Animalz

Senior Content Marketer

Creating amazing content for fintech and tech companies and handle everything to do with content marketing. Some of the things we do include:

- Drafting a content strategy tailored to increase growth
- Managing content publishing and production
- Tracking content analytics and engagement
- Creating a funnel and content for each step
- Help agencies and companies with their content creation needs
- Generate ROI through top-notch content
- Generate highly qualified SQLs

Content Strategist | Content Writer

SJB Media

Produce high-quality articles for an institutional finance audience. Published in SJB magazines eForex and FX Algo News

Financial Writer | Market Commentary | Journalist

Versapay

Freelance Writer

Black Dot Agency

Content Strategist

Ramp

Content Writer

Cloud Insurance

Create and manage content marketing campaigns and collateral.

Marketing Content Manager | Content strategist | SEO strategist

Gotham Ghostwriters

Axial

Authored article in private equity LMM sector

Financial Writer

SunTec Business Solutions

Created thought leadership and BOFU content

I solve content marketing for early stage/Series A fintechs | Content Strategy Services | Financial Writer

I help fintech and tech companies reduce CAC with high authority content without fussy never-ending retainers. 

Former and current clients: Ramp, Versapay, JP Morgan Chase, RBS, MANTL.

I also write articles for an institutional finance audience as a financial writer for eForex and FX Algo News, two leading publications in the industry.

It was quite a ride while it lasted but I'm no longer working for Animalz. Hence the #opentowork badge that I haven't used for almost 3 years now.

I'm looking to add one client to my current roster of freelance clients (who, as always, I'm extremely thankful for.)

If you're a fintech or financial company searching for the following:

- A content writer and marketer with over 5 years of experience
- A writer with journalism experience
- A content marketer who can build your strategy from scratch
- A marketer with access to a network of fintech SMEs to promote your content

Feel free to reach out! 👇 

My highlight reel:

- Past and current clients include Ramp, Versapay, Drivetrain, MANTL, JP Morgan Chase, RBS, and a host of NDA-protected SaaS companies.

- Sub-niches I've written for: AR/AP automation, Expense management, FP&A, Open banking, RevOps, Paytech (issuers and acquirers), IaaS, factoring/working capital financing, payment fraud and compliance, regulatory affairs.

- Other niches I've written for: Supply chain financing/data handling/logistics, Ecommerce financing, executive thought leadership.

- Types of content I've produced: Long-form (blogs, whitepapers, interview-based content, etc) social, video shorts.

See what clients say about me in the comments. 👇 


Vivek Shankar

Stop relying on made up metrics like "keyword difficulty" when figuring out what content to create.

When getting started with SEO, common advice tells you to go after high volume/low keyword difficulty (KD) phrases.

However, this is rubbish advice because:
- Keyword volumes are inaccurate
- KD is made up metric. It's almost always inaccurate

It's like relying on a used car dealer's star rating when buying a vehicle.

𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱, 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗵𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘇𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗲𝘀.

As more people become aware of what you do, you'll see those search volumes pick up.

Even better, those phrases will attract highly qualified buyers since the general public isn't searching for such esoteric terms.

For example: Keywords like strategic finance, RPO, payfac, payfac as a service, ISO vs payfac, etc didn't have high volumes until a couple years ago.

Stop worrying about search volumes. And definitely ditch incorrect metrics like KD.

Instead, focus on what you do and traffic will come.

Reason number 456345 why I love Linkedin:

The support I received after my previous post was amazing. And pleasantly surprising to me. 

I wasn't aware that some people in my network have been following my progress here over the past few years. It's something I'm extremely thankful for.

A big thank you to everyone who reached out, both via the post and my DMs.

I'm not quite out of the woods yet, but I feel secure enough to remove the #opentowork off my profile.

Once again, a big thank you to everyone who offered support! 

Happy to see my piece on FX Swaps in the latest print edition of eForex.

Many thanks to Jay Moore , Brian Bunyan , Phil Hermon , Stephan von Massenbach , and Peer Joost for contributing!

I'll admit, I misunderstood the role content plays in a sales-led org.

Until recently, I thought a sales-led motion benefited more by hiring a content writer instead of a content marketer.

A few reasons why:
👉  Past experiences
👉 The lack of typical "ideation" sources
👉 Dense products that are better demoed than talked about

But these companies need content for brand building, which is what boosts MQLs and other pipeline metrics sales tracks.

If I was running content at such a company, here's how I'd structure it:

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 1: 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁

This can be campaign-related, newsjacked pieces, sponsored articles in trade pubs, PR, etc. I'd also review product pages for KW relevance and buy backlinks to them (sorry Google.)

Gate as many of these assets (if relevant to the sector's rhythms) as possible.

Track these through the usual KPIs like brand searches, conversions, etc.

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 2: 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴

This is the creative bit. Depending on ICP preferences, I'd choose between podcasts, webinars, social vertical video shows, event promos, etc.

Definitely be on social and present a human face (Something a lot of sales-led orgs face issues with) by highlighting employee achievements etc. 

The key messaging here is evergreen, cutting to the core of what the brand is about (as Haris Spahić 🧈often talks about.)

Metrics? This is a tough one. Social engagement is one place to begin. Mentions in industry chatter is another.

But I can't think of specific metrics here (which is a problem for most brand marketers I think?)

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀? 
Management buy-in.

Which I doubt most content marketers will secure.

But hey, one can dream!

Fintech content programs suffer from what I call headline-itis.

What is headline-itis? It's when a company believes it has enough to talk about, thinking it's a strategy.

Example:

👉 Company: Let's do a blog about the best tools for X!
👉 CM: So...just a list of tools? Is there an angle here?
👉 Company: Well, if we mention them, they'll notice us!
👉 CM: That's a good social post, not an article.
👉 Company: But how will Google notice us?
👉 CM: 😡 😭 🤦‍♀️ 

𝗔 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁/𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁.

Headline-itis is just a wall with a bunch of shitty ideas thrown onto it and you hoping something sticks.

Happy to see my article about better cash flow forecasting through automated cash application live on Versapay's blog.

And (UX nerd alert):

👉 Even happier that Jordan Zenko let me play around with bulleted paras instead of h3s which I feel make a better impression on page!

Check it out:

Taplio

Vivek Shankar's Linkedin Analytics

Vivek Shankar

What is Vivek talking about?

Vivek Shankar's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Taplio

.css-1jgreyo{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39,43,72,1) 0%, rgba(33,47,183,1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Vivek Shankar's Linkedin Analytics

Vivek Shankar

What is Vivek talking about?

Vivek Shankar's Best Posts .css-qqfgvy{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);}(last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Vivek Shankar's Linkedin Analytics

Vivek Shankar's Best Posts (last 30 days)