What happens when you have a franchise-driven business model that demands local relevance, and a desire to scale your content marketing program with an eye to better value? Here’s the catch: you’ve already got hundreds of pieces of content.
The answer came from pairing generative AI with human expertise in a novel way, to see what was working in the company’s blogs and what might work better.
With almost 200 franchise locations across 34 states, Goldfish Swim School Franchising, LLC (GSS), is a fast-growing brand among parents of young children. But with growth comes complexity—especially when content becomes a key part of the marketing engine. GSS had plenty of blog content. What they lacked was clarity. What was working? And how could content better support their goals around brand awareness, lead generation, and customer retention?
To solve that challenge, GSS partnered with F360 and launched a new content strategy, powered by DDM’s content optimization tool, Content Acclaim. Robin Riddle, Chief Strategy Officer at Dotdash Meredith (DDM) Content Solutions, shared the journey and results of this work at the recent ANA AI Technology for Marketers Conference in Austin, Texas. This event with more than 40 speakers and nearly 1,000 attendees explored where AI is headed and what marketers can do to keep up.
Like many brands, GSS had amassed a sizable content library—more than 300 blog articles aimed at nurturing both current and potential customers. But much of it was reactive: more FAQ than funnel. It supported existing members, but it wasn’t driving growth.
“We use long-form content as a way to educate and inform members and answer questions for potential members”, said Shana Krisan, Chief Marketing Officer of GSS. “But we weren't using it to drive new ones.”
That’s where the shift began with a smart and innovative use of AI tools. Rather than use generative AI to create new content, which can result in errors, search penalties and a “sea of beige,” as the DDM team put it, the real opportunity was using AI to help humans analyze, summarize, and scale insights about current content.
Executive Editorial Director, Jason Anthony, worked with DDM’s technology team to develop Content Acclaim. This proprietary tool can audit and help optimize troubled content at scale, powered by OpenAI’s LLM as well as editorial insights from America’s largest publisher.
With this hybrid approach, GSS was able to:
After auditing more than 300 of the highest traffic posts, three key insights emerged:
There was good news, too; 90% of posts reflected GSS' warm, family-first tone, and 77% scored high for SEO and structure.
“We also saw a lot of missed opportunities around emotional language and addressing parents’ feelings about swim lessons,” Anthony said. “This is a goldmine for the second stage of Content Acclaim, where AI helps writers go in tactically and make the articles better and more useful to the company.”
The project helped kick-start ideas about what to do with the GSS content library, both with existing content and all content to come. A three-part strategy laid out the following targets:
AI handled the heavy lifting—structure, scoring, pattern detection—but the human teams turned that analysis into strategy. Editorial, strategy, and SEO specialists crafted the initial inquiry and interpreted the data, which led to the roadmap that made the work actionable.
“AI helped us work faster and smarter,” said Riddle. “But it was our people—across editorial, data, and strategy—who brought the insights to life.”
Today, GSS has a more focused, scalable, and impactful approach to content—one that supports growth and remains true to its mission: helping kids become safer and more confident in and around the water.
If you’re overwhelmed by the size of your content library, or unsure where content fits into your broader marketing mix, GSS’ journey offers three key lessons:
Riddle closed his ANA talk with this thought about the new AI landscape: “The real race isn’t man versus machine. It’s man + machine versus man without machine.”
To that, Krisan added: “This process showed me where our content could work harder—and how to make that happen. Moving forward, we’re using these insights to guide new content development, improve local engagement, and better support franchisees.” In short, she noted, “We now have the data to tell us we’re on the right path.”
If you need help figuring out what’s working and what’s not with your existing content program, please get in touch.
Author Bio
Shana Krisan is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Goldfish Swim School Franchising, LLC, a role she has held since December 2013. With over 25 years of experience in the franchising industry, she has been instrumental in developing comprehensive marketing strategies and building an internal team that has significantly enhanced the brand's presence and franchisee support.
Robin Riddle is the Chief Strategy Officer at Foundry 360. He works across B2B as well as B2C and specializes in financial services, insurance, and health care. Prior to his time here, he led content marketing businesses at both The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. A passionate advocate for the value of content marketing, Robin is also heavily involved in industry issues and speaks at many events on the topics of content marketing, native advertising and AI.
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