Author, content strategist and entrepreneur Cas McCullough has a simple goal. She wants to put an end to expensive, boring, time-consuming business content.
In late 2014, Cas dreamed up Writally after asking the question: “What if there was a tool that helped businesses create quality content in half the time.”
She sat on her idea for months, fearing that it was, well, a silly idea, but every time someone asked her for a copywriting quote, the question surfaced again.
Finally, one Saturday morning, Cas made the impulsive decision to leap out of bed at 6am and drive into the city for a 7.30am startup pitching competition. She had never entered a pitch competition before and was surprised to be selected as a finalist in the Little Tokyo 2 SOOOB Pitch event. In April 2015 Cas won third place in the competition as well as support from mentors who saw the potential in her product.
In September that year, frustrated at the fact she couldn’t code and didn’t even know any coders, Cas was pulling out weeds in her front yard when she suddenly had the brain wave to start Writally as a productised service.
It was this step that changed everything.
She asked a group of business bloggers for feedback and tested a basic questionnaire. What they discovered was that using the blog post recipes cut down the time it took to write a blog post by 40% or more.
Cas had paying customers right from the start and was able to show that Writally’s solution had traction.
Fast forward to 2016.
Cas entered the Collaborate small business solutions competition at the midnight hour and was selected as a finalist. She went on to win the competition, sponsored by Bluechilli, CCIQ, Suncorp and Microsoft.
Writally attracted $50K seed funding from Bluechilli and CCIQ and another $25K from a private investor. Cas was also able to join Bluechilli as a portfolio partner to turn Writally into a tech solution.
Meet Writally
Writally is a SaaS product that helps writers create quality content in half the time using customised blog post recipes.
It is clear that today’s consumers want access to quality content to make informed buying decisions, but along with that many traditional businesses are struggling to keep up with the content revolution. Forrester research shows that 50% of all online sales are lost because people can’t find content.
Cas realised that the biggest problem with business-related content is not necessarily volume but the time it takes to produce a quality post.
The goal with content marketing is not to spew forth regular content just for the sake of it, but to generate interest in your business. You can’t generate interest with boring content and you don’t have the luxury of time to spend 4-6 hours on one blog post.
Writally is the time-poor content creator’s best friend. It provides a cost-effective solution for businesses that lack time, motivation and ideas when it comes to creating content that matters to their communities.
For more information about Cas, visit her main website here.
Cas’s Awards and Recognition
- Finalist, Content Marketing Awards for Best Ad and Blog Integration Strategy, 2016
- Winner, Suncorp Small Business Challenges Startup Competition sponsored by Suncorp, CCIQ, Bluechilli and Microsoft, 2016
- Anthill Cool Company Awards Top 100, 2014
- Listed at no 58 in the seo.com top 90 socially shared content marketing blog posts in the world, July 2014
- Finalist – Marketing Profs Bright Bulb Awards 2013
- Finalist – Sue Wickenden Entrepreneurial Award, Women in Technology, 2013 and 2014
- Shortlisted as one of the top 25 Small Business Bloggers in Australia, Telstra Smarter Business Awards 2013
- Shortlisted as one of the top 24 Social Media bloggers in the world in the 2013 Social Media Examiner Top 10 Blog Competition.