Employee-generated content isn’t just a trend — it’s the future of marketing.

In this episode of the Ahrefs Podcast, we dive deep into the world of Employee Generated Content (EGC) and short-form social video with Melissa Laurie, founder and CEO of Oysterly Media.

Discover why authentic, employee-created video content published on brand channels is quickly becoming essential for companies that want to stand out. Melissa explains how to do EGC right — and why audiences are craving genuine interactions over polished ads.

She breaks down the powerful “Triple A Effect” of EGC:

Attracting top talent,

Retaining engaged staff,

And accelerating sales with real product showcases.

You’ll hear why Gen Z doesn’t magically know how to make great social content, how to structure a video that hooks attention in seconds, and why even the Singapore Police Force is jumping on the trend.

Melissa shares real-world frameworks, production tips, and success stories from companies like Hilton and Microsoft.

In this episode:

(00:00) Intro

(01:57) What is Employee-Generated Content (EGC)?

(03:32) Posting from employee accounts vs company accounts

(09:27) Using EGC to help with employee disengagement and recruiting

(15:35) Examples of successful Day in the Life videos

(21:00) Frameworks for EGC videos

(31:59) Does trend-jumping work for companies?

(35:36) Misconceptions about EGC

(41:26) Hacks for making solid short-form videos

(48:00) Consulting vs outsourcing for social media content

(50:13) The ROI of short-form video for businesses

(55:42) Making the shift from sales to social media

(58:15) Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Ahrefs Podcast!

Be sure to like, subscribe — and tell a friend.

Where to find Melissa:

LinkedIn: Melissa Laurie

Website: oysterlymedia.com

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: Tim Soulo

X: @timsoulo

Website: timsoulo.com

AI Overviews are changing search — but not in the way Google wants you to think.

In this episode of the Ahrefs Podcast, Tim Soulo sits down with Kevin Indig to discuss the real impact of AI on search behavior, website traffic, and SEO strategy.

Kevin analyzed over 5 billion search visits and found that while people are searching more often, they’re spending less time per session — and zero-click searches are on the rise.

But this isn’t just about traffic.

Kevin argues that SEO isn’t dying — it’s just entering a new investment cycle. The smartest companies are already shifting resources toward AI visibility, building tools, and rethinking how they show up in ChatGPT and beyond.

In this episode:

(00:00) Intro

(02:39) How is search changing?

(06:20) Revenue vs traffic

(10:30) How AI Overviews are changing

(13:46) Join Kevin at Ahrefs Evolve

(14:23) How to show up in AI Overviews (and is it even useful?)

(20:10) AI Overview volatility

(26:02) Queries vs prompts

(31:11) External validation: the key to ranking on AI Overviews

(35:13) Is SEO dead?

(42:50) Ranking in AI Overviews vs ChatGPT

(49:18) What you should be optimizing with AI

(01:05:42) Vibe coding in action

(01:07:21) Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Ahrefs Podcast!

Be sure to like, subscribe — and tell a friend.

Where to find Kevin:

LinkedIn: Kevin Indig

X: @Kevin_Indig

Website: mkt1.co

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: Tim Soulo

X: @timsoulo

Website: timsoulo.com

Referenced in this episode

👤 People

Dmitry Gerasimenko

Ryan Law

Rand Fishkin

Eric Siu

🏢 Companies & Brands

Ahrefs

Google

OpenAI

Similarweb

ChatGPT

Ramp

🛠️ Tools / Platforms

Claude

Humata AI

AirOps

v0 by Vercel

Cursor

Relevance AI

📚 Frameworks & Concepts

AI Overviews (Google SGE)

Vibe Coding

Zero-Click Searches

First Mover Advantage

Information Gain (SEO Strategy)

#SEO #GoogleAI #AIOverviews #AhrefsPodcast #KevinIndig #SearchMarketing #DigitalMarketing #AIContent #LLMSearch #ZeroClickSearches #ContentStrategy #AIinMarketing #VibeCoding #MarketingAutomation #aiseo

Emily Kramer (Founder of MKT1 and the Dear Marketers podcast) has led marketing teams at Asana, Carta, and Astro (acquired by Slack).

After working in-house, she became an advisor, consulting with B2B startup founders on marketing approaches across growth stages, audiences, and GTM motions.

She’s seen it all.

We chatted about positioning fundamentals, product vs. content marketing, the growing founder-influencer trend, and her personally coined Fuel and Engine Framework that identifies which part of a broken marketing machine needs fixing.

In this episode:

(00:00) Intro

(01:38) How Will AI Change Startup Marketing and Advising?

(07:53) The First Steps to Startup Marketing

(14:56) Join Emily at Ahrefs Evolve

(15:35) The 12 Marketing Advantages Framework

(16:43) Getting Your Messaging and Positioning Right

(22:40) The Fuel and Engine Framework

(28:59) The 30% Juice Rule for Startups (DEBUNKED)

(34:57) The Difference Between Product Marketing and Content Marketing

(40:11) Examples of Ultra-Successful Campaigns & Measuring the ROI

(49:13) Category Creation vs Roles

(51:28) The Rise of Ecosystem Marketing

(59:34) Is SEO Dying?

(01:01:21) Founders as Influencers

(01:07:57) The Shortcut to Building Brand Influence

(01:14:10) Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like, subscribe, and tell a friend.

—

Where to find Emily:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilykramer/

Website: https://www.mkt1.co/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/

X: https://x.com/timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

—

Referenced in this episode:

👤 People:

Dave Fallarme – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dfallarme/

April Dunford – https://aprildunford.com/

Dustin Moskovitz – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dustin_Moskovitz

Ryan Law – https://www.linkedin.com/in/thinkingslow/

Dmitry Gerasimenko – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmytrogerasymenko/

🏢 Companies & Brands:

Owner – https://owner.com/

Carta – https://carta.com/

Airbnb – https://www.airbnb.com/

Clay – https://www.clay.com/

Asana – https://asana.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/

Substack – https://substack.com/

🛠️ Tools / Platforms:

ChatGPT – https://chat.openai.com/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/

Reddit – https://www.reddit.com/

TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/

Google – https://www.google.com/

📚 Frameworks & Concepts:

Fuel & Engine Framework – https://mkt1.substack.com/p/fuel-engine

Marketing Advantages – https://newsletter.mkt1.co/p/find-and-accelerate-your-marketing

Percent Juice Rule – https://newsletter.mkt1.co/p/high-impact-content

Category Creation vs Design – https://www.aprildunford.com/post/dont-let-customers-decide-what-your-product-is

Ecosystem Marketing – https://newsletter.mkt1.co/p/ecosystem-marketing

Business Potential – https://blog.timsoulo.com/business-potential-the-most-important-metric-in-content-marketing/

🌐 Other:

Hashtag Angels – https://www.hashtagangels.com/

—

#StartupMarketing #MarketingStrategy #EmilyKramer #Ahrefs #B2BMarketing #ContentMarketing #FuelAndEngine #EcosystemMarketing #PersonalBrand #MKT1

Tim Soulo posted on LinkedIn asking if anyone wanted the full breakdown of the publishing process behind Ahrefs’ AI-written articles that actually ranked. Over 400 people commented “do it.”

This episode is the result.

Ryan Law, Director of Content Marketing at Ahrefs, walks Tim through the entire AI content workflow he built — from crafting detailed briefs to editing hallucinated links.

It’s not a “push-button” prompt. It’s a repeatable system that combines ChatGPT with real editorial oversight.

And the results are nearly indistinguishable from human-written content.

You’ll hear how Ryan builds outlines, adds expert-level insight, handles internal linking, and avoids the usual AI traps.

If you’re serious about using AI in your content strategy — and not just experimenting — this is the episode to watch.

LinkedIn post:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/timsoulo_we-built-a-10-step-process-to-create-ai-generated-activity-7348327597769953283-mpQW

In this episode:

(00:00) Why We Made This Episode

(01:03) How We Know This Workflow Works

(02:05) The Basic Setup in ChatGPT (Foundational Instruction Files)

(05:45) Setting up the Content Brief

(14:19) Join Ryan at Ahrefs Evolve

(16:03) Generating a Solid Outline

(19:36) Improving AI Output

(27:05) The Importance of Human Review

(29:33) Polishing the Formatting

(30:43) A Closer Look at the 7 Foundational Documents

(44:01) Outro

–––

Where to find Ryan:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thinkingslow/

X: @thinking_slow

Website: https://ryanlaw.me/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/)

X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

–––

Referenced in this episode

👤 People

Ryan Law

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thinkingslow/

Andrej Karpathy

https://karpathy.ai/

Barbara Minto

https://barbaraminto.com/

Gary Provost

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Provost

Patrick Stox

https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickstox/

⸻

🏢 Companies & Brands

Ahrefs

https://ahrefs.com/

Google

https://www.google.com/

Tesla

https://www.tesla.com/

McKinsey & Company

https://www.mckinsey.com/

⸻

🛠️ Tools / Platforms

ChatGPT

https://chat.openai.com/

WordPress

https://wordpress.org/

Claude

https://www.anthropic.com/product/claude

Replit

https://replit.com/

Google Docs

https://docs.google.com/

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/

GitHub

https://github.com/

⸻

📚 Frameworks & Concepts

PAS Formula (Problem–Agitate–Solution)

https://beomniscient.com/blog/pas-copywriting/

MECE Principle (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MECE_principle

Pyramid Principle

https://www.amazon.fr/Pyramid-Principle-Logic-Writing-Thinking/dp/0273710516

Information Gain (SEO & Content Strategy)

https://www.clearscope.io/blog/information-gain-seo

–––

#AIContent

#ContentMarketing

#SEOStrategy

#ChatGPT

#Ahrefs

#AIWorkflow

#ContentCreation

#DigitalMarketing

#AIforSEO

#AhrefsPodcast

Is your marketing stuck in “competent” mode?

In a world where AI can generate endless content, being good isn’t good enough anymore.

In this episode, Tim Soulo sits down with best-selling author and marketing futurist Mark Schaefer to unpack why most marketing feels flat — and how to fix it. Drawing from his book Audacious, Mark makes the case for out-humaning the machines: creating content that’s emotional, unexpected, and deeply memorable.

You’ll learn:

• Why the real threat to your brand isn’t AI — it’s being boring

• How concepts like the handicap principle and pratfall effect make content feel more real

• What a $1,500 pig can teach you about word-of-mouth marketing

• Why Liquid Death isn’t selling water — they’re selling marketing

• How to measure the ROI of audacity in a spreadsheet-driven world

If your brand is playing it safe, this conversation will push you to think bigger, bolder, and more human.

Chapters:

(00:00) Intro

(03:06) The Concept of Audacious Marketing

(08:52) How to Out-Human the Machines

(11:39) Join Ahrefs Evolve

(12:18) Using AI in Marketing

(21:12) How a $1500 Pig Became a Marketing Sensation

(30:47) Breaking Bad Rules for Good Reasons

(37:12) Creating Awe to Break the Pandemic of Dull

(48:31) Using Controversy and Stunts to Create Awareness

(55:28) How Liquid Death Disrupted a Boring Industry Through Marketing

(01:05:15) Buying a Product vs Buying a Brand

(01:13:27) Measuring the Impact of Audacious Marketing

(01:21:01) Outro

Where to find Mark:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisclickup/

Website: https://clickup.com/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/

X: https://twitter.com/timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

Referenced in this episode:

👤 People

Michael Krivica — https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelkrivica/

Dacher Keltner — https://www.linkedin.com/in/dacherkeltner/

Peter Drucker — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Drucker

Philip Kotler — https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipkotler/

Patrick Campbell — https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickccampbell/

Jonah Berger — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonahberger/

Bill Gates — https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgates/

Mike Cessario (Liquid Death Founder) — https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikecessario/

Stix Nielsen (ex-Liquid Death CMO) — https://www.linkedin.com/in/stixnielsen/

🏢 Companies & Brands

Ahrefs — https://ahrefs.com/

Coca-Cola — https://www.coca-colacompany.com/

Netflix — https://www.netflix.com/

Liquid Death — https://liquiddeath.com/

Pepsi — https://www.pepsico.com/

Powerade — https://www.powerade.com/

Gatorade — https://www.gatorade.com/

Elf Cosmetics — https://www.elfcosmetics.com/

Roblox — https://www.roblox.com/

monday.com — https://monday.com/

ClickUp — https://clickup.com/

Asana — https://asana.com/

BMW — https://www.bmw.com/

Audi — https://www.audi.com/

Mercedes — https://www.mercedes-benz.com/

ProfitWell — https://www.profitwell.com/

Mischief Agency — https://www.mischiefusa.com/

Taboo — https://www.taboo.com.au/

📚 Books

Audacious by Mark Schaefer — https://www.amazon.com/Audacious-Marketing-Humans-Machines-Dominate/dp/1119904791

Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger — https://www.amazon.com/Contagious-Things-Catch-Jonah-Berger/dp/1451686579

Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner — https://www.amazon.com/Awe-Science-Everyday-Wonder-Transform/dp/1982172820

📚 Concepts & Frameworks

Handicap Principle — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicap_principle

Pratfall Effect — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratfall_effect

Social Objects — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_object

Collective Effervescence — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_effervescence

Four P’s of Marketing — https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/four-ps-of-marketing.asp

🎬 Events

South by Southwest (SXSW) — https://www.sxsw.com/

Ahrefs Evolve Conference — https://ahrefs.com/evolve

Chris Cunningham, founding member of ClickUp, reveals the social media strategy that drives a staggering 150M monthly impressions. This is *the* exact strategy that's also attracted major clients like VaynerMedia (yes, GaryVee literally found them through social media).

Grab your notes. 📝 Chris shares his contrarian take on hooks and pattern interrupts, explains why hiring LA actors is a no-brainer for your social content, and walks us through his secret Trial Reels technique that consistently multiplies video performance.

In this episode:

(00:00) The Power of Humor in B2B Marketing

(00:57) Measuring ROI in Social Media Strategies

(05:10) How Much Does It Cost to Create This Type of Content?

(07:32) Finding and Hiring Talent for Content Creation

(12:57) Integrating Humor with Project Management Software

(17:25) The Creative Process: From Ideas to Execution

(18:40) Using Trial Reels to Test Impact(21:08) Brainstorming Creative Ideas(24:02) Balancing Fun and Product Promotion

(29:17) Breaking Marketing Norms

(33:30) The ABCD Framework for Content Creation

(38:33) Pattern Interrupt Techniques in Content

(43:18) Psychological Hacks for Converting Followers

(46:24) Building a Personal Brand Vs a Company Brand

(50:39) Types of Content for Brand Accounts

(53:44) Defining the ClickUp Brand

(57:10) The $15K ClickUp Album

(01:02:01) Influencer Marketing Strategies

(01:04:50) The Super Bowl Ad Experience

(01:07:35) AI in Marketing: A Critical Perspective

(01:11:54) 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 Chris:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisclickup/

X: @ChrisClickUp

Website: https://clickup.com/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/)

X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

⸻

Referenced in this episode:

👤 People

Gary Vaynerchuk (GaryVee): https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyvaynerchuk/

Kyle Coleman (ClickUp CMO): https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylecoleman/

Adam Robinson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamsrobinson/

Gaurav Agarwal (ClickUp COO): https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaurav-agarwal-8278271/

Zeb Evans (ClickUp Founder/CEO): https://www.linkedin.com/in/zeb-evans/

Seth Godin: https://www.sethgodin.com/

Mr. Beast:  ⁨@MrBeast⁩ 

Clever (Artist): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_(rapper)

⸻

🏢 Companies & Brands

VaynerMedia: https://vaynerx.com/

Adweek (Adworld): https://www.adweek.com/

Groundlings: https://www.groundlings.com/

Copy AI: https://www.copy.ai/

Clari: https://www.clari.com/

BuzzFeed: https://www.buzzfeed.com/

Halligan Cinema: https://halligancinema.com/

HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/

Asana: https://asana.com/

Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira

Wendy’s: https://www.wendys.com/

Apple: https://www.apple.com/

Windows (Microsoft): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows

Morning Brew: https://www.morningbrew.com/

⸻

🛠️ Tools / Platforms

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/

Spotify: https://www.spotify.com/

Apple Music: https://www.apple.com/apple-music/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/

Claude (Anthropic AI): https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-3-family

ChatGPT (OpenAI): https://chat.openai.com/

Clay (Lead gen / enrichment): https://www.clay.com/

Is AI replacing marketers, or just helping bad marketers move faster?

In this episode, we're joined by Eric Siu, founder of Single Grain, host of  ⁨@LevelingUpOfficial⁩ , and advisor to some of the biggest SaaS companies, to debate how AI is changing marketing right now.

Eric breaks down the AI workflows his agency uses to cut content production time by 90%, including how they generated 21 blog posts in 30 minutes. But it’s not magic. We dive into where AI works, where it still fails, and why human editors are still a critical part of the process.

We discuss:

00:00 Intro

00:57 Growing an Agency in an AI World

05:23 What Can AI Actually Be Used for Right Now?

09:30 21 Blog Posts in 30 Minutes: Real or Slop?

13:11 The Role of Human Editors in AI Content

15:52 AI Tools Reshaping Marketing

23:54 Agency Value in the Age of AI

30:25 AI for Scheduling, Note-Taking, and Automation

44:03 Gamifying SOPs with AI

46:57 One-Click Internal Linking

50:53 The Personal Brand Machine (And How AI Supercharges It)

58:50 AI-Powered LinkedIn Ads & ABM

01:08:07 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 Eric:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericosiu/

X: @ericosiuWebsites: https://www.singlegrain.com/

https://karrot.ai/

https://www.levelingup.com/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/)X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

👥 People Mentioned

• Neil Patel – Co-founder of NP Digital, marketing influencer, frequent collaborator with Eric

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkpatel

Website: https://neilpatel.com

• Gael Breton – Co-founder of Authority Hacker, SEO educator

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gael-breton-762b1515

Website: https://www.authorityhacker.com

• Nathan Barry – Founder of ConvertKit (now Kit), previous podcast guest

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry

Website: https://nathanbarry.com

• Dmitry Gerasimenko – Founder & CEO of Ahrefs

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerasimenko

⸻

🏢 Companies & Tools Referenced

• Single Grain – Digital marketing agency founded by Eric Siu

Website: https://www.singlegrain.com

• Ahrefs – SEO and marketing intelligence platform

Website: https://ahrefs.com

• NP Digital – Marketing agency co-founded by Neil Patel

Website: https://npdigital.com

• Authority Hacker – SEO and content marketing education

Website: https://www.authorityhacker.com

• Lindy.ai – AI agent tool for task automation, including recruiting

Website: https://lindy.ai

• Manos – AI-powered recruiting automation (referenced)

Website: https://manos.so

• Reclaim.ai – Smart calendar management for scheduling and productivity

Website: https://reclaim.ai

• Hawie.ai – AI meeting scheduling assistant

Website: https://hawie.ai

• Granola – AI note-taking tool

Website: https://granola.so

• Gong – Sales intelligence and meeting recording tool

Website: https://www.gong.io

• Overlap – AI video clipping for short-form content

Website: https://www.overlap.so

• Opus Clip – AI video clipping tool for podcasts and YouTube

Website: https://www.opus.pro

• Descript – AI-powered video editing tool

Website: https://www.descript.com

• Bannerbear – Automated image and video generation (used for OG images)

Website: https://www.bannerbear.com

⸻

📚 Books & Ideas Referenced

• “Who’s Got the Monkey?” – Harvard Business Review article on delegation

Read it: https://hbr.org/1974/11/management-time-whos-got-the-monkey

What if you could turn LinkedIn into your only customer acquisition channel and grow to $30M ARR...without spending a dime on paid ads?

Adam Robinson⁩ breaks down the exact playbook he used to build a magnetic personal brand, engineer high-engagement content, and make LinkedIn work like a growth engine. From bootstrapping three companies to millions in ARR to building a content system that turns credibility into conversions, Adam doesn’t hold back. We explored storytelling, content marketing, webinars, and the overlooked strategies that helped him scale fast without relying on traditional funnels.

In this episode:

(00:00) Intro

(00:50) Building a Personal Brand on Social Media

(06:09) Finding Your Voice and Content Market Fit

(08:50) The Importance of Authentic Storytelling

(11:46) Creating a Public Figure Through Content

(14:56) Strategies for Growing Your LinkedIn Audience

(17:55) Crafting Engaging Posts and Hooks

(21:00) The Art of Storytelling in Content Creation

(23:58) Tactics for Effective LinkedIn Posting

(33:27) Leveraging Credibility in Content Creation

(36:39) Maximizing Engagement Through Hooks and Templates

(41:36) The Role of AI in Content Generation

(50:25) Frequency and Interaction: Balancing Engagement on LinkedIn

(54:40) The Power of Video in Building Trust

(01:00:44) The Unique Appeal of Live Webinars

(01:02:39) 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 Adam:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry/

Websites: https://www.retention.com/

https://www.rb2b.com/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/)

X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

👥 People Mentioned

• Russell Brunson – Co-founder of ClickFunnels, early internet marketing influencer

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russellbrunson

• Dave Gerhardt – Founder of Exit Five, author of Founder Brand

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davegerhardt

• Chris Walker – Growth marketing expert, LinkedIn creator

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriswalker

• Nigel Thomas – LinkedIn content creator known for post templates

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelthomas

• Tom Wolfe – B2B content creator and podcast guest

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomwolfe

• Rick Rubin – Music producer, quoted on art and perspective

(No specific profile link)

• Peter Conforti – Analyst who studied LinkedIn audience overlap

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterconforti

• Jeremy Horwitz – Guest on webinars, ABM expert

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyhorwitz

• Sam Parr – Host of “My First Million” podcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samparr

• Nathan Barry – Mentioned by Tim as podcast guest in this episode

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry

• Paul Graham – Y Combinator founder

Website: http://www.paulgraham.com

⸻

🏢 Companies & Tools Referenced

• ClickFunnels – Sales funnel software (Russell Brunson’s company)

Website: https://clickfunnels.com

• Jasper AI – AI writing assistant tool

Website: https://www.jasper.ai

#LinkedIn #CustomerAcquisition #PersonalBrand #ContentMarketing #Storytelling #AudienceGrowth #SocialMediaStrategy #Engagement #Authenticity #MarketingTactics #ContentCreation #Credibility #AI #Video #Webinars #audiencebuilding

Nathan Barry (founder of Kit, formerly ConvertKit) joins Tim Soulo to break down one of the boldest rebrands in SaaS, and why it wasn’t just a logo change, but a complete overhaul of identity, voice, and vision.

We talk:

• Why they spent $260K with a top agency (and what they actually got)

• How to design word-of-mouth marketing that actually works• Using AI to scale brand consistency

• The Minimum Viable Personal Brand for founders

• Building creator flywheels instead of chasing funnels

• What Kit learned from celebrity newsletters (Tom Brady, Dua Lipa, McConaughey…)

If you care about brand, growth, or building in public, this is the episode to watch.

00:00 - Intro

00:54 - Why spend $360K for a rebrand?

06:14 - Using AI to stay on brand

10:28 - Acquiring a three-letter domain

16:05 - Business decisions beyond immediate profit

21:26 - Turning a rebrand into a marketing flywheel

26:06 - You can’t script word of mouth. But you can feed it

32:56 - Customers as marketing assets

42:30 - Funnels vs flywheels and landing celebrity clients

53:45 - Delegating like a CEO (but still showing up)

1:00:32 - 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 Nathan:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry/

X: @nathanbarry

Website: https://kit.com/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/)

X: @timsouloWebsite: https://www.timsoulo.com/

_______________

Referenced in this episode:

🔹 People

Tom Brady — Referenced in relation to Kit newsletter visibility

https://www.instagram.com/tombrady/

Patrick Campbell — Founder of ProfitWell (acquired by Paddle)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickccampbell/

https://twitter.com/pattyc

Dua Lipa — Musician and creator, newsletter launched via Kit

https://www.instagram.com/dualipa/

⸻

🔹 Companies / Products / Platforms

Kit — Formerly ConvertKit, platform for professional creatorshttps://kit.com/

Koto — Design agency behind Kit’s $260K rebrandhttps://koto.studio/

Ahrefs — All-in-one SEO and marketing platform

https://ahrefs.com/

ProfitWell — Subscription analytics and retention toolhttps://www.profitwell.com/

Paddle — SaaS payment infrastructure company (acquired ProfitWell)

https://www.paddle.com/

Creator Network — Kit’s recommendation and newsletter growth engine

https://kit.com/features/creator-network

⸻

🔹 Books / Concepts“Do Things That Don’t Scale” — Paul Graham (essay from Y Combinator)

https://www.paulgraham.com/ds.html

Ahrefs Podcast

Host: Tim Soulo

Podcast Producer: Michelle Lindner

Intro Storyboard: Michelle Lindner

Intro Video Lead: George Dolgikh

Intro Video Animations: Ilya Yakymchuck

Filmed at: Content HQ, Miami

#branding #rebranding #marketing #emailmarketing #Kit #ConvertKit #domainnames #customerengagement #storytelling #businessstrategy #marketingstrategies #creatorplatforms #abtesting #directsales #networkeffects #teamprocesses #founderpassion

Everyone’s talking about AI in marketing. But most of it is hype, fluff, or screenshots of ChatGPT doing something useless. This episode is different.

Gael Breton ( ⁨@AuthorityHackerPodcast⁩ ) shows the real systems he’s using to replace time-wasting tasks, write high-performing content, and ship more work, without losing quality.

We’re talking about AI workflows that actually work in a lean, fast-moving marketing team.

We cover:

(00:00) Intro

(01:35) AI in marketing is broken. Here's how to fix it.

(03:22) Use Gemini to uncover B2B AI opportunities

(05:57) Why content still matters in the age of AI agents

(09:03) Auto-generate podcasts and deep research summaries

(11:27) Research video libraries with NotebookLLM

(15:31) Tim’s evolving take on AI-generated content

(18:43) Use AI to write high-engagement newsletters

(26:48) Feedback, refinement, and keeping AI content human

(31:33) Smarter, not spammy: Using AI like a creative calculator

(41:20) AI agents + MCP server to automate SEO tasks

(47:18:07) 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 Gael:

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/gael-breton-78305118⁠

X: @GaelBreton

Website: https://www.authorityhacker.com/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/)X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

_______________

Referenced in this episode:

Ahrefs – https://ahrefs.com/

Authority Hacker – https://www.authorityhacker.com/

Gemini (Google AI) – https://deepmind.google/technologies/gemini/

Claude (Anthropic) – https://claude.ai/

NotebookLM – https://notebooklm.google/

Perplexity AI – https://www.perplexity.ai/

Firecrawl – https://www.firecrawl.dev/

Make.com – https://www.make.com/

n8n – https://n8n.io/

CapCut – https://www.capcut.com/

Opus Pro – https://www.opus.pro/

Notion AI – https://www.notion.so/product/ai

Buffer – https://buffer.com/

_______________

Ahrefs Podcast

Host: Tim SouloPodcast

Producer: Michelle Lindner

Intro Storyboard: Tim Soulo

Intro Video Lead: George Dolgikh

Intro Video Animations: Ilya Yakymchuck

Filmed with:  ⁨@Riversidefm⁩ 

#ai, #automation, #businessscaling, #technology, #entrepreneurship, #saas, #innovation, #brand, #contentcreation, #marketingstrategies, #businessgrowth, #aiworkflow, #aicontentcreation