Artificial intelligence has become a hot topic in the digital space in recent months. At Crowd Content, we’re excited to embrace this opportunity to better serve our current and future clients. And while we see numerous ways that AI can both create content and assist in making the process for human-written content more efficient, rest assured, we will not replace our current offerings that include high-quality content written by skilled people.
We help small to large businesses produce high-quality, people-first content, and we’ve been doing it for more than a decade. Our clients choose us because our people take the time to learn their needs and those of their audience and deliver content that serves both.
AI can produce somewhat decent content when viewed at a glance, but a deeper look shows the lack of depth, research, and insight that only a human can create. In fact, in a recent Crowd Content fireside chat, Lily Ray, a highly respected and well-known SEO strategist, remarked that if everyone were to start publishing AI content, it would all be similar and lack the uniqueness good content needs. Search engines value unique content that solves the searcher’s query and is created for people and backed by research, data, and expertise.
In terms of search, Google hasn’t condemned AI-generated content. But what they have said is clear. Regardless of how it’s produced, their algorithm rewards high-quality content that follows E-E-A-T and helpful content principles, especially when it comes to “your money, your life” (YMYL) content. Since AI can only regurgitate what it sees online, its content will add little value to what already exists.
We’re working tirelessly with our writers, editors, and subject matter experts to ensure the content we deliver to our clients is written, edited, and reviewed by humans. Those who expect human-written content will receive it, guaranteed. We’re currently in the process of integrating technology to help us deliver that assurance at scale.
But despite this strong stance, we do recognize that AI has fantastic upside when used properly.
It’s a new toy; we get it. We understand that many of you want to give it a go with AI, and we firmly believe that there are use cases for it — beginning in strategy and ideation all the way through to preparation and production. To better serve you in those areas, we’ll be releasing new AI products and services in the coming weeks, including:
These all-in-one-place services help you ideate, generate, and optimize content using AI without jumping between tools and providers — and at an affordable price.
The search landscape and content marketing will continue to evolve, as it always has, over the coming months. Microsoft’s Bing search engine is moving to an AI-powered model, and Google is set to release Bard, its own version of a conversational chatbot powered by LaMDA. These releases, along with the expected advancements that time brings, demand that marketers and content creators evolve too.
At Crowd Content, we intend to do just that — but without losing sight of what’s truly important to our clients. We will continue to produce outstanding human-written content for clients whose futures depend very heavily on it, and we’ll use AI to serve clients where AI products make sense.
Stay tuned for more updates on our new AI services.
Victoria, B.C. – May 12, 2022 — Crowd Content Media has acquired Content Refined, a content marketing platform that helps businesses scale content creation, along with its subsidiary, Rocket Content AI.
This marks Crowd Content’s first acquisition since joining the portfolios of Canada-based Sage Capital and California-based Cetina Capital in November 2020. The move aligns with Crowd Content’s aggressive push to increase market share and expand its product offerings to include content strategy, SEO services, and AI-based products.
“Content marketing is an increasingly competitive landscape that remains a necessary investment for businesses to establish their brands and expand their customer bases,” explains Carlos Meza, CEO of Crowd Content. “We’re solving the challenges that businesses face with content production by building an all-in-one content solution focused on guiding companies on their journey from content strategy through publication. Acquiring Content Refined and Rocket Content AI pushes us closer to achieving this goal.”
Since 2011, Crowd Content has helped brands create publish-ready content at scale through its powerful self-serve marketplace tools and fully managed services. Over 6,000 clients, including Best Buy, Semrush, Walmart, and Indeed, have leveraged Crowd Content’s in-house content managers and freelance writers, editors, subject matter experts, and translators to execute on high-volume content projects that are all but impossible to accomplish internally.
Content Refined’s focus on content strategy and publication combined with the innovative AI technology of Rocket Content AI cement Crowd Content’s evolution from pure content writing to a true one-stop content solution.
“Businesses that invest in their content strategies stand out from their competition and see their profits grow,” says Content Refined General Manager Narcis Bejtic. “It’s Content Refined’s passion to facilitate these investments for business owners and content managers, and Crowd Content’s commitment to providing scalable content solutions for businesses perfectly complements these values.”
With the acquisition, Content Refined’s proven talent team, including management, writers, editors, and project managers, gain access to a broader set of resources to help support their expansive base of clients and propel them toward continued and aggressive growth.
About Crowd Content
Based in Victoria, B.C., Crowd Content Media is a leading content creation service provider. Its platform connects talented writers and editors with businesses in need of high-quality, publish-ready content at scale. Crowd Content serves enterprise and SMB customers through its cloud portal, where it provides self-serve and fully managed content services.
About Content Refined
Based in Collingwood, ON, Content Refined provides unique content solutions for niche companies to help them drive organic traffic to their sites with a unique focus on content strategy through dedicated project managers and content packages. Its AI-driven subsidiary Rocket Content AI augments their offerings by combining AI content writing with human editing.
Media Contact
Nizam Uddin
Head of Growth and Demand Generation, Crowd Content
Victoria, BC, December 1 2021: Crowd Content Media, a company that helps businesses create content at any scale, is pleased to launch its new subject matter expert (SME) network and accompanying SME review service aimed at helping marketers create expert-level content at any scale.
“We’ve heard our clients, who are some of the web’s most talented marketers, loud and clear – they need expert level content to rank well in Google and impress their readers,” says Rick Leach, Content Director at Crowd Content. “That can be really challenging. Finding an expert is tough, but finding enough to keep up with large content creation programs is even tougher. Our SME network and review service make that easy and can keep up with even the largest content programs.”
Today’s launch is the culmination of months of expert recruitment and technology development. Crowd Content now boasts a roster of hundreds of SMEs spanning virtually any industry and proprietary technology that matches verified experts in each client’s industry to review their custom written content. SMEs perform a final review to ensure accuracy, add their expert insights, and attach their byline (if requested). This lets clients create large volumes of expert-level content that’s authoritative, accurate, on-brand, and ready to publish.
With a mandate to help marketers create amazing content that drives SEO results, Crowd Content will continue to develop services and technology that makes content creation more efficient and effective.
About Crowd Content
Founded in 2013, Crowd Content Media is a leading content creation service provider based in Victoria, BC. Its global platform connects talented writers and editors with businesses in need of high-quality, publish-ready content at scale. To date, Crowd Content has served more than 8,000 enterprise and SMB customers across 81 countries through its cloud portal, which provides self-serve and fully managed content services.
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For further information: Carlos Meza, President & CEO, Crowd Content: 888.983.3103 , [email protected]
VICTORIA, BC, May 4, 2021 – Crowd Content Media, a leading content creation service provider that helps global brands create high-quality, large-scale content, is pleased to welcome Cathy Fernandes, President and CEO of Mr. & Mrs. Jones Inc., to its Board of Directors.
“The strength of our Board lies in the fact that it comprises professionals who have a passion for the content creation industry and the experience to back up their thoughts and ideas,” says Carlos Meza, President and CEO of Crowd Content. “With her passion, energy, and experience, Cathy fits that bill.”
A seasoned marketing, advertising, and digital strategy professional, Fernandes has had her finger on the pulse of industry trends for 25+ years. This, combined with her understanding of customer needs and her enthusiastic engagement in Crowd Content’s platform, augments the company’s ability to execute a long-term growth strategy that will continue to enhance the value proposition of its simple yet powerful content creation process.
Digital content is becoming increasingly vital to brands looking to expand their reach. According to IBISWorld, internet traffic has been growing at an annual rate of 26.4%, and in 2020 alone, eCommerce grew by 44%. For eight consecutive years, Crowd Content has achieved significant year-over-year revenue growth and outstanding retention metrics – testament to the growing demand for content creation solutions and, in particular, the proprietary production process that has earned Crowd Content the business of more than 8,000 clients and counting since its 2013 launch.
“Crowd Content is already helping small businesses and large enterprises create high volumes of quality content in an extremely cost-effective manner,” says Fernandes, “and their long-term strategy promises to be an even bigger game-changer for digital marketers. I’m excited to play a role in bringing that strategy to life.”
(more…)Acquisition will help accelerate innovation and growth plans; Founder Clayton Lainsbury to remain on Board
Victoria, BC – January 6, 2021 — Crowd Content Media, a company that helps businesses create content at any scale, is pleased to announce that it has been acquired by an investment group that includes Canadian-based Sage Capital and Northern California-based Cetina Capital.
Since 2011, Crowd Content has been helping brands create publish-ready content at scale. The company differs from other content providers in that the experienced production team uses several layers of quality control to ensure content matches the brand style guidelines and requirements of the organizations they work with. Crowd Content has over 6000 clients, including Lowe’s, WordPress, and 3M.
The acquisition will help to accelerate Crowd Content’s growth plans, and will allow for investment into the platform and its capabilities. Crowd Content will utilize the investment to bring to market innovative content creation tools that leverage AI technology.
Crowd Content Founder Clayton Lainsbury will remain involved in the business, and will hold a seat on the Board of Directors post-acquisition.
(more…)Victoria, BC, March 9, 2020: Crowd Content Media, a company that helps businesses create content at any scale, released details on its 2019 performance today, highlighted by revenue growth of 70%.
The company states that strong growth of its enterprise content program and outstanding retention metrics of large customers were both major contributors in 2019, propelling the company to grow top-line revenue by 70% over 2018.
Crowd Content also highlighted success with its self-serve platform, which lets businesses create large volumes of content quickly with little to no interaction from Crowd Content staff. Several self-serve customers are now creating upwards of 1,000 articles per month on the platform, realizing enterprise-like results without the use of fully managed services.
“Innovative platform upgrades and acceleration of our enterprise sales and marketing program were key to the company’s performance in 2019,” said Clayton Lainsbury, Crowd Content CEO. “Our continued efforts to optimize technology to support large-scale content projects of any kind are paying dividends by allowing organizations with high-volume, ongoing content needs to scale up and maintain quality content production. This has resulted in the retention and growth of our biggest customers.”
Victoria, BC, May 2, 2019: Crowd Content Media, a leading content writing service helping businesses create content at any scale, shared today that it has been selected as a finalist for the Victoria Innovation, Advanced Technology and Entrepreneurship Council’s (VIATEC) Scale-Up of the Year Award.
The 19th annual VIATEC Awards recognize technology companies based in Victoria, BC that are excelling in their spaces and contributing to the growth of the tech industry in the region.
The Scale-Up of the Year award is focused on highlighting established companies in the Greater Victoria tech scene that are rapidly scaling operations and revenue.
“I’m thrilled to be recognized as a finalist for the Scale-Up of the Year award,” said Crowd Content CEO Clayton Lainsbury. “We did a ton of work in 2018 to drive 48% revenue growth compared to 2017, and it’s really rewarding to be recognized by our peers for those results. We’ve been active in the VIATEC community since Crowd Content was founded in 2010. We support their goal of growing the tech industry in Victoria, and it’s just a tremendous honour to have them recognize us with this nomination.”
Victoria, BC, April 2, 2019: Crowd Content Media, a company that helps businesses create content at any scale, released details on its 2018 performance today, highlighted by revenue growth of 48%.
The company states that its enterprise content program was a strong contributor to the growth, posting a 230% year-over-year revenue increase in 2018. Crowd Content’s enterprise program includes fully managed content creation services powered by the company’s proprietary platform. An experienced in-house project management team and a workforce of 6,000+ professional writers and editors rounds out the service, enabling Crowd Content to deliver publish-ready content at scale to clients.
“As a company, we made several important strides in 2018, but I’m especially excited about the rapid growth in our enterprise division,” said Clayton Lainsbury, Crowd Content CEO. “We’ve built a great team headed by our Director of Enterprise Production, Lisa Rohner, and they’ve done an amazing job servicing and retaining the world’s most prominent brands.”
Lainsbury added that he’s happy to see such a diverse range of clients succeeding with the enterprise program. “We’re working with major retailers, comparison shopping sites, marketing agencies, publishers and other types of businesses. Each of these clients has unique content requirements, and our flexible technology has been a big plus in helping us deliver custom solutions, which in turn produce better results.”
(more…)Victoria, BC, February 28, 2019: Crowd Content Media, a company that helps businesses create content at any scale, reported today it achieved 138% revenue growth in January 2019 compared to January 2018.
The company shared that both its enterprise content division, which provides some of the world’s largest brands with fully-managed content creation services, and its self-service platform, which lets marketers connect directly with with over 6,000 professional writers, contributed to this growth.
While both divisions saw substantial growth, CEO Clayton Lainsbury highlighted that significant platform upgrades currently being beta tested by select clients have enabled publishers to scale their content in a big way on the self-service platform.
“We’re moving several key power features from our enterprise division to our self-service platform,” stated Lainsbury. “Traditionally, these tools were used only by our in-house managed services team. Now, self-service clients have direct access to these tools and it’s helping them scale their content creation efforts similar to what we’ve been doing in-house on the enterprise side.”
One of these features lets customers create structured templates and converts them to a content editor that writers work within. It allows customers to create highly detailed content at scale because each field within the template can be accompanied with specific instructions, character counts, word counts and SEO requirements. The system performs automatic quality checks to ensure all requirements are met before writers submit the work to the client.
(more…)Victoria, BC, December 13, 2018: Crowd Content Media, a company that helps businesses create content at any scale, announced today year-over-year revenue growth of 90% for the first two months of Q4 2018.
During the period from October 1, 2018 to November 30, 2018, the company generated 90% more revenue than during the same period in 2017. On top of that, during September of 2018, Crowd Content generated 147% revenue growth over September of 2017.
Through its proprietary content creation platform, Crowd Content operates a self-serve marketplace and provides fully managed services for enterprise customers with large-scale projects. “We’ve seen growth this year from both business units,” stated Crowd Content CEO, Clayton Lainsbury. “It’s a good feeling when you have two well-developed revenue streams working effectively. We’re even seeing some customers leverage both self-serve and managed services, which is great.” Lainsbury indicates the revenue split between self-serve and managed services for 2018 is approximately 50%.