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 value
10:48 Celebrity partnerships

22:04 The mechanics of sports marketing
23:48 Bringing structure to a marketing team
26:53 The role of product marketing within a company
33:14 Transforming company culture
35:47 The difference between leadership and therapy
45:17 Building a sustainable brand
59:43 Measuring growth through branded search

1:06:20 Are operating principles important for a company?

1:12:01 Differentiating yourself as a commodity
1:14:08 Building out PMM teams for different products
1:16:57 Allocating SEO budget
1:18:48 The usefulness of industry reports
1:26:11 How to use case studies in marketing
1:31:04 Getting your name in the press
1:34:33 Driving growth through industry events
1:41:17 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: @mclaren
F1: @Formula1
Lando Norris: @LandoNorris
Shifted Perspectives: https://www.airwallex.com/airwallex-mclaren-racing-shifted-perspectives
Michael Murphy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Murphy_(sculptor)
Mere exposure effect (psychology): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere-exposure_effect
Forrester: @forrester
Edgar, Dunn & Company: https://www.edgardunn.com/
Skift: @skiftnews
YouGov: https://www.yougov.com/
David Fallarme: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dfallarme/)

Stripe Sessions: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcoWp8pBTM3CYTQho8i-a_lzx4cq7-ePh
Beyond Black Friday
eCommerce Champion Awards: https://www.airwallex.com/newsroom/amid-online-spending-resurgence-airwallex-unveils-inaugural-airwallex
Money20/20: 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.

How do you transform a brand into a household name, especially when that brand has a lot of regulatory restrictions?

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.

00:59 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/

Is it actually possible to make AI content in one go with minimal human involvement that is as good as what a human can produce? Zac Harris, former Head of Demand Gen and SEO at Copy.ai and founder of Rankd., thinks so.

Bryan Harris first became known for Videofruit, his industry leading blog and online course business. But these days, he has shifted focus to his new business Growth Tools and scaling 1:1 coaching.

A master at organization, leadership, and customer generation, Bryan shared tons of gold nuggets during this episode of Ahrefs Podcast, including:

01:02 Shifting from courses to coaching


06:30 Ascension ladder vs descension ladder


15:31 A cautionary tale about sharing revenue


17:45 Free tools as a growth strategy


19:41 How to scale non-commodities


23:45 Finding the right CEO-marketing director fit


31:07 How Growth Tools structures its marketing department


37:40 BOPA (Borrowing other people’s audiences)


42:22 Causes of stress and complexity in marketing


45:28 Guilt by association


48:30 Choosing what to promote


58:34 The key to generating customers


1:07:15 The right way to “Figure it out”


1:11:34 Bryan’s ChatGPT history


1:14:36 Outro

We hope you enjoy our first in-person episode of Ahrefs Podcast!

As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend).

Where to find Bryan:

X: @Harris_Bryan

Website: growthtools.com/ahrefs

Where to find Tim:

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

X: @timsoulo

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

_______________________________________________

Referenced in the episode:

Ryan Deiss: https://www.ryandeiss.com/

Russell Brunson (Dotcom Secrets): https://dotcomsecrets.com/getdcsfree-1


Nathan Berry: https://nathanbarry.com/

Brennan Dunn: https://doubleyourfreelancing.com/


John Lee Dumas: https://www.eofire.com/


Pat Flynn: https://patflynn.com/


Glenn Hill (Connection Codes): https://www.connectioncodes.co/


Jim Collins (Good to Great): https://www.jimcollins.com/index.html 


One Minute Manager: https://www.amazon.com/The-New-One-Minute-Manager/dp/8195246893/

Seth Godin (Purple Cow): https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cow-Transform-Business-Remarkable/dp/014101640X


Noah Kagan: https://noahkagan.com/


Rich Dad Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki): https://www.richdad.com/


Supermensch: https://www.amazon.com/They-Call-Supermensch-Backstage-RocknRoll/dp/0062355953


Figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPa3E8yis0I


John O'Nolan worked as the Deputy Head of UX for WordPress for several years before he got fed up with the direction it was taking.

What is it like to have the freedom to create marketing campaigns that are so crazy, they're LITERALLY out of this world? Let's find out!

Andrew Davies, CMO of SaaS payment infrastructure provider Paddle, joins Ahrefs Podcast to discuss everything from their high production value video campaigns to the crossover between customer engagement and marketing to why you're probably using your blog section wrong.

If you're ready for a more advanced masterclass in marketing, you won't want to miss this discussion!

In this episode, we cover:

_________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe!

Where to find Andrew:

X: https://x.com/andjdavies

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

Website: https://www.paddle.com/

Where to find Tim:

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

X: @timsoulo

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

________________________________________________

Referenced in the episode:

Space campaign: https://space.paddle.com/

What happens when an SEO tool can't compete in SEO?

That's what happened in the early days of Surfer, an AI-powered content marketing platform. Surfer's Head of Marketing, Tomasz Niezgoda, joins the Ahrefs Podcast to explain exactly which strategies helped the company catapult to the 24th fastest-growing company in Europe and the #1 fastest-growing company in Poland.

In this episode, you'll learn:

- How to excel at product marketing

- Why Surfer does 1:1 onboarding calls (with EVERY client)

- Tracking customer responses to onboarding

- The benefit of educational videos

- What the brand got out of redisigning their homepage

- Should you create a brand bible?

- Why SaaS certifications are valuable to clients and companies

- The secret to making your AI content actually good

_________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe!Where to find Tomasz:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/niezgoda-tomasz/

Website: https://surferseo.com/

Where to find Tim:

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

X: @timsoulo

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

Ready for a Masterclass in SEO and content creation? Today's guest is Glen Allsopp, founder of Detailed.com, the SEO Blueprint course, and gaps.com.

But one thing Glen isn't shy about is sharing his vast SEO and business wisdom with the world. In this episode, you'll learn:

(0:00) Intro

(01:45) Maintaining Privacy

(8:49) How does Glen make money

(10:41) What he focuses on

(17:03) What his team looks like

(23:47) Not scaling his agency

(28:01) What he gets out of his $40 audits

(34:29) Creating the Detailed SEO extension

(39:47) What to pay workers

(42:10) The evolution of Detailed

(47:12) Detailed research

(54:12) Promoting Detailed content

(1:00:10) How Glen approaches ideas

(1:06:07) iPhone link building

(1:10:17) Building relationships

(1:15:00) Super pixels

(1:26:10) How Glen stays organized

(1:31:25) The current state of SEO

(1:42:56) Gaps

(1:50:30) Who Glen looks up to

(1:52:56) Media companies

_________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe!

Where to find Glen:

X: https://x.com/ViperChill

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glen-allsopp-63084025/

Website: https://detailed.com/

SEO Blueprint: https://seoblueprint.com/

Gaps: https://gaps.com/

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

X: @timsoulo

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

________________________________________________

Referenced in the episode: