Brief
The U.S. merchant account services market is a battlefield. New tech disruptors are storming the field, legacy giants are digging in, and a handful of former titans are losing ground fast. This is not just a story of numbers, but of people, technology, and the relentless drive for relevance. Here’s who’s winning, who’s losing, and why it matters for your next career move, your sales strategy, or your business’s bottom line.

The SMB Payments Market at a Glance

Sources: TSG Payments, Business News Today, company filings, industry interviews

The SMB Payments Rising Stars: The Disruptors Changing the Game

Shopify POS
Shopify is no longer just an e-commerce platform. Its POS system is now the go-to for D2C brands and pop-ups, letting retailers unify online and in-store sales, launch new locations in weeks, and leverage deep customer data.

“Shopify POS gives us one customer view whether they click or tap a card. That’s been a game-changer for our retail expansion.”
— Travis Boyce, Head of Global Retail, Allbirds (Shopify Blog)

Retail on Demand
This shift toward omnichannel isn’t just theory. In May 2024, sleepwear brand Lunya opened three NYC pop-ups in just 21 days using Shopify’s “tap-to-open” iPhone POS. Local press called it “retail on demand,” and Shopify’s stock jumped 7% that week as analysts cited the event as proof of Shopify’s physical retail momentum.
Read more – Women’s Wear Daily, 5/17/24

Toast
Toast is the restaurant industry’s secret weapon. With features like ingredient tracking, kitchen displays, and payroll, it’s not just a POS—it’s a full restaurant operating system. Sweetgreen credits Toast with reducing waste by 15% and speeding up service by 20%.

“Toast isn’t a POS; it’s our sous-chef.”
— Jonathan Neman, CEO, Sweetgreen (Business News Today)

Tip War Fallout
This focus on specialization paid off during Toast’s “tip war” controversy in 2023. After media and customer backlash over automatic tip prompts, Toast responded by rolling out customizable tip screens and launching a “restaurant tech bootcamp” for staff. This quick, industry-specific response restored trust and improved client retention, showing how vertical focus can turn a crisis into a loyalty win.
Read more – The Wall Street Journal, 7/18/23

Helcim
Helcim is winning over cost-conscious SMBs with radical transparency. Its viral moment came when a Reddit thread revealed real savings and honest pricing, leading to a 50% spike in sign-ups.

“Dropped my processing bill from $400 to $320 the first month—no PCI junk fees, no ‘non-qualified’ surcharges.”
— u/mainstreetbooks (r/smallbusiness)

Reddit Goes Viral
This shift toward transparency isn’t just theory. In 2024, a viral Reddit post titled “Helcim vs. Everyone” saw dozens of business owners share screenshots of their savings after switching to Helcim. The company’s CEO even joined the discussion, answering questions directly. This public engagement and openness led to a measurable surge in new customers, confirming that transparent pricing is now a competitive necessity.
Read more – Helcim Blog, 6/2/24

The SMB Payments Giants: Defending Their Turf

Square (Block)
Still the king for microbusinesses and retail, Square’s ecosystem is unmatched for simplicity and breadth. Its new AI-driven loyalty and inventory tools are helping retailers like The Sill boost sales and reduce out-of-stocks.

“Square’s AI-driven inventory suggestions have helped us keep our bestsellers in stock and cut lost sales.”
— Eliza Blank, CEO, The Sill (Business News Today)

AI Boosts Sales
The power of AI isn’t just hype. In January 2025, Square rolled out its AI Loyalty Lab to 10,000 pilot merchants. Early results showed a 7% increase in average basket size. The move was covered by Forbes, which called it “a shot across the bow at legacy POS.”
Read more – Forbes, 1/15/25

Clover (Fiserv)
Clover’s strength is its deep integration with banks like Bank of America, making it the default for many new business accounts. Its hardware and app marketplace keep it competitive.

“Our partnership with Clover has made it easier for small businesses to get the tools they need, right from their bank.”
— Sharon Miller, President of Small Business, Bank of America (Business News Today)

Bank Partnership Pays
This strategy isn’t just theoretical. In Q1 2024, Bank of America began bundling Clover POS with new business checking accounts. The result was a 25% jump in new merchant accounts and a surge in positive reviews, demonstrating the power of bank partnerships in driving POS adoption.
Read more – American Banker, 4/2/24

PayPal/Zettle, Stripe, Adyen
These giants dominate online and hybrid commerce, with Stripe and Adyen especially strong among tech-forward and global SMBs.

DOJ Cracks Down
The importance of fair competition was highlighted in 2023, when Stripe agreed to a $120 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over alleged anti-competitive practices. The company responded by opening its API to more third-party integrations, which analysts say helped it regain trust among developers and SMBs.
Read more – Reuters, 9/14/23

The SMB Payments Losers: Why the Old Guard Is Retreating

Worldpay (FIS), TSYS (Global Payments), Elavon
Once titans, these legacy providers are losing contracts and sales talent at an accelerating pace.

• Worldpay lost a multi-state apparel chain to Shopify after a repricing standoff; leaked memos cite “product gaps vs. omnichannel challengers.” (Brand Spur NG)
• TSYS and Elavon are seeing double-digit attrition as reps defect to disruptors and SMBs demand better tech and clearer pricing.

Sales Team Exodus
The impact of outdated tech and poor support became clear in late 2024, when a viral LinkedIn post by a former Worldpay sales manager described a “mass exodus” of reps to Square and Toast. The post cited “opaque quotas and outdated tech” as key reasons for leaving, sparking a debate on Glassdoor and highlighting how lack of support and innovation can drive talent away.
Read more – LinkedIn, 11/18/24

The SMB Payments Talent War: How the Best Recruit, Train, and Keep Sales Teams

Bootcamp Boosts Retention
The value of investing in sales talent was proven when, after launching its “Restaurant Tech Bootcamp,” Toast saw a 30% increase in new-hire retention and poached dozens of sales leaders from legacy providers, as reported by Business News Today.
Read more – Business News Today, 8/15/24

The SMB Payments Market players. What Should You Do?

For Job Seekers:

• Don’t just ask about commission—ask about inbound leads, demo support, and product fit.
• Choose companies that invest in onboarding and have a product you’re proud to sell.

For HR and MASP Leaders:

• Speed up onboarding, invest in training, and be transparent about comp and quotas.
• Build partnerships and vertical expertise to stand out.

For SMB Owners:

• Use the competition to your advantage: get multiple quotes, demand clear pricing, and ask for references.
• Choose a provider that understands your industry, not just payments in general.

The Bottom Line

The war for America’s SMB payments is being won by those who move fast, solve real problems, and treat both merchants and employees as partners. The old playbook is obsolete. The new one is being written by rising stars, defended by giants, and abandoned by those who can’t keep up.

Sources & Further Reading

• TSG Payments, 2025 Directory Rankings
• Business News Today: Top POS platforms in 2025
• Shopify Blog: Merchant Services
• Brand Spur NG: Top Ten Payments Companies 2024
• Newsweek: Best Merchant Account Service Providers 2025
• Women’s Wear Daily: Shopify Pop-Up Lunya
• Forbes: Square AI Loyalty Lab Launch
• American Banker: Bank of America Clover POS Bundle
• Helcim Blog: Helcim vs. Legacy Processors
• LinkedIn: Worldpay Sales Exodus
• Reuters: Stripe DOJ Settlement
• The Wall Street Journal: Toast Tip Feature Controversy

Join the Discussion:
Is this war good for SMBs, or does it just create confusion? Can legacy giants stage a comeback, or are they doomed to retreat? Will the next big winner be a tech disruptor, a niche specialist, or a company we haven’t even heard of yet?
Share your stories, predictions, and questions below. The next chapter in the battle for America’s SMB payments is being written right now—will you be part of it?

By Vladislav Vorkel
Product designer at Yandex.
Founder of the service for finding internships: https://t.me/Intern_Sheep.
Author’s blog: https://t.me/designvorkel

My internship search product currently has over 300 paying users, and it generates a monthly income equivalent to the salary of an average IT professional. I dreamed of creating a product that people would use, even if just a couple of them.

Hello, I’m Vlad Workel, a product designer at Yandex and the creator of InternSheep, a community with internships for designers. I’ll share how I really wanted my product and how I made it happen.

…

Roughly, this is how my dog helped in creating the product.

Internship search: where did the dream originated

I am a product designer and have worked in product roles, but I have always been interested in looking beyond the design field. I wanted to experience a product from all perspectives, from the idea, development, and demand to working with my team. Moreover, having my own product means it’s solely my responsibility, my decisions, and only my success or failure.

In simpler terms, it’s like crafting a wooden bow for a child that actually shoots, and then proudly running to show it to the adults.

The first attempt

About 1.5 years ago, I decided to embark on my first project – Gradeup. It’s a test for designers that, upon completion, allows you to assess your skill level and receive a competency map. It is still operational, and you can find it here: gradeup.vercel.app.

I found a developer acquaintance who was just learning front-end, designed the interface, and created a test consisting of competency cards from various companies. Initially, we tested the demand for the MVP test using Google Forms, where the result was a PDF that I personally drew and sent to each test-taker. I initially found the first users through my channel, which had about 500 people at that time.

There were many different hypotheses on how to monetize this test, but we never got around to it. Perhaps it was because there was a lack of understanding of how to do it, or maybe it was because I had already burned out and lost faith. That’s when the idea of gathering internships for designers came to mind, as it is something everyone needs!

The second attempt

Yes, that’s the one: InternSheep. So, the main story will be about testing the hypothesis, how we implemented the service in a couple of days with a developer in a hackathon format, how we attracted the first users, how the internship bot turned into a community, and how we created an educational program.

How not to start

The first week, I spent on absolutely unnecessary research, thinking I had to do it the “right” way. I scripted interviews, found respondents, and asked them about their job search experiences, problems faced, and so on.

The truth is, research is necessary when you don’t understand the target audience or when launching the product costs more than the research itself. In my case, I had a clear understanding of the target audience’s problems because I had personally gone through internships, and everyone around me was job hunting. It was literally part of my daily life. As a result, I abandoned the research and started building the product.

My opinion (it’s just mine, but I like it): in personal projects, it’s better to solve your own problem, then you won’t need extensive research. If your solution works for you, it will likely work for someone else – we are not unique.

…

The simplest hypothesis test:
There is a website where only internships are published. Internships of all cool companies immediately appear on the website after the company posts them on its official website. You will receive a notification. Are you ready to subscribe to the service for 200 rubles?

Yes: 52%
No, I don’t need internships: 18%
No, I’m sorry for the money: 17%
No, I’ll write in the comments why: 1%

From idea to the first revenue in just a few days

So let’s begin! The idea of implementation was to write parsers for career websites of top Russian product companies, we started with 15. Write a bot in which parsers will instantly send internships to users. They decided to sell the service by subscription – 200₽ per month

I assembled Landos in 1 day using nocode. I found several respondents for a decision interview and sold 3 subscriptions to a non-existent product. I just remember how I almost begged for real payment – only the money on the card could confirm the hypothesis in my case. It was a little awkward, but I overcame myself))

So, 600 rubles on the card, 0 developments, 3 people are waiting for the product within 2 weeks.

Let’s start development

I messaged Roman, a developer from Yandex, shared the idea with him, and we immediately started implementation. We needed parsers!

What parsers? Are you stupid or what?

Roman Dubinsky

Roman’s righteous laziness prevented us from making that mistake. Finding a student from Voronezh who browsed 15 websites several times a day turned out to be 100 times easier and cheaper. Later on, we did write parsers for some websites, but that’s not as important now.

…

Those very parsers…

In less than a week, we did the most essential thing: a bot and its admin panel where we uploaded internships.

The bot consisted of…

The bot consisted of:

1. Choice of Specialty: We had 5 options, but in practice, only designers subscribed.
   .
2. Subscription Payment: Done through the external Donate bot directly in Telegram.
   .
3. Each Internship had a link to the vacancy.

The entire flow seemed quite convoluted and makeshift initially, or at least, that’s what we thought at the beginning. In reality, it turned out that almost no one got confused, and people joined us smoothly.

So, the launch!

Actually, when I received the first prepayments, I started warming up the audience in my channel, talking about the service and collecting applications.

I asked all my acquaintances with channels to mention the service, and many responded absolutely for free. Thank you, if you’re reading this, it might not have worked out without you.

In the end, before the launch, we had over 300 applications.

As a result, we decided to sell it for 290 rubles to everyone who left a request, and then raise the price to 390 rubles.

We announced a broadcast where I presented the product and talked in more detail, but we started registering applications and opening access a few days before the launch.

…

The very broadcast where I tell you why you need to pay me 290₽.

At the time of the launch, we had sold about 200 subscriptions.

Couldn’t believe it when my card had not just 600₽ but 60,000₽. The amount may be modest, but it’s not about the money. I did something useful, and I’m getting paid for it! Wow!

Creating a community

Initially, we didn’t plan on doing anything like that. The idea was just to create a bot with internships – that’s it. But users suggested that it would be cool to have a chat where people in similar life situations could connect, receive support, and exchange experiences.

Both we and the participants saw significant value in this. Over time, it evolved into a community where we engage in various activities, communicate, and build friendships. People come to the product for internships but stay for the community. Many have found jobs or internships but continue to be a part of our community.

I was building a product and found friends.

What’s happening in the community now?

Continuous communication – and this is the most important aspect. People share test results, discuss who received invitations and who didn’t, seek advice, and find support when things get tough. Natasha, the community manager, and I have established a culture of zero toxicity and maximum friendliness. Throughout our time, we can count on one hand the instances of toxic conversations.

Lead designers conduct reviews several times a month where anyone can submit their portfolio or test work and receive a quality analysis.

We regularly host online meetups in our Safe Space, where you can come and simply talk when facing challenges at work or when despair sets in.

There’s also a book club and a poster art circle. Together, we read design-related books and discuss them, and in the art circle, we create posters with a designer from Yandex.Eats.

We are creating a small, warm, and friendly world where one feels inspired to grow and develop.

Periodically, members of our community would share internships that we didn’t initially have information about. We started keeping track of new companies, and as a result, the count increased from 16 to 26.

The product after 9 months

We haven’t closed down.
We are working!

Currently, the InternSheep channel has 2500 subscribers, with around 300 paying users in the product. Over 30 individuals have secured internships in top companies.

Throughout this period, I’ve hardly invested in advertising. There were trial sowings that yielded no results. Our growth is solely organic, which is great, but it’s time to learn how to attract more.

The team consists of three part-time individuals, including myself – a community manager/SMM, a designer, and me. Occasionally, we bring in others for one-time tasks or consultations.

What are our metrics?

As in any subscription-based service, the primary metric is retention.

We retrieve data from the Donate bot, which tracks all charges, subscriptions, and cancellations. We create charts that illustrate retention across monthly cohorts.

Currently, our average conversion to payment in the second month is 75%. I’m not sure how good of a metric that is, but it certainly seems quite favorable.

…

Retention from February to October.

I won’t talk about the number of paying users. It’s obviously important for us.

The second key metric is monthly revenue. From the start, we increased the cost twice – from 290 to 390, and then to 490. Subscription is not the only monetization model in the service – we sold partner products and channel advertising. Currently, we are developing our educational program and assisting companies in hiring talented interns, but I’ll write about that in the next article.

Let’s summarize

I dreamt of a product, and now I dream that it continues to live and grow. It’s a wonderful platform for experiments, for personal and professional growth. The most valuable thing I gained in the 11 months of working on the product is experience and passion.

Currently, the product brings in a monthly income comparable to that of an average IT specialist. A worthy reward.

Thank you for reading my story – perhaps it will inspire you to embark on your own pet project, or maybe it will just brighten your day a bit.

I would appreciate it if you subscribe to my Telegram channel (5000+) – I share stories about my projects, my work at Yandex, and the journey of self-discovery. I also throw in some humor occasionally.
The channel “InternSheep“: the product I talked about in this article.

By Vladislav Vorkel
Product designer at Yandex.
Founder of the service for finding internships: https://t.me/Intern_Sheep.
Author’s blog: https://t.me/designvorkel

My eye twitched when I tried to find an apartment for my parents. No longer:
I have launched the HomeBro website, which searches for apartments on all the top real estate listing sites. All property offers on one map, plus notifications sent to Telegram.

Hi! My name is Lev. Four years ago, I created the HomeBro bot that searches for housing for free and sends you options directly to Telegram. I’ve rented an apartment in Moscow many times, and I desperately wanted to simplify this process. As a result, half a million people have already used the bot.

…

This time, I was helping my parents buy an apartment. And here I felt firsthand how our bot is not sufficient for the process of buying a property.

It was both amusing and bitter that as the founder of a housing search service, with access to a database of all property listings, I couldn’t conveniently explore it myself.

I wanted something simple. To not only receive new options in the bot but also to open a map and see everything available on the market. In the end, once again, like four years ago, I find myself opening websites one after another. I see the same thing 10 times in an attempt to find something new. In short, it’s a mess.

• I looked at 17 advertisements about this apartment.
  
  
• Did you find it without commission?

…

HomeBro: And then, with the team, we created a real estate classifieds aggregator website.

Welcome to the HomeBro portal! Here, you’ll find all the latest listings from Cian, Domclick, Yandex.Real Estate, M2, Avito, and Samolet.Plus. And the list will continue to grow.

Currently, the site has over 1 million active listings, with 50 thousand new ones appearing every day.

You can already visit and search for housing for rent or purchase in 18 cities. It covers all Russian million-plus cities, including Sochi and Arkhangelsk – where one of our developers lives =)

And all this without duplicates. Well, almost =D Each housing option is shown only once.

…

It’s interesting, will they provide a preferential IT mortgage for rental properties?

Also, our trained neural network (I wrote about it here) helps find an apartment without grandma’s renovation, closer to the park, or farther from the roads. Well, or you can deliberately look for a fixer-upper to buy cheaper and renovate.

Setting up notifications for all new listings can be done in two clicks (literally) by transitioning from the website to our bot.

Yes, did you make something really cool?

Hey, folks, the thing is working, but this is the very first version, commonly known as MVP.

We, with a very small team, have been building the portal since the beginning of the year; there are still some glitches. But there’s no point in hiding from people a service that, even in its current form, can bring real benefits.

…

A big thank you to everyone supporting us in our crowdfunding campaign; every ruble of yours is important to us. By the way, we almost didn’t promote it—mentioned it only in one article and did a one-time mailing in the bot. It triggered me when someone said, “You’re begging for money on VC.” As a result, we stopped writing about it. But I was wrong; haters gonna hate.

Welcome to all the found bugs. Visit the HomeBro website and don’t hesitate to say what you felt was lacking. I’ll be incredibly grateful for your comments.

By Lev Klebanov
I am developing a housing search service https://homebro.ru

The text is published with the permission of the author.
The original text is here.

By AVITO.
The most popular service is an online classifieds platform in Russia.
The text is published with the permission of the author.
The original article is here.

…

In 2023, together with the Devcrowd team, we conducted an extensive study, surveying 646 product designers to discover where they live, work, and how the market is evolving. The research turned out to be comprehensive See the full report.

We plan to conduct it annually, as we understand that it is currently the most comprehensive study of the market for Russian-speaking product designers. In the article, we will share five interesting observations. Here they are, summarised in 200 characters

They are job hunting, have no plans to return to Russia, wish to learn to navigate product metrics, nearly maintain gender balance, and aspire to work at Yandex, Aviasales, Tinkoff, Ozon, and Avito.

And now in more detail:

Gender [im]balance

Product designers show no gender imbalance. Among survey participants, men and women are roughly equal. However, when looking at job grades, the following pattern emerges:

…

But women are much less likely to rise to Senior-Lead positions than men.
Among the newcomers, ¾ are women. Among the managers – ¾ are men

Meanwhile, 2/3 of art directors took more than 3 years to grow into their roles. So, let’s see in a few years if the distribution among leaders changes.

Avito entered the top 5 companies where product designers want to work

Respondents chose companies based on various criteria: for 80%, a cool product is important, for 73%, interesting tasks, and for 67%, a strong team.

Here are other leading employers from the study:

…

Top 20 companies where designers want to work

Half of designers are ready to change jobs

It seems employers should be on alert, as just over 50% of the study participants are actively or passively seeking employment. The primary motivation is the desire to increase income and find a competent team for professional growth.

…

Red: “I do not plan”, Blue: “I’m considering offers, but not actively looking.”, Yellow: “Yes, I am actively interviewing.” 51.8% are ready to change jobs.

When searching for a new job, only 16% of product designers categorically refuse to work for a Russian company. The majority of study participants either work for or at least consider the possibility of working for a company with its headquarters in Russia.

…

Yellow: “Yes, I am currently working for a foreign company, but I am ready to work for a Russian company.” Blue: “No, I don’t work for a Russian company and I don’t plan to in the future.” Red: “Yes, I am working for a Russian company now”.
73.6% currently work for a Russian company.

You can find out which roles designers choose to transition from in the study.

Designers who have already left do not plan to return to the Russian Federation

A third of designers work abroad: they can be found in Cyprus, Georgia, Serbia, and other countries. Only 3% of those who have left are definitively planning to return to Russia. The majority have a skeptical outlook.

…

1. Yes I am planning to return.
2. Rather yes than no.
3. Rather no than yes.
4. I do not planning to return.
5. Another ⅓ don’t know. They will be guided by the situation.

Designers want to develop in related fields

We asked designers to indicate which tasks they do and how often they do them. We found an interesting relationship: they see tasks to which they devote little time every day as their growth zone. This is conducting research and developing strategy.

…

Statistics on product designer tasks

We asked the question, “Choose 3 skills in which you feel least confident and would like to improve?” and observed that exactly those tasks topped the list.

…

1. Knowledge of product metrics.
2. Qualitative and quantitative research.
3. Long term vision.

In the full version of the study, there is much more interesting information: we created a portrait of a product designer, learned about the specifics of the profession and its main skills, asked about relocation, remote work, jobs, and also found out who designers in the community are keeping an eye on.

See the study

Share your thoughts in the comments: how things are going in your company, which observations you agree with and which you don’t.

By AVITO.
The most popular service is an online classifieds platform in Russia.
The text is published with the permission of the author.
The original article is here.

Andrey Prokhorov

Editor-In-Chief, LaGente.do

aprokhorov@lagente.do

…

Preface: All newborn children come into this world naked and barefoot, devoid of vision, possessions, roles, or skills. These attributes, the trappings of society, are not inherent but rather imposed by the world around them. Scientists believe that during the first four years of life, a child retains its unaltered, core identity, a pure reflection of their authentic self. It is only then, gradually, that this genuine self begins to be replaced by the myriad social roles and expectations necessary for survival in society.

In our photography and reviews, we embark on a quest to unearth and display this real essence of the people we describe. Our mission is to peel away the layers of societal conformity and expectations, revealing the inherent beauty and soul of each individual. Through our lenses and words, we strive to capture not only who a person is but also the environment in which they exist, and the activities that fill their lives.

We invite you, our readers, to join us on this remarkable journey. As we explore not only the Dominican Republic but also the broader world, we seek to shed light on the pure, unadulterated humanity that lies beneath the roles and masks we wear. Our aim is to provide you with an authentic glimpse of the people who call this planet home, transcending borders, social status, conditions, and roles.

Our characters are people from all walks of life, from motorcycle taxi drivers to presidents. We find in everyone their inner essence and beauty, and we are committed to showcasing this beauty regardless of where it may be found. Our readers: living in the Country and outside it, reach or poor, workers, teachers, government officers, doctors and painters, expats and tourists, people of all circumstances and positions of life may find inspiration and connection in these lives and stories by these characters in our articles originating from diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Welcome to our newspaper, where we are dedicated to showing people as they truly are, wherever they may be, and in doing so, celebrating the universal and unfiltered beauty that resides within each one of us.

With warm regards,

Andrey Prokhorov

Editor-in-Chief

LaGente.do

By Mandarinfox

Please, mind the Russian tranlation is automatic and may be incorrect. For original text in Russian visit this page.

How did we come up with it?

The idea of a hackathon is not new, it’s a popular business request and we wanted to have such case in our portfolio. Personnel shortage is everywhere, as well as the desire to understand who you are hiring, what the candidate is really capable of.

Hackathon, as a team competition, allows not only to evaluate hard skills, but also to understand whether it is comfortable to work with a person in general.

It was also important for us because since 2022, Ekaterina Liseycheva, CEO of Mandarinfox, has been developing the event department of the Stankozavod creative cluster, and we wanted to show the potential of this site not only for parties and DJ sets, but also for large educational projects.

Pitching. Photographer Olya Zharkova

Concept

In developing the concept, we did not go far from the site and our own expertise. Stankozavod is a creative cluster, and Mandarinfox is an event agency that employs creative people. Our partners, REC consulting company, are restoring abandoned factories and rebuilding them into creative clusters. We know everything about the problems within the industry and we understand the tracks we needed for the hackathon.

We chose five:

• “Technologies”: development of the concept of a site or application for interaction between creative clusters, their residents and guests;

• “Education”: development of the concept of an educational program or series of programs in the field of creative entrepreneurship, which will be linked to existing creative clusters;

• “Concept”: to develop the concept of a souvenir shop originally from Samara, where craft producers can sell their goods;

• “Community”: a project of a living community of creative industries and the mechanics of its development in the Samara region;

• “Tourism”: to offer a specific solution or a package of solutions to attract tourists to the region, including using creative cluster sites.

Only the track “Technologies” required a clear specialisation, the rest allowed the participation of non-professionals in this area, but understanding the problems and ready to offer a solution.

We accepted applications both from teams and people with extensive experience in working and participating in hackathons, as well as from students who just wanted to try themselves in this. At first we thought that mixing different levels of competencies would be useful, but, looking ahead, we will say that it is better not to do this.

Teamwork. Photographer Olya Zharkova

How many people?

In order for the competition to take place and the cases to be diverse, we made five teams of five people in each track. There were 125 hackathon participants in total. There are also five winners, respectively: one in each track. In addition, we had 400+ guests of the lecture hall, 400+ people on the roof of the Stankozavod and visitors to the creative cluster in the yard and other sites who participated in partner activities.

…

More than money

A small disclaimer about finances and the prize. “Creativity on the Volga” was made by REC and Mandarinfox initially at our own expense, and the prize fund of a million or more rubles was beyond our power, given the overall costs. But we wanted to encourage the participants, including financially, so each winning team received 50,000 rubles. In addition, we made merch and gifts for all participants, and our partners also contributed in it.

“Vkusvill” gave us healthy habit trackers and snack bars, “Morda Dovolna” gave pens, “Polyana Delivery” gave snacks and water. “Netology” joined the packages of winners and presented board games, and the restaurant “Gde Nas Net” presented certificates for dinner for the team.

In addition to all these things, there was also enthusiasm, the joy of victory, teamwork, meetings with professionals and an expert assessment of your work, new acquaintances and memories of the hot Samara summer that will remain forever.

Hackathon participants. Photographer Dasha Grigorevskaya

Timing and implementation

In general, we had 15 people in the team (half in Moscow, half in Samara), two designers, one PR manager, one project manager, big plans and two months for everything.

Of course, we have experience of organizing educational events. For example, at the beginning of the year, together with Phoenix Education, we organised the Generium All-Russian Biotechnology Case Championship. But there we were responsible only for the event part, without the methodological one. The hackathon that we came up with had no examples, it just had to be done.

Partners were adding slowly and carefully, at the start, few of them believed in this idea, most joined when the first results were achieved. We set ourselves fairly tight and short deadlines, constantly throwing and changing ideas, expanding and digging deeper, rewriting and redoing to the last.

For example, two days before the opening of the hackathon, the case evaluation system was completely changed, not because it was bad, but because after a briefing with the jury, we understood how to do it in a different way. When you are your own customer, the bar can be raised endlessly.

So, in stages:

On July 6th, the hackathon did not have a website. On July 12th, it was already published and made entirely by the Mandarinfox team, without the involvement of contractors. On July 13th, the first post in the hackathon channel in telegram. By the end of the month, there were already 200 people in it. In early July, there was no hackathon and no one knew about it. By August 19, “Creativity on the Volga” became a query in search engines.

For us, this is an experience of how to make a major educational event from scratch, with our own money, in a short time and close all the blocks with the help of the team.

Hackathon organising team. Photographer Dasha Grigorevskaya

Jury

To evaluate the cases, we invited creative economy experts to Samara. Those who change entire cities for the better and understand how to develop themselves in the creative industries. We have an expert team of 35 people:

Pavel Rogovoy (Velogorod.Online), Andrey Malevanik (Netology), Anton Gorovoy (Megabudka), Tatyana Novoselova (Shaninka), Alexander Krasavtsev (Polis Institute), Mike Barkov (Optimax Dev) Alexander Averin (ANO “Agency for Creative Industries”)

Ruslan Goncharov (ONY Digital), Georgy Lobushkin (ex-VK), Nikolay Nikulnikov (WEBROVER), Oleg Veys (Agency for Socio-Cultural Technologies) and others.

Most of the jury members were not from Samara, so we organised business trips for everyone with accommodation and a cultural program.

Entrepreneurs from Samara also took part: Vasily Rumyantsev and Andrey Komzov, the founders of the Volga Mama merch brand, Ekaterina Revinskaya, the author of the project of non-standard excursions “Resort City“, Andrey Ivanov from the Korzh coffee house, Pavel Novikov, manager of Stankozavod, Nikita Petukhov, director of the tourist information center of the Samara region Anna Pavkina.

Hackathon experts on the roof of Stankozavod. Photographer Dasha Grigorevskaya

Lecture hall

When you call and organize business trips for so many cool people, it will be useful to broadcast their knowledge to the people. Therefore, in the Lobby of the Stankozavod, lectures about city marketing and everyday creativity were going on for two days. The industrial look of the site ideologically reinforced the themes of development and change, and the Samara street artist Art Abstraktov drew graffiti “Creativity on the Volga” on the background.

Rashit Kalimullin talked about how to use AI in 2023, Anton Gorovoy showed selected cases of the Megabudka architect bureau and told how they rethink traditional Russian architecture, with Alexander Krasavtsev we discussed the mechanics that can be used to involve people in the development of urban and rural environments, Roman Zolin showed how cities sell themselves to the traveler, and Ruslan Goncharov answered questions about the work of a successful branding agency.

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Where to focus?

First of all, on a clear distribution of responsibility in a regime of constant change. We understand that everyone does things differently and it was possible to simplify the concept and limit ourselves to just a hackathon, but this was not our story. In “Creativity on the Volga” big project scale was built from the beginning, and as the project developed, it only grew. In this regard, the organizational structure included many volume blocks: participants, experts, partners, marketing and PR, volunteers, design and merch, a program for several sites and a legal block.

Here it is important to synchronise, understand how far we are from the original idea, constantly assess the risks that arise as the project grows, share tasks and trust the team.

By LLC Mandarinfox

The original article VC.RU

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An abandoned cinema in Detroit US. Photo by BirdInFlight (by artists Jennifer Garza-Cuen)

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Hello, everyone! My name is Kamill Khuziakhmetov, the founder and owner of the Echips laptop brand. It's a Russian brand, and more specifically, Chelyabinsk-based. Tough, indeed. And… stop!

I suspect that some readers might decide to close the article after my introduction, thinking, “Oh, we know these domestic brands that emerged after certain events… We’ve read reviews on Echips laptops and similar devices.

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Russia massively replacing leaving brands with brands from China

We understand that the goal of many such brands is to import something cheap and flimsy from China, loudly proclaim the arrival of a full-fledged alternative to AirPods, MacBook, iPhone, iMac, and whatever else, sell it to the trusting consumer, and then, well, let the chips fall where they may…

Well, comrades making such claims, are somewhat correct. Indeed, there is currently no shortage of Russian “gadget” brands with a similar business model. Whether this is good or bad – I won’t dwell on it; it’s all clear. But I want to explain how the products and concept of the Echips brand fundamentally differ from everything that came before us.

The decision to write this piece was partly inspired by the various reviews of Echips laptops on different platforms, reviews that I read every day. I can’t help but note with satisfaction that the majority of the feedback is positive. However, at the same time, I realized that not all owners of our laptops fully understand what they have actually purchased and the significant advantages that come with Echips. In this article, I will delve into these aspects. Consider this my opportunity to express myself fully and, perhaps, provide some guidance on choosing a laptop in 2023

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This is me, Kamil Khuzhiakhmetov, with a laptop from my brand: “Echips”.

I’ll start by saying that we ventured into the laptop market not in 2022, as some colleagues in the industry did, but back in 2019. In other words, our brand was created, so to speak, with a clear understanding of what we ultimately wanted to achieve, without haste and for the long term (more on this below).

However, it’s a different story that after the official departure of global laptop giants from Russia, we indeed received a powerful impetus. The demand for Echips computers in 2022 increased fivefold compared to 2021. It’s understandable: laptops from Asus, Acer, HP, Dell, and others became scarcer on the shelves, all imported through somewhat unclear schemes, and they were priced oddly (sometimes twice as much as similar models in Europe, the USA, and Asia).

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Moreover, potential issues with warranty and spare parts could arise. It’s logical that consumers urgently sought alternatives—computers that would be reasonably priced (not like the renowned laptops imported through parallel import), offer a reasonable level of quality, and be eligible for official warranty service.

Our Echips laptops fully meet all these demands. The figures alone attest to this (and, as a certain Elvis Presley manager once claimed, figures don’t lie). At the end of 2019, at the very beginning of our journey, Echips started with monthly sales of around 200 laptops. Now, by the summer of 2023, the monthly circulation of our laptops ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 units.

Is this a lot or a little? Well, for example, a little bird told me that no more than 5,000 Xiaomi laptops are sold in Russia per month (that is, either the same amount or even noticeably less than our Chelyabinsk laptops). And this is considering both official and grey market sales.

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In total, we have already sold about 100 thousand laptops.

I acknowledge that readers might have a question: What sets Echips apart from typical “Russian” laptop brands? In reviews of Echips laptops, there is occasionally the assertion that our computers are essentially the same as those from Digma, F+, DEXP, Hiper, and others. Our models and theirs are priced similarly when comparing close configurations, and they look similar…

But there’s a nuance, as they say. I won’t speak for the entire Odessa; after all, I’m from Chelyabinsk, and I fully admit that in the lineups of the mentioned brands, there might be individual successful laptops. However, the overall business model of these brands is roughly as follows: select a seemingly decent computer from a Chinese factory. Importantly, at first glance; they usually don’t dig deeper! Don’t attempt to thoroughly understand which laptop is genuinely better, this one or that one. And order its production in a certain quantity. Naturally, don’t forget to ask the Chinese to slap the logo of the Russian brand on the lid.

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That’s it; you can bring them to Russia by plane or sea and sell them at retail. Echips laptops are… suddenly!… also developed in China. Yes, I don’t hide this fact, and I don’t claim Echips to be purely Russian laptops. I’m not the Belarusian brand “Horizon,” which, if I understand correctly, openly talks about developing its computers in a certain country. So, Echips laptops are initially DEVELOPED in China and then FINALIZED by us, Chelyabinsk residents.

Let me delve a bit into this process of laptop development and refinement. There are brands (Lenovo, HP, Dell, Acer, Asus, etc.) with years of serious engineering expertise. They create the architecture of a new computer model in their laboratories. This architecture is passed on to a Chinese factory responsible for assembling computers for these major brands.

These factories, partnered with such giants, are strictly verified and reliable. In some cases, these factories even develop new laptop models for Lenovo, HP, Dell, Acer, Asus, based on their orders and with their consent. And, most importantly, considering all the achievements of the engineering school of the ordering brand.

Sometimes, these factories have the right to sell their laptops, originally designed for major companies with respect to their quality and engineering standards, to other clients. It’s precisely these rare offers that Echips seeks out in China. Essentially, Echips laptops are the same laptops that were initially created for HP, Lenovo, and Acer (yes, primarily in our lineup, there are analogs of these three corporations). In other words, they are essentially the well-known and dearly loved HP, Lenovo, and Acer laptops, officially offered in Russia under the local brand name Echips.

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Gateway is a brand of the Taiwanese company Acer, under which it sells laptops in the United States. And we have this same laptop in our line. See comparison in the photo

Although, of course, with certain changes in design and construction. They are necessary for:

• Reducing the price (but not at the expense of reliability). Echips doesn’t offer flagship solutions; the average price of laptops from our brand is 30 thousand rubles. If we can make a laptop cheaper by removing something unnecessary from our point of view, like a slot or some useless embellishment from a hypothetical HP model (such as a glowing logo on the lid), just to lower the price by a couple of thousand rubles, then… why not?
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• Increasing repairability. This is, in fact, our signature feature.
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• Improving the design. Yes, sometimes even in HP, Lenovo, and Acer laptops, there are non-obvious solutions. For example, if a laptop is generally good but has weak speakers, we won’t take that model as is (meaning without any changes). Instead, we’ll equip it with a more powerful audio system. Or rather, we’ll make the Chinese do it.
  

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Where do we get the expertise to “direct” the Chinese and select the right laptop models?

My first venture in the computer-related business was launched back in 2008 when I established the largest laptop repair service in Chelyabinsk. Currently, its staff consists of five engineers with an average of 20 years of experience. Over the 15 years of operation, my service and repair company has completed around 10,000 laptop repairs. Through these repairs, we extensively studied the architecture and internal layout of the vast majority of machines brought to the service. As a result, a very clear understanding emerged of how a reliable, high-quality, and non-disposable computer should be designed and manufactured. In the process of our repair activities, we learned:

• How laptops are structured internally, which components are made to be durable and long-lasting, and which ones often break.
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• The reliability of various components, where and how to obtain them cost-effectively.
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• Which laptop brands and designs are less prone to breaking.
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• How to choose a laptop from a Chinese factory to avoid pain and embarrassment later.

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That’s one side of the story. On the other hand, I had another business at one point. Since 2011, I was involved in supplying computer parts and components to Russia. At some point, I exited that business, but the connections remained. I know all the ins and outs: which company in Asia provides good SSDs, where to get screens, and with which Mr. Liao’s you’d better not engage at all.

5,000 rubles – that’s roughly the average cost to install a (non-licensed!) Windows on a Chinese laptop from AliExpress if you go to the average computer technician. But with Echips, there is no such problem: every single one of our laptops comes with a licensed Windows 11. User expenses – 0 rubles.

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So, Echips laptops are, on one hand, a product based on the engineering experience of global giants. On the other, they are tested (or fine-tuned, if you will) by computer masters with 20 years of experience who know how to make laptops and what should be avoided at all costs. And from my side, thanks to my connections in Asia, I can connect (and indeed, I do) our partner factories with the best suppliers of the most reliable components.

Take SSDs, for example: I know where to buy an affordable and high-quality 256-gigabyte disk, whereas the factory offers 128 for the same money. I put the project on hold, connect the factory with the supplier, and as a result, a 256-gigabyte Echips laptop appears in Russia for the same price. Even though originally it had 128 GB. For the same money!

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By the way, about SSDs. Earlier, I mentioned that we place a special emphasis on repairability, and much of this is related to storage devices. All disks in Echips laptops are removable: you can replace them in 15 minutes in case of a breakdown or simply increase the memory capacity. Bought a laptop with 128 gigabytes, a couple of years later installed 256, and then another couple of years later – a terabyte. And the computer remains relevant for many, many years. This is rare today: the market is seeing more laptops with soldered storage. Even the latest “MacBooks,” and not only them… These high-end laptops costing hundreds of thousands of rubles, in reality, become outdated faster than our Echips model for 30 thousand (on average).

We also have some pleasant bonuses for buyers. I’ve mentioned some above, like Windows being pre-installed on all our brand laptops. Let me tell you about another interesting feature. We noticed that in China, waterproof covers for keyboards are popular: see the photo below.

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This is a silicone panel that attaches to the laptop’s keyboard and… prevents water from reaching the electronic components if spilled on the keyboard. In the meantime, the convenience of text input is hardly reduced, and the laptop owner can be sure that, for example, spilled coffee will not disable the laptop. Simply because the cover will not allow the liquid to reach the disk, memory, motherboard… So, we equipped some of our models with such a cover. Yes, you can also order it from AliExpress. But when it arrives… And it’s not certain that there will be Russian letters on it.

But with Echips models, there is an option with Russian letters. And it’s free for the buyer. Really free: we practically give away this accessory, not including it in the cost of the computer. And yes, I’ll note that we are in a constant search for such small pleasant features. And if we find something, we try to implement it in our laptops as quickly as possible.

Another thing I consider important to mention separately is our warranty. I know that in our not-so-stable times, people pay particular attention to this when trying to understand which laptop to choose. So, our deep immersion in the process of creating laptops (even though we don’t “carve” them ourselves from scratch, again, I won’t liken us to some other brands) and confidence in their reliability allow us to implement an interesting and original warranty policy. No other brand in Russia has anything like it. Not even the top ones, let alone the Chinese.

Firstly, our warranty is… one year. It seems like the usual duration. But! It can be extended to 3 years if you perform annual maintenance in our official service center for 1,000 rubles. Currently, such a center exists only in Chelyabinsk. But in September 2023, we plan to open a similar facility in Moscow, and during the following year. In all 15 cities with a population over a million in Russia.

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Secondly, substitute laptops. In case of a computer malfunction, a courier (currently only in Chelyabinsk; in the future – everywhere where our Service Centers will be located) goes to the customer who reported the malfunction of the Echips laptop with an identical one. We pick up the faulty laptop for free and provide a new one for the duration of the repair work. After the repair is complete, we also return the laptop to the customer for free. If necessary, the customer can remove their SSD from the faulty laptop (they are easy to remove, not soldered, as is often the case with our competitors) and transfer it to the new one. I remind you, the whole procedure is free.

Currently, 80% of repairs in Chelyabinsk are carried out in this way, that is, with a visit to the customer’s home or office – in the presence of the computer owner. This is a significant difference between Echips and competitors.

Usually, what do they do? Even with a minor issue that can be fixed by reinstalling drivers, they take the laptop to the service center and keep it there for the legally required 45 days. And this… is terrible! As you can see, we offer a different approach. Yes, only in Chelyabinsk for now. But in the future (not too distant), everything will be completely different: see above.

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In Echips, we try not to burden the user with service issues. If it's possible to repair the laptop at home, we do it. In Chelyabinsk, 80% of cases fall into this category. For other cities, laptops with issues still need to be sent to us in Chelyabinsk. If the case is covered by the warranty, it's a) free for the user and b) we strive to repair it as quickly as possible, in days or weeks, without taking the computer away for months, as some competitors do.

In conclusion, I must say the following. I, by no means, am trying to prove to anyone that we’ve developed laptops of an extraordinary class, amazingly orthodox and purely Russian laptops, and after their appearance, your MacBook or top Asus should now retreat to a corner and cry, realizing their meaninglessness. Not at all. It just so happened that our team, in my opinion, managed to offer the market uniquely inexpensive and at the same time very decent, reasonable computers. Yes, it’s a somewhat crude combination, but… otherwise, perhaps, you can’t put it.

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Yes, inexpensive: we’re not aiming for the top segments. And yes, decent, reasonable: Echips doesn’t have the typical, classic flaws of budget laptops. No, like a lifecycle of a maximum of a year (or even less), because then a budget laptop just won’t turn on. Slow memory: causing the computer to lag longer than it takes to solve the tasks assigned to it. Screens that you have to look at only from one angle because from others the image fades to nothing.

Our models – I say this with a little burst of pride – belong to the category of “well-thought-out typewriter of the lower/middle class (depending on the model),” not “Chinese something incomprehensible with wires sticking out on the side.” And this, in my opinion, is already quite an achievement. Don’t mistake it for cheap pathos: I’ve spent my whole life in the computer market, and I know what I’m talking about.

Creating a decent laptop that doesn’t cost 60-70 thousand rubles in today’s configuration is quite challenging. And we cope with such a task unlike, as they say, others.

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Moreover, we plan to continue expanding. For example, we have plans for gaming models with decent Nvidia graphics cards – also with a worthy pedigree, the contribution of computer masters with 20 years of experience, and the tasty service and warranty policy described above. As they say, wait a little.

I hope that readers now have a better understanding of how to choose a laptop in 2023 – primarily affordable. But if they have any questions – feel free to ask in the comments. I’m ready to explain, discuss, and even… no, it won’t come to a fight. Even though I’m a tough Chelyabinsk guy

By Kamil Khuzhiakhmetov
Laptops: https://echips-pc.ru/
Published with the permission of the author.
The original article is here.

By Pavel Molyanov

I blog about content and marketing.
I run a content marketing agency.

Since the beginning of 2023, we have received 666 requests for our services, despite the fact that we only handle content marketing. In this article, I will explain how we conduct content marketing and share our content strategy. If you are running a business with a complex product and a long decision-making cycle, this information will be especially valuable to you.

Hello! My name is Pasha Molyanov, and I lead the content agency “Sdelaem” (“Let’s Make It”) We specialize in providing articles, landing pages, email newsletters, social media posts, media publications, or comprehensive content marketing management.

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The main challenge in promoting such a product lies in the fact that it heavily relies on the trust the client has in the company. When someone needs content, they can choose to hire freelancers, bring an editor-in-chief in-house, turn to another content agency, or opt for a full-service marketing agency.

Everyone promises something along the lines of “We’ll create quality content that will solve your business needs.” The catch is that it’s true! Everyone strives to do just that. The question is who does it well and who does it poorly.

This is where content marketing comes into play: if you’re conveying your expertise, discussing tools, showcasing case studies, then you’ll gain more trust compared to those who don’t do any of this.

Where do we get leads from?

When a person submits a request on our website, they indicate how they found out about us. While this isn’t perfect analytics, it provides enough insight to understand which channels are effective. Here’s the statistics for traffic sources from the beginning of July to September 17th:

SEO: 21% of the total. These are the leads who entered their query into a search engine and came across our agency.

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For example, when someone searches for “content agency,” we rank first in the search results. We also appear in the compilation of agencies on VC in the second position.

“Reading Molyanov” has 15%. Since the beginning of 2022, I have been publishing articles several times a month on VC and other media outlets, managing a Telegram channel with 15,500 subscribers, and speaking at conferences. As a result, people subscribe to me or at least remember me, and when they have content-related tasks, they reach out to “Let’s Make It.”

“Recommendations” has 14%. If someone knows us and follows our content, they may not necessarily make a purchase themselves. However, they may recommend our agency to their acquaintances or colleagues.

This is Arseniy Ashomko from “Vinou.” We collaborated with Nikita Belogolovtsev when he was at “Yandex,” and Nikita recommended us to Arseniy, which is how we’ve been working together ever since.

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“VC” has 11%. Some people mention that they simply “read Molyanov,” while others specifically refer to my articles on VC. Interestingly, they often don’t point to a particular article that prompted them to submit an inquiry but rather refer to my blog in general.

“Agency Content Marketing” has 10%. It can be said that we have two content marketing approaches: one based on my personal brand and the other representing the agency. For the agency, we manage social media and conduct email campaigns. Primarily, copywriters and editors read these channels, and they mostly serve for recruitment and the sale of copywriting courses. However, segmentation is never one hundred percent precise, so we also get leads for the agency’s services from there.

“Our Content Marketer” has 4%. He has a small Telegram channel about content marketing, and he also produces videos for our YouTube channel. Together, these activities generate a small stream of inquiries.

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“Unclear Source” has 25%. This is our most productive source of inquiries =) Some people write something unclear in the “How did you hear about us?” field, while others reach out directly to the agency’s email or our sales representative’s inbox. We haven’t yet developed a systematic way to determine the sources of these leads.

We’ve written 40 articles on VC.

VC is our primary platform for “business-oriented” content. Here, we publish articles about content marketing that can be useful to entrepreneurs and marketers. We discuss tools, share case studies, and generally help people understand content marketing while promoting it as a channel for promotion.

We began actively writing on VC in the middle of 2022. During this time, we’ve published 40 articles that have collectively garnered 353,000 views. Here are a few materials that I consider particularly important ↓

“How to Promote Your Telegram Channel in Other Channels: A Detailed Guide” is our most popular article in our blog, which has also ranked well in search results and continues to bring in thousands of views each month. It’s a comprehensive, practical guide that demonstrates our ability to work with traffic.

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“How to Write an Article About Your Business on vc.ru and Avoid Embarrassment: A Guide from Topic Selection to Comment Battles” serves as a condensed version of the technique we use to write articles on VC for our clients. It showcases our expertise in working with this platform, and I particularly appreciate how our case studies seamlessly fit into it =)

“What Content to Create to Drive Sales – 4 Strategies for Different Types of Businesses” helped us systematize our knowledge of content strategies and emphasized the importance of not just producing engaging content but doing so with a thorough understanding of the entire sales funnel.

Maintaining a consistent theme across VC and all your content efforts, where “Let’s Make It” and Molyanov are associated with content marketing, is proving to be effective. People read one article, then another, and another, creating a connection between your brand and content marketing. This strategy is paying off as readers are more likely to reach out when they have content-related tasks. It shows the power of building a strong brand presence and expertise in a specific niche.

Absolutely, the influence of VC extends beyond the 11% of leads it directly generates. It's possible that a lead may mention reading your content but is introduced to it through VC or other channels indirectly influenced by your VC presence. The interconnected nature of online content consumption means that readers can discover your expertise and brand through various touchpoints, making it important to maintain a strong presence and consistency across multiple platforms. Your content on VC serves as a valuable entry point into your content marketing ecosystem.

We publish articles in other media

It is not worth efforts to invest so much time into an article on VC, only to publish it once and forget it. Therefore, we try to squeeze the maximum out of it and publish it several more times on other platforms.

After publication, the article is picked up by a crossposter and taken to Habr, Pikabu, Adpass, Clerk, Spark, Rusability. Recently, the UGC section appeared in the “Business Secrets” of Tinkoff Bank, so we will soon publish there as well.

VC: 8400 views. Pikabu: 6000 views. Habr: 2900 views.

The same article on VC, Pikabu and Habr.

Some publications are okay with a full copy-paste of the original text, which is fantastic. For others, we need to rewrite it, but it’s not difficult when the article is already written.

Sometimes republished articles garner several thousand views, but in most cases, they accumulate up to a thousand. It’s understandable why: our articles may not align well with the themes of platforms like Hubr, Pikabu, and Clerk, and other publications simply have smaller audiences compared to VC.

Nevertheless, it’s alright! There is still an effect for us:

• In each individual publication, the reach might be modest, but it adds up significantly. Seven publications with 500 views each already amount to an additional 4,000 reach.
• In the articles, we leave a link to our website, which helps grow our backlink profile – beneficial for SEO.

I’ve detailed our content reuse strategy in a separate article ↓

Zero-waste Content Production: How to Drastically Increase Reach with Minimal Effort

Creating high-quality content can be expensive, which is why simply releasing it once and forgetting about it is too wasteful. In this article, I will explain how I distribute content in my projects to maximize reach from a single piece.”

We write about content marketing on social networks

Content marketing is a service with no immediate demand. At any given moment, it may not be relevant to someone, but it can be valuable in a few months. That’s why it’s important to maintain long-term contact, and the most convenient way to do this is through social media—both my personal accounts and agency profiles. We are present on VK, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, and Zen, but Telegram channels yield the most significant results.

I manage a personal Telegram channel with 15,500 subscribers. There, I share insights about content marketing, writing, agency development, employee recruitment, and adaptation.

My subscribers include both copywriters and editors, as well as marketers, project managers, and entrepreneurs. For lead generation, I periodically discuss our agency’s services and share case studies—sooner or later, one of our offers resonates with a subscriber, and they become a lead.

And if not, they might consider purchasing one of our courses.

Or recommend us to a friend.

Or invite us to a conference.

Or propose publishing an article.

Or apply for a job vacancy.

And if none of these scenarios work out, I still generate income from each subscriber through advertising: almost 500,000 ₽ per month. It may sound cynical, but what can you do =)

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In our agency’s Telegram channel with 5,500 subscribers, we do exactly the same, but with a focus on a copywriting and editing audience. Here, we also publish posts about content marketing and agency services, but the primary content stream consists of tips on writing, job hunting, and client interaction, along with a sprinkle of local memes.

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Investing in Audience Acquisition

They say that no matter how high-quality your content is, to get it read, you should consider buying traffic; otherwise, no one will see it. I agree with this statement, but not entirely. We’ve been quite successful in gathering organic traffic:

• We didn’t pay anything for 353,000 views on VK.
• VK also provides us with 6-7 thousand monthly views from search queries on our old articles.
• Our blog receives 8-10 thousand monthly readers from search engines.
• Our free courses are downloaded by 300-500 people each month without any advertising.
• People subscribe to our Telegram channels without any promotion. For instance, my channel gained 1,249 new followers in August. Out of these, 634 subscriptions came from no specific source.

However, there are two nuances to consider.

Firstly, we’ve been involved in content marketing for several years, and during this time, we’ve accumulated backlinks, mentions, and SEO traffic. If you’re starting from scratch, you won’t have any of these.

Secondly, organic growth often isn’t sufficient. Perhaps a freelance copywriter can find 3-5 clients and keep busy with free traffic, but for a larger agency, it won’t be enough, so a advertising budget is required.

We invest our entire advertising budget in promoting our Telegram channels—522,000 ₽ since the beginning of the year for my channel and the agency’s channel. This has brought us 4,864 subscribers at a cost of 107 ₽ per subscriber. Another 1,808 subscribers came from semi-free channels—VK and mutual promotion.

I’ve discussed the channels we use for subscriber acquisition in Telegram and the cost per subscriber in my previous article ↓.

7 Methods of Promoting Telegram Channels We Tried – and How Much a Subscriber Costs in 2023 (Quite a Lot!)

We tested various methods to promote our content marketing channels on Telegram, including Telegram Ads, Yandex.Direct, brochures, VKontakte, mutual promotion, VC, and direct purchases. I’ll share the results and insights from each of these methods. This information will be valuable for those looking to boost their Telegram channels within the scope of their content marketing efforts, especially in marketing and business-related niches.

What We Aren’t Doing Yet, But Should Be

We are continuously expanding our content marketing efforts, and that includes incorporating new strategies. Here are some initiatives currently in development or on our immediate roadmap:

1. Case Studies: We’re already producing case studies, but not as actively as we’d like. The challenge lies in motivating our editors to write case studies about their projects, as client tasks always take priority, and internal projects tend to wait. We’re currently hiring a dedicated employee who will track agency projects, extract the details from editors, and compile them into case studies on our website.
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2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Product-Related Queries: A couple of months ago, we brought in an SEO specialist who identified demand in search engines for agency services, which we haven’t fully tapped into. We plan to make some changes: rephrase the content on service pages, create new pages targeting specific keywords, and write articles around those keywords for our blog.
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3. B2B Lead Magnets: While we have lead magnets for selling copywriting courses, we don’t have anything similar for B2B services. This is a missed opportunity because we’re not capturing potential leads with emerging needs and guiding them towards making a purchase.

Content strategy of the agency “Sdelaem” (“Let’s do it”)

Everything I’ve described above isn’t based on intuition but rather a content marketing strategy. This strategy helps us work more systematically and avoid getting distracted by activities that may seem interesting but won’t contribute to lead generation.

Within this strategy, we have a promotion plan for both B2B services and copywriting courses. These are two distinct streams that run in parallel.

We need expert type content marketing: We show ourselves as top professionals and only then sell the agency’s services.

You can view our content strategy by following the link →

If you’re interested in the topic of content marketing and find it relevant, please subscribe to my Telegram channel. I share a lot of useful and practical information there. And, as you might have already read, I also occasionally promote my agency’s services there → @molyanov_blog

By Pavel Molyanov

I blog about content and marketing.
I run a content marketing agency.

The review is published with the permission of the author.

The original article is here.