Ahrefs Podcast

How can you rise to unicorn status in an industry dominated by legacy players? Jon Stona, VP of Global Marketing at B2B global payments processor Airwallex shares his insights into growing the company from a coffee shop in Australia to a dominant player in the fintech space.  Today, Airwallex has a $5.6B valuation and handles $100B in processing volume. So, what's the marketing machine behind this financial challenger brand?  00:00 Intro 01:29 What is the marketing budget for a $5B company? 02:55 Sponsorships and the theory of economic value10:48 Celebrity partnerships 22:04 The mechanics of sports marketing23:48 Bringing structure to a marketing team26:53 The role of product marketing within a company33:14 Transforming company culture35:47 The difference between leadership and therapy45:17 Building a sustainable brand59:43 Measuring growth through branded search 1:06:20 Are operating principles important for a company? 1:12:01 Differentiating yourself as a commodity1:14:08 Building out PMM teams for different products1:16:57 Allocating SEO budget1:18:48 The usefulness of industry reports1:26:11 How to use case studies in marketing1:31:04 Getting your name in the press1:34:33 Driving growth through industry events1:41:17 Industry awards 1:46:48 Outro We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend).  Where to find Jon: LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstona/) Website: https://www.airwallex.com/ Where to find Tim: LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/) X: @timsoulo Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/ -------------------------Referenced: McLaren: @mclarenF1: @Formula1Lando Norris: @LandoNorrisShifted Perspectives: https://www.airwallex.com/airwallex-mclaren-racing-shifted-perspectivesMichael Murphy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Murphy_(sculptor)Mere exposure effect (psychology): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere-exposure_effectForrester: @forresterEdgar, Dunn & Company: https://www.edgardunn.com/Skift: @skiftnewsYouGov: https://www.yougov.com/David Fallarme: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dfallarme/) Stripe Sessions: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcoWp8pBTM3CYTQho8i-a_lzx4cq7-ePhBeyond Black FridayeCommerce Champion Awards: https://www.airwallex.com/newsroom/amid-online-spending-resurgence-airwallex-unveils-inaugural-airwallexMoney20/20: https://www.money2020.com/ Cloud 100 list: https://www.forbes.com/cloud100/list/

Neil Patel, one of the most recognized names in digital marketing, pulls back the curtain on how he scaled his agency, NP Digital, to over $100 million in revenue. Neil shares his insights into building and managing a global agency, transitioning from small business clients to enterprise giants like LVMH, Panasonic, ESPN, and CNN, and the strategies he uses to reduce churn and maintain client relationships. In this episode, you'll learn: 00:00 Introduction 01:12 How Neil makes his money 06:35 Why Neil doesn't sell courses anymore 15:04 How Neil scaled his agency 21:14 Shifting from SMBs to large enterprises 33:32 The mistake a lot of agencies make 42:08 How to land big enterprise clients 46:20 Customer acquisition strategies 55:15 Relationship building for customer acquisition 1:02:35 Taking the "Neil Patel" out of NP Digital 1:05:00 Personal branding decisions 1:10:54 Strategic vs tactical content 1:14:05 The role of a team within a personal brand 1:33:01 Neil's visibility and putting his face on "everything" 1:44:35 Partnership ( @marketingschoolpod ) with Eric Siu ( @LevelingUpOfficial ) 1:50:34 How Ubersuggest is doing 2:00:47 The time Neil spent $162K on clothes 2:04:52 Outro We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend). Where to find Neil: X: @neilpatel LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkpatel/) Website: https://npdigital.com/ Where to find Tim: LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/) X: @timsoulo Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/ ------------------------- Referenced: • Gary Vaynerchuk (Gary Vee): garyvaynerchuk.com  @garyvee  • Tony Robbins: tonyrobbins.com  @TonyRobbinsLive  • LVMH: lvmh.com • Dentsu: dentsu.com • WPP: wpp.com • Publicis: publicisgroupe.com • ByteDance: bytedance.com • Nestlé: nestle.com • Panasonic: panasonic.com • Philips: philips.com • ESPN: espn.com • CNN: cnn.com • Salesforce: salesforce.com • Tai Lopez: tailopez.com  @tailopez  • Sam Oh:  @AhrefsCom 

How do you transform a brand into a household name, especially when that brand has a lot of regulatory restrictions? Steven Kalifowitz is doing just that right now with  @CryptoComOfficial . When he came on board as the Crypto.com CMO in 2020, he brought years of experience as an Emmy-winning production manager for HBO and lessons from being a Director of Brand Strategy for Twitter. Along with discussing his strategy for transforming Crypto.com into a household name, Steven and Tim also discussed: 00:00 Intro 01:29 Managing million-dollar marketing budgets 05:58 The importance of continued awareness for established brands 13:05 Understanding and nurturing casual vs heavy customers 19:02 Buying the Crypto.com name 21:24 Becoming CMO of Crypto.com 24:58 Are brand strategy blueprints necessary? 34:44 Marketing a brand vs a commodity 53:57 Using live sports as a marketing tool 56:29 Are competitor pages useful? 58:56 How the Crypto.com marketing team is structured 1:05:42 What does Steven do as CMO of Crypto.com? 1:10:43 Leadership and management skills 1:18:48 Advertising at the Sphere and getting around advertising restrictions 1:26:35 Sports partnerships 1:33:45 Celebrity brand films 1:41:54 Are NFTs dead? 1:45:53 Outro We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend). Where to find Steven: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skalifowitz/ X: @skalifowitz Where to find Tim: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/ X: @timsoulo Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/ _________________________________________________ Referenced in this episode: Byron Sharp - How Brands Grow: https://brandgenetics.com/human-thinking/how-brands-grow-speed-summary/ CPG/FMCG: https://cdp.com/glossary/cpg-marketing/ https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fastmoving-consumer-goods-fmcg.asp Fortune Favors the Brave ft. Matt Damon: https://youtu.be/9hBC5TVdYT8?si=qrj6nOB-VDY1yY5W David Oglivy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ogilvy_(businessman) Andy Gove - High Output Management: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Output_Management Patrick Lencioni - Five Dysfunctions of a Team: https://www.tablegroup.com/topics-and-resources/teamwork-5-dysfunctions/ Dale Carnegie - How to Win Friends and Influence People: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People Andy Gove - Only the Paranoid Survive: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66863.Only_the_Paranoid_Survive Inevitable ft. Eminem: https://x.com/Eminem/status/1783859123614052845 The Moment of Truth ft. Lebron James: https://youtu.be/xynQFsPBE3w?si=5Xxr_Q3qacsR6BpV

When Fery Kaszoni first ventured into the world of SEO, he had no idea that 10 years later, he would be the CEO of a thriving digital PR agency on track to make £10M per year. Fery's success is largely driven by his personal brand, and his fun, goofy spoofs of popular songs have become a hit in the SEO community. But it wasn't always that way. Fery shares his ups and downs as an agency owner, what he wishes he could have done differently, and how others can replicate his success. 00:00 Intro 00:59 Fery's background as a developer 04:00 First steps into the SEO industry 11:22 Finding the passion to create an agency 15:31 Shifting to digital PR 18:19 How to scale an agency to 8 figures 27:18 Success without eating your own dog food 30:13 The true ROI of sponsorships 37:49 Fery's competitive advantage 43:49 Finding and onboarding solid employees 50:38 Expansion and team structure 52:46 Fery's role at Search Intelligence 54:46 The value in creating viral videos 58:55 Balancing humor and seriousness 01:01:45 Four day work weeks 01:08:38 Are social media and brand building the future of SEO? 01:11:43 Outro We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend). Where to find Fery: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ferenczkaszoni/ Website: https://search-intelligence.co.uk/ Where to find Tim: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/ X: @timsoulo Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/