Content marketing firm Skyword doubling Pittsburgh team with $25M in funding

A content marketing firm will double its Pittsburgh operation as it continues its use of artificial intelligence to connect brands and customers.

Skyword will use $25 million in recent funding to expand its technology center at PPG Place in Downtown.

The Boston-based company currently has 28 employees in Pittsburgh and plans to add 25 through the end of the year, said CEO and Bethel Park native Tom Gerace. The company is looking to lease more space inside PPG Place or elsewhere.

Skyword is a content marketing software and services company that helps major brands and companies reach customers. Gerace said the old models of television, radio or internet ads don't work as well anymore.

“Consumers are choosing to actively ignore ads or block ads or subscribe to a service to get content ad free,” Gerace said. “And when they do that, that eliminates the ability for brands to be able to reach them.”

Gerace said companies are increasingly using content marketing ­— articles, stories, videos or other media produced by the brand — to reach customers. A study by Skyword released Monday found that 87 percent of companies say that content marketing is at the core of its marketing team. Search “wisdom tooth recovery” on Google and the top result may be a post from Colgate about how long it takes to recover from surgery.

“That article was produced by Skyword,” Gerace said.

Skyword began integrating artificial intelligence into its products a year ago. The company uses AI to identify what people are interested in and then forecast what type of content they might need. Gerace said AI allows for a more personalized marketing approach and it can increase effectiveness by up to 70 percent.

“We have focused the company's technology development in the Pittsburgh market because we have found that we can tap an extraordinary talent pool coming out of Carnegie Mellon and Pitt,” Gerace said.

In addition to hiring people with AI expertise, Skyword is looking for people with skills in product planning, product design, user experience development, quality assurance and operations.

Aaron Aupperlee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at aaupperlee@tribweb.com, 412-336-8448 or via Twitter @tinynotebook.