In early 2015, Roy Steves and Shilo Jones knew that there was an opening in the market for a new kind of digital marketing agency.  They designed the business around a few core concepts: 

1. We love to talk shop.  One of the most rewarding aspects of their past careers had been meeting up with other eCommerce professionals, and comparing notes on what worked, what didn't, and what was learned.  StatBid was to be a vessel for that sharing.

2. We want to help, even outside our channel.  An extension of the first, this allows us to use our own eCommerce experience to provide guidance and recommendations to those clients who could benefit from it--and not just within Google Ads.  Roy and Shilo's passion extended to everything from attribution to margin management to inventory planning.

3. We want to work with the best, from anywhere.  In another diversion from our past experience, we decided to build StatBid as an entirely remote team.  While we'd have to relearn how to manage and develop teams, as our in-office experience wouldn't port directly, we would have access to talent from across the country, and even the world.

At Statbid, we’re a small group, with around ten full-time staff (including the founders), and a small host of incredibly talented freelancers from around the globe.  The team at StatBid is learning quickly, improving daily, and helping produce sustainable profit and growth for our clients.

While our team is remote, this position is currently limited to those working in the U.S.

The Content Writer is able to produce well-researched content for publication online. They are responsible for organizing writing schedules to complete drafts and finished content within deadlines. They are able to take on the voice of a given brand or website and demonstrate that voice through stylistic choices. They have a collaborative approach, the ability to take a content outline and execute within that framework, and provide creative input to others. They have a proven track record of successfully producing content that performs well in a variety of mediums. Ideally the content writer has familiarity with optimizing content for organic search, and understands the value of keyword research.

Can Do

• You have an impeccable grasp of the English language.

• You have the ability to work independently with limited oversight and firm deadlines.

• You have strong interpersonal and communication skills with internal teams, using both written and verbal communication (email, Slack, phone, video-conference, in-person).

• You have the ability to switch between multiple projects with different objectives simultaneously, as the needs of clients or timelines shift.

• You are innately curious and have demonstrated experience writing about a topic you previously were not an expert in and were able to produce expert level content for.

• Prepare structured outlines using existing templates.

• Proofread and edit blog posts before publication.

• You are proficient working with the Google suite of office products (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail).

Will Do

• You are a team-oriented player and recognize your success and the success of our clients is the success of the whole team.

• You embrace the voice and unique aims of a client’s marketing efforts, and enjoy writing in different styles as needed.

• You are diplomatic and can work with clients and internal team members regardless of disagreements of style or prioritization.

• You are interested in learning more about SEO with the goal of producing topical research that has opportunity in and  will perform in organic search.

• You are able to audit existing content to identify areas of opportunity.

Sources of Satisfaction

• Due to the distributed nature of StatBid you have nearly complete geographic flexibility and some flexibility when you do your work (you'll need to have sufficient overlapping availability with our clients and teammates).

• You have great work-life balance, with somewhat flexible hours, vacation time, sick leave, and mental health days off.

• There are always new problems to solve and new things to learn.

• Even operating within the StatBid playbook and client style guides, you'll have a lot of autonomy to switch between tasks and create work of which you’d be proud.

• There is also an expectation, with time allocated, for you to improve the StatBid playbook and guide client voices, helping us to continually improve.

• You'll get to work with really cool companies that are innovating in their respective categories.

Sources of Dissatisfaction

• The double-edge sword is that the remote nature of StatBid can create some feelings of isolation with plenty of distractions, which requires someone that is predisposed to be disciplined and self-motivated to succeed.

• The creative nature of writing can at times go against our goals of driving traffic and revenue to websites. Working within the confines of a provided content brief requires that you hit on the provided topics, even if that doesn’t match your writing style. 

• It’s important to use specific keywords and phrasing in specific locations of content to effectively rank in organic search, even if those keywords are not the choice you’d normally make as a talented writer.

We believe that a company’s culture is an emergent property of its people, not something that can be decided and approved upon by a board, and then dictated to employees.  As such, this isn't the first version of the list, and may not be the last.

"The Seven Cs"

• Conscientious:  Everyone is trying to make their businesses successful, and each has their own journey toward that goal.  We must therefore maintain an empathetic foundation in our interactions, with our peers, partners, clients, industry, and world.  We operate with respect and care, especially over disagreement, but also in the way we individually, or collectively as StatBid, deal with others.

• Candid: We strive to be as transparent and honest as possible.  Life’s opportunities increase proportionally to our willingness to have awkward conversations.  While it’s easy to share victories, only through honest, candid assessment can we improve over time, and help others to do the same.  

• Collaborative:  There’s a saying: “If you want to go quickly, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together.”  While it’s surprisingly difficult to trace to an original source, it sticks in the public consciousness for good reason--some things will call for the first approach, others the second.  StatBid is in the business of going far, and that takes a team.  Humans are such a successful species, in part, due to our ability to combine our talents and experience, and we embrace this opportunity.

• Creative:  Our industry changes far too quickly to allow any complacency.  As a result, we must constantly be looking for new, innovative, and creative ways to approach challenges.  Creativity demands the ability to step back, and find new perspectives on old limitations.  We will rise to the challenge.  

• Clever:  Not only should we try to be creative in our problem solving, but our solutions themselves should display elegance.  We are energized by scrappy, innovative thinking, and our business will be guided in no small part by that approach.  This will allow us to punch above our weight class, and out-maneuver potential risks and barriers.

• Constructive:  Everything we’ve built in the past can be improved upon.  We are attached to our output, not our tools, and so we are always open to iterating on tools and processes, if it would improve the results.  We will also provide candid suggestions to others who ask, and graciously consider suggestions that we receive.  This philosophy allows us to build better things in the future.

• Non-Conformist:  The seventh of our Cs only barely starting with a "c" provides for the fact that creative solutions sometimes require abandoning preconceptions and past standards.  Our industry changes quickly, and despite this, there are all kinds of baggage that accumulate along the way.  To mitigate this, we will always be open to considering wildly alternative solutions.  To paraphrase Tim Ferriss: “Most people walk down the street on their legs.  Does that mean we walk down the street with our hands? ...Not usually, no.”  But we also reject the idea that there is a single solution that works for every business, or at every stage of that business’s life, and it’s up to us to spot the difference.

Salary range: $45,000 - $60,000 / year DOE