Written.com, a new start-up out of Austin, Texas, announced this week that it has raised $1 million in seed capital. The funding is contributed by LiveOak Venture Partners, Floodgate and a number of angel backers. The Company provides a platform for marketers to connect with existing highly-engaged audiences for their products and services.
CEO and co-founder Josh Kerr explained that the company is offering an entirely new approach to content marketing and is turning the standard model completely around. The current procedure is usually for companies to create content that does not directly advertise their business and then to post it to their own website and social media platforms afterwards. This involves the process of creating the content and then seeking an audience to become engaged with it. The alternative Written’s approach is to align the company with material that is already having success. It works with companies and brands to ascertain the audience that they wish to reach and then to locate the web content that already reaches that particular audience.
Written has a choice of different types of content licensing options designed for the advertiser to reach the right viewers. Advertisers may opt to re-brand an existing blog page, move the content to their own site and re-direct the traffic to it, or simply re-publish the content on their own blog. This gives advertisers a sure-fire approach to finding a ready-made audience while at the same time providing convenient revenue for the original content producers and bloggers.
Kerr is convinced that writers should be much more handsomely compensated for what he regards as their important input to society. Whether this view will stand up in the longer term is uncertain, but these campaigns do have the promise of more lucrative opportunities for bloggers.
Of course, there is always the risk that bloggers may start adapting their writing to suit the advertisers’ needs. However, there shouldn’t really be much of a concern, as both advertisers and bloggers are best served with worthwhile content that attracts and appeals, and builds loyalty, rather than a turn-off piece of advertising copy.
Written.com has managed to stand out and bring a refreshing take to a very crowded marketplace, offering a potential win – a win for marketers and bloggers alike.
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