How to make a big marketing impact with a small budget: insights from SparkToro’s Rand Fishkin
In a recent live session, Rand Fishkin, co-founder of SparkToro, and previously founder and CEO of Moz Analytics, shared some great insights on achieving significant marketing impact with limited budgets.
Rand outlined how his experience with SparkToro’s bootstrapped business model has made him more focused on cost-effective channels - avoiding unnecessary spending on traditional high-cost channels.
A focus that has led the team at SparkToro to find success in other people’s audiences.
“Our biggest growth lever is essentially using other people's audiences to grow our own.”
Rand points in particular to podcasts, newsletter sponsorships, and content catering to your ‘amplifier audience’, as channels that have driven their success.
In this blog post, we’re summarising the 4 ways you can build efficient growth like SparkToro.
Leverage other people’s audiences for low-cost B2B marketing opportunities with big impact
Rand and team have focused on leveraging audiences (primarily other people’s) for big impact, yet cost-effective marketing.
In particular, Rand points to these 4 tactics:
Be a guest on podcasts, webinars and speaking engagements
Sponsor relevant newletters
Create content focused on your ‘amplification audience’
Focus on the social channels that you’re good at to maximise engagement
“Amanda and I get invited on a lot of podcasts, a lot of webinars. We do a lot of talks on stages at events. We do YouTube channel stuff. We are often quoted in the press. We produce unique research that gets picked up and talked about. All of those things are what has built SparkToro's brand.”
Let’s take a closer look at how Rand and team have tapped into each.
1. Be a guest on podcasts, webinars and speaking engagements
I don’t need to repeat just how popular podcasts and webinars amongst us B2B marketers are. I mean, this blog post is based on a conversation that took place on a podcast.
It is precisely because of this popularity that Rand preaches regular appearances on these platforms, as well as taking the stage at conferences, to build brand awareness - completely cost-free!
Of course, these shouldn’t be any old podcast or event, the audience needs to closely match yours.
Actionable Steps:
Identify relevant podcasts, webinars, speaking gigs: Research podcasts and webinars within your industry that align with your expertise and audience.
Pitch yourself as a guest: If you’re not yet at the stage where you’re being approached for gigs, you should reach out to hosts with a compelling pitch on why you would be a valuable guest. Highlight your expertise and how you can provide value to their audience.
Prepare valuable content: When invited, prepare insightful and valuable content that addresses common pain points or interests of the audience, and don’t force your product.
Promote your appearance: Share your podcast or webinar appearance on your own social media channels, website, and email newsletters to extend its reach.
Network with attendees: Use (physical) speaking opportunities to network with attendees, exchange contact information, and build professional relationships.
Follow up: Engage with the audience post-event by answering follow-up questions or providing additional resources. This helps to build a lasting relationship with potential customers.
2. Sponsor relevant newsletters in your niche
Sponsoring relevant email newsletters can be a really cost-effective way to reach a targeted audience - so long as the subscribers match your target audience, of course.
Unlike guest appearances on podcasts, sponsorships are not free. However, they can be, according to Rand, a much cheaper way to reach your target audience than traditional ads on the major ad networks.
“Sponsoring someone's email newsletter in the B2B space can be cheap and you can reach tens of thousands of people through that. Email sponsorships are remarkable, and there’s no good platform where you can directly go. You have to find the newsletter, find the person, and email them. These types of targeted relationships can be very effective.”
Actionable Steps:
Identify relevant newsletters: Look for newsletters within your industry or niche that have a substantial following.
Reach out to newsletter owners: Initiate contact with the newsletter owners or editors to inquire about sponsorship opportunities and rates.
Craft a compelling sponsorship message: Ensure your sponsorship message is clear, concise, and offers value to the readers.
Track performance: Monitor the traffic and engagement from the sponsored newsletters to evaluate their effectiveness.
3. Create content focused on your ‘amplification audience’
Understanding the difference between your amplifier audience and your customer audience is crucial for giving your content extra reach.
Rand emphasises that we need to recognize that your marketing amplification audience (e.g., influencers, podcasters) is different from your direct customer audience.
Some content is just more ‘shareable’ than others. Rand uses the example of producing unique research that gets picked up by the media. Ahrefs CMO, Tim Soulo also recently stressed the utility of original thought leadership, see here.
“One piece of advice I have is to understand that the audience for your marketing efforts, the content you produce, or the channels you amplify your message through, are not the same as your customers. Those are two different audiences.
A lot of B2B people try to create content for their potential customers without considering who will amplify it and why. If you don't consider that amplifier audience, most of your marketing will fall flat because it doesn't get the necessary amplification.”
Actionable Steps
Identify your amplifier audience: Determine who the key influencers, bloggers, podcasters, and social media personalities are in your industry. These are the individuals who can help spread your message.
Create shareable content: Focus on producing content that is highly shareable and likely to be picked up by your amplifier audience. This can include unique research, compelling data visualizations, and thought leadership pieces.
Engage with amplifiers: Build relationships with your amplifier audience by engaging with their content, commenting on their posts, and sharing their work. This helps establish a connection before asking them to share your content.
4. Focus on the social channels that you’re good at to maximise engagement
Rand didn’t mince his words when rejecting the (oft-repeated) notion of being ‘everywhere’. Instead, focus on channels that match your skills and passion and where your audience is most active.
“You don't got to be everywhere. That is terrible advice.”
“Choose channels that are at the intersection of your particular skill set, things that you’re really good at, things that you’re passionate about and care about, and channels where you know your audience is active.
For example, if you’re great at visuals, focus on platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. If you’re good at interviewing people, lean into podcasting. This way, you can create content that appeals to the right people on the right channels.”
Actionable Steps:
Identify your strengths and interests: Determine what type of content you are best at creating and enjoy producing, whether it’s written articles, videos, podcasts, or visuals.
Research platform demographics: Understand the demographics of various platforms to ensure your target audience is active there.
Create high-quality content tailored to the channel: Focus on producing high-quality content tailored to each platform. For example, create visually appealing infographics for Instagram and LinkedIn, or data-driven blog posts for your website.
Stay close to your Audience: Regularly engage with your network on those platforms.
Conclusion
Achieving a big marketing impact on a small budget is challenging, but Rand Fishkin's insights provide a practical roadmap.
By leveraging other people's audiences through guest appearances on podcasts, webinars, and speaking engagements, sponsoring relevant newsletters, creating content tailored to your amplification audience, and focusing on social channels that match your strengths, you can maximize your reach without overspending. These cost-effective strategies have proven successful for SparkToro and can help you build brand awareness and drive growth, even with limited resources.
About the guest - Rand Fishkin, co-founder SparkToro
Rand Fishkin, a prominent figure in the marketing world, is known for his previous venture, Moz, which focused on SEO software. He co-founded SparkToro, an audience research software company, to offer a scalable way to understand audiences through passively collected data. This conversation delves into his journey, the advantages of bootstrapping, and strategies for making a big marketing impact without a large budget.
