts, PPC, LinkedIn, partner content, etc., to get it in front of people.
→ Step 6. Nurture leads. Set up an email sequence with low-pressure steps, like a self-assessment survey or quiz. For example, for a client in the lab software space, we created a simple survey to help potential buyers evaluate how efficiently their lab is running. It’s a lighter ask than a product demo, but still gives the team a sense of who’s ready to move forward.
→ Step 7. Keep them warm. Send useful content via a newsletter – not to sell, but to stay relevant until they’re ready.
And if design feels like a blocker? “Sometimes, an ‘ugly’ template pulled from real work builds more trust than something overly polished,” says Kate. Just make sure it’s easy to read, not a wall of text.
Example #2: Fuelfinance’s visuals that drive 20%+ of inbound organic leads
I’m far from Fuelfinance’s target audience. I’m not a founder looking to get my startup’s finances in order. But if I were (and I say this with full confidence of someone imagining an alternate life), I’d be DMing their founder and CEO, Alyona Mysko, on LinkedIn.
After following Fuelfinance’s content for a while, I reached out to their Content Lead, Yuliya Datsyuk, on LinkedIn to ask how they pull it off.
My favorite part? They don’t repurpose visuals from long-form content. Visuals are the starting point.
Each one is built to give value and educate their ideal customer. “We don’t want to skimp on insights,” says Yuliya. “Alyona often shares our numbers – revenue, growth, financial experience.” That’s what clicks with people. In fact, the financial cheat sheets alone brought Alyona the most followers in 2024.
So how do they pull it off?
Now, Alyona’s LinkedIn alone drives 20%+ of inbound organic leads – and their visuals, especially the cheat sheets, have become a brand signature.
“I still meet people at events who tell me they’ve seen our cheat sheets – it’s a huge brand awareness booster,” Alyona says.
Eventually, when they had a solid bank of infographics and interactive tools, they gathered them all in a content library: 40+ cheat sheets, templates, and calculators. A valuation calculator even became ‘Product of the Day’ on Product Hunt. (Who knew an interactive tool could make it?)
The takeaway? Fuelfinance gives their audience something they can screenshot and save. They show that a well-made visual, one rooted in real expertise and customer pain, can do more for your brand and pipeline than 10 generic blog posts. (Bonus points if your CEO is down to post it.)
Example #3: Lattice’s ungated report that influenced $1.2M+ in pipeline
Original data → gated PDF → leads. That’s the typical playbook. HR platform Lattice followed it, too. Since 2019, they have been surveying thousands of HR leaders to identify industry trends and then publishing State of People Strategy Report.
But in 2022, they rethought the delivery.
When Halah Flynn joined as a Content Marketing Manager, she kept hearing the same thing from sales and demand gen: HR folks loved the report, but they weren’t always the buyers.
So the team flipped the script and made the report valuable for both the curious reader and the ready-to-buy lead:
✔️ They ungated the report and hosted it on a webpage
✔️ They added demo CTAs and related downloads throughout to capture high-intent leads
“It was a huge undertaking that required major design and development support,” Halah told me. “But now we’ve built the infrastructure to repeat it every year, and the ROI’s absolutely been worth it.”
The 2025 edition alone?
→ $1.2M in new business and renewals
→ CNN, WSJ, and Bloomberg coverage
→ 170+ conversions directly from the page
Lattice’s Reports are now an industry reference point
“When Forbes or CNN cite our data, we’re not just a tech platform anymore,” Halah says. “We’re helping HR teams shape more impactful policies with real data.”
She kindly shared a few smart moves that helped make the report hit:
→ Ungated access (which boosted SEO), plus a report hub and pop-ups for better UX
→ Analytical commentary from HR leaders = instant credibility + broader reach
→ Talking points for sales and customer support to spread the word
→ Neutral, honest survey questions, not product-pushing ones
→ An email series to help readers apply the insights
→ A live webinar to squeeze more from data
Yes, it may have been a huge undertaking, but Lattice’s example proves that thoughtful, high-effort content pays off. What they’ve built is a full-funnel content product that informs, converts, and gets cited.
Not their target audience? Same. But I still can’t wait to see what the 2026 edition brings.
Example #4: OpenPhone’s Reddit posts that brought in their first 1,000 customers (and still drive value)
Reddit gets hyped as a growth channel now that Google shows it more in search. But tactical breakdowns are rare.
That’s why I found OpenPhone’s story so useful.
Back in 2018, co-founder Daryna Kulya started posting in subs where entrepreneurs, business owners, and early adopters hang out, like r/EntrepreneurRideAlong and r/smallbusiness. With $0 in marketing budget, she shared OpenPhone’s story, asked for feedback, and broke down what they were learning.
One such post brought in lots of early users.
Six years and 100K+ customers later, they’re still active on Reddit – using it for social listening, market research, and running their own subreddit (which organically grew into a support hub and community space).
Daryna shares her experience with Reddit in her newsletter and breaks down what posts worked and what didn’t. And while she doesn’t brag about it, here’s something we noticed: she repurposes like a pro.
Her posts often include a tight, useful summary – and sometimes link to a full video or blog. She adapts content for the format, gives value upfront, and only offers more if readers want it.
Don’t be a marketer
Hyping Reddit, people love to toss around the advice: “Don’t sound like a marketer there.” Duh. OpenPhone shows what that actually looks like in practice:
→ Own your bias, then add value. When Daryna mentions OpenPhone, she’s upfront about her connection and follows with advice or insights that help readers either way.
→ Always show up with something to give. She treats Reddit like a dinner party: don’t arrive empty-handed. Her go-to gifts? Data, real lessons, or relatable stories.
→ Don’t over-polish. A quick Loom screen share can outperform a glossy product video.
→ Blend in with the subreddit. That early breakout post? It resonated because it
matched the vibe of r/EntrepreneurRideAlong, a space for founders sharing their journey.
Reddit’s not magic. But if you treat it like a conversation, it just might be your most underrated channel, which OpenPhone proves with their helpful posts.
Example #5: Owner.com’s videos that book them 200+ demos
B2B video gets a bad rap (expensive, hard to measure, no one watches it, so what’s the point??). That’s why I bookmarked Owner.com’s content the moment I saw it. A software platform for small restaurants, they show how B2B video content can work.
In 2024 alone, their YouTube channel had 2M+ organic views, 15k+ new subscribers, and 200+ demo requests. Gong data also shows a direct link between YouTube views and prospects bringing up the videos on sales calls.
It’s not just YouTube. Their Instagram (where they mostly share short-form video) grew 4,000% this year, from 874 to over 37k followers. They posted 85% less than their top competitor, Toast, and outpaced them.
“It’s a ton of work but super rewarding,” says Nolan McCoy, Owner.com’s Director of Content Marketing.
So, what’s their strategy?
This sketch from Nolan says it all:
As Nolan puts it: “The key is that you don’t make B2B content on YouTube.”
What does that mean? They take cues from top YouTube creators, from pacing to thumbnails, hire high-quality freelance editors, and keep their CEO front and center on camera.
They don’t just summarize blog posts in a video form
Instead of just packing up blog posts in video form like many companies do, Owner.com makes content that’s built for YouTube from the ground up.
One example: here’s their blog post and YouTube video on the same topic – best restaurant website builders.
Let’s quickly compare them:
Each format gets its own treatment, with fitting structure and CTAs. And the founder’s voice is what stays front and center in both.
Example #6: PostHog’s 50k+ newsletter that became a brand and a bar to beat
Before we get into the why and how of PostHog’s newsletter, a quick (but very much necessary) detour:
Thanks. Back to the point.
PostHog is an analytics platform for product engineers. Their newsletter, Product for Engineers, is a natural extension of how the team builds, thinks, and leads: radically open.
Every issue shares honest, focused tips at the intersection of product, engineering, and startup life. It's written by technical folks for technical folks – and for curious minds who want to learn more about how great products get built. The newsletter is the centerpiece of their content, and every issue gets their CEO, James, a Twitter and a LinkedIn post.
They didn’t launch the newsletter to drive signups
In fact, they don’t even track that. For PostHog, it’s a brand awareness exercise. One they take seriously.
“We set a high bar – and it’s kind of painful sometimes,” says Andy Vandervell, their Content & Docs Lead. “But we always want to match or surpass it.”
The exercise is paying off because the newsletter is in great shape. Their subscriber list nearly tripled in the past six months, hitting 50K+ in early 2025.
Here's another cool thing Andy shared: the newsletter has also become a strong recruitment tool. “We get a lot of people applying to work at PostHog because they’d read about our culture in the newsletter, and wanted to be part of it.” Now that’s brand awareness doing its job.
PostHog’s long-term goal? A media business within the business. The newsletter is just phase one.
Some advice on writing a newsletter picked from Andy
→ Be opinionated. Not to bait for clicks, but to take a stance. “If you’re not a little scared of people disagreeing with you, you’ll never cut through.”
→ Get super specific. Don’t just write for “marketers.” Write for marketers at 10-person SaaS companies who manage content and ops. That level of focus.
→ Figure out what's good first, then how you can scale it. → Quality > quantity.
→ Hire people who get it. Most of PostHog’s content folks have tech backgrounds. They speak the language and don’t need engineers to translate. “Finding these people is harder, but the payoff is huge. They can write about things most marketers can’t.”
Writers who get the audience make more relevant content. That might come from experience, like at PostHog. Or from effort, like the team at Runn (our last example), where several content marketers got certified in resource management just to write more credibly about the space.
(Oh, and one last rec: go poke around their Handbook. It’s thoughtful, full of little brand gems, and open. For example, they have a short page about how they experimented with YouTube and why they hit pause – complete with learnings. ❤️)
Example #7. Preply’s blog built by three people that earns tens of thousands a month
Nadiia Mikhalevych joined online learning platform Preply in 2020 as a content manager. Back then, the content team had just two in-house writers producing all blog content.
Four years later?
→ The same team publishes 150+ articles per quarter.
→ Traffic grew from 2M+ views/quarter to 2M+ views/month.
→ The blog brings in tens of thousands of dollars in monthly revenue.
How did they grow this much? They restructured their small team. The two writers became content marketers – part editors, part producers, part strategists. They work with 10+ freelance writers, all with strong portfolios and communication skills, and aim to build long-term relationships with them. Tools like Narrato helped them manage briefs, drafts, edits, and feedback.
Note: Nadiya recently left Preply, but the system she helped build still runs strong. She kindly shared a few extra insights for this piece.
To keep quality high, they built a detailed style guide covering tone, formatting, structure, and principles. “We rarely needed overly detailed briefs. The guide covered all the basics, and we chose strong writers,” says Nadiya. It sped up onboarding and kept content consistent as they scaled.
Content that earns its keep
Preply tracks both traffic and revenue of each article, down to the day. They monitor how much each article earns, how long people stay, and whether they visit high-intent pages like the tutor directory. “For example, if a user reads two of our articles and then goes to view the tutors page, we count this as traffic with intent,” Nadiya says.
They also calculate user acquisition cost to keep tabs on ROI and compare content to other lead-gen channels.
Their top-of-funnel content (like grammar tips and language guides) builds traffic and brand awareness, while mid-funnel pieces (like “best apps to learn Spanish”) convert. They spot patterns like one high-intent article bringing in 5x more revenue than 50 traffic-focused ones.
Some moves and experiments that keep them moving?
→ Localization at scale. They publish in 15 languages, tailored to each market
→ Going beyond language learning. One post on “best countries to move to” performed so well they translated it and turned it into a video.
→ Audio experiments. They used ElevenLabs for voiceovers. Quality was strong, but scaling it proved tough due to workflow.
→ Ongoing optimization. Every quarter, they update 20–40 articles to stay fresh, fight competitors, and boost EEAT.
Preply didn’t scale by chasing trends. They built a system, kept it tight, and kept it moving. Small team, smart structure, big returns.
Example #8. Runn’s ToFu experiment that brought them 650K+ page views and 3K+ leads
You’re a small SaaS with organic traffic that’s barely a blip. You want to compete with the big guys – think Asana, Atlassian, ClickUp. What do you do?
When Iryna Viter joined Runn, a resource management platform, as Head of Content Marketing in 2021, her team tried something unusual: they published 30+ book summaries. The books covered topics their audience cared about – leadership, project management, workforce planning, people management, and the like. They hired a dedicated freelancer to read and summarize each one (basically a dream gig if you love reading).
The result?
“We went past 100,000 total visitors per month, with ~30% of that traffic attributed to the summaries,” Iryna shares. “Among other results are a few thousand contacts in Hubspot, backlinks we never expected to get, and credibility in management and leadership topics.”
⚠️ Note: They did pause the experiment after 30+ summaries, worried that Google might associate the brand too much with books instead of software. But summaries were just a 1/4 part of a strategy. The rest targeted long-tail keywords tied to pains their product solves.
Traffic alone has a “Nice, but…so what?” vibe. But for Runn, it was the perfect starting point – their push into a packed train at rush hour, if you will, claiming a spot alongside big players.
That push opened lots of doors. After reading the summaries, people subscribed to the blog, signed up for trials, and even checked out the pricing page. The team also shared the summaries in their newsletter and quickly became one of the most popular rubrics.
So why did this whole experiment work? Iryna think that’s because of:
✔️ Little competition in search
✔️ High interest from their audience
✔️ Many relevant books to choose from
“A summary will never be enough to convert a reader into a deal,” says Iryna. “But it can put your brand on the map for the right people.”
And if your follow-up content connects the dots? That traffic becomes a real channel.
What ties all these wins together?
Hard-working teams creating high-impact content ecosystems! 🚀
Sorry, couldn’t help it :D
Each company picked one format and produced quality content in it, whether it was video, Reddit, a newsletter, or an out-of-the-box ToFu experiment. Some wins drove brand awareness. Others brought in leads. Some did both.
They repurpose, reshape, and distribute their content, making sure every piece stays relevant to the people they want to reach.
No hacks. Just valuable content, packaged with care.
