Ahrefs: Maximizing Sponsorships w/ Tim Soulo

In this episode, we chat with Tim Soulo, CMO at Ahrefs, about the power of podcast sponsorships. Ahrefs is a leading SEO tool with about 75 employees and $100M in annual recurring revenue. Simply put, they’re one of the biggest brands in marketing. Tune in to learn why Ahrefs spent $214K in podcast sponsorships over the course of a year, how they measure ROI outside of direct sales and leads, how they use qualitative attribution, and so much more. Guest-at-a-Glance Name: Tim Soulo What he does: Chief Marketing Officer and Product Advisor at Ahrefs Connect with Tim: LinkedIn | Twitter Key Takeaways If you’re looking to sponsor podcasts, make sure you pick shows with active audiences and credible hosts. Make sure you’re not sponsoring a show with inflated numbers or a host who is simply doing this as a hobby for themselves and their friends. This is crucial to ensuring your sponsored message actually gets in front of the right audience and is worth your investment. Podcast ads help you build brand affinity through the “mere exposure effect”. The “mere exposure effect” is a psychological phenomenon where the more people are exposed to your brand, the more likely they are to develop an affinity for it. When the listener is faced with making a choice between your brand versus one not on their radar, they will choose yours merely due to the fact they heard about you numerous times on a podcast. The best host-read ads come from hosts who’ve used your product. When a host can give a more natural read of your product because they’ve used it themselves, the audience will listen more attentively because they already know and trust the host. Your goal is to partner with hosts who will genuinely recommend your product, regardless of whether you sponsor them or not. Always negotiate sponsorship pricing. Podcast sponsorship pricing is all over the map. The best strategy is to reach out to at least 20 podcasts, gather pricing information, and figure out averages before you commit to anyone. This will help you determine who’s pricing is above standard and who is undercharging so you can negotiate better deals for your brand. Treat download numbers with suspicion. It’s commonly known in the podcast industry that download numbers aren’t the most accurate representation of the number of listens per episode. When you consider sponsoring a show, make sure the host is well known in the industry. Look at their social following to ensure they have a loyal audience versus worrying about their monthly podcast download numbers. Partner on a giveaway with the host in exchange for engagement. You can offer the host a free version of your product to giveaway to their listeners, and in exchange, they can ask listeners to leave reviews or

You can listen to Ahrefs: Maximizing Sponsorships w/ Tim Soulo online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Ahrefs: Maximizing Sponsorships w/ Tim Soulo is an episode from Brands That Podcast by Lemonpie.

This episode is 50:16 long.

This episode was published on May 25, 2022.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Brands That Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.