Ahrefs Podcast

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  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC3owDdLk7HL1dyQnkoBuRew], 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  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCTvgSAxisCh58hjzlMdED0A]) 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  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCOaG4tMpmIQaLXYe063SZlw] #ai, #automation, #businessscaling, #technology, #entrepreneurship, #saas, #innovation, #brand, #contentcreation, #marketingstrategies, #businessgrowth, #aiworkflow, #aicontentcreation

What if your business could run itself...and actually get better over time? In this episode, we sit down with Amos Bar-Joseph, founder of Swan AI, to explore the future of autonomous business and what it means for marketers and SaaS founders. Amos shares how Swan is rethinking onboarding, support, and user engagement through the dynamic of human-AI collaboration. From automation and content creation to go-to-market strategy and brand-building, this conversation unpacks the real potential (and limits) of AI as it reshapes how we build, grow, and support products. We cover: (0:00) Intro (01:18) Can 3 founders scale to $30M ARR with AI? (02:51) Automation is dead. Augmentation is the future. (04:59) Why they said no to Intercom and built their own AI (09:31) How support works when AI reads your docs (11:44) Teaching AI like a teammate (not a tool) (14:19) Could you build this with no-code? (17:10) The only moats left: brand and user experience (25:33) AI-led onboarding that starts without you (28:40) Why high-intent leads skip the free trial (34:21) How they turned LinkedIn into a pipeline engine (39:41) Detecting ICPs in real time with AI agents (44:12) Writing bangers on LinkedIn with Claude (49:56) When AI freedom crashes your margins (55:05) AI-powered research, outreach, and follow-up all in Slack (1:07:41) What they’re automating next (and why) (1:10:33) Why AI still sucks at web design (1:13:25) Outro ------------------------------------------------ Where to find Amos: LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amos-bar-joseph-5a665a142/) Website: https://www.getswan.com/Where to find Tim: LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/) X: @timsoulo Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/ ------------------------------------------------ Referenced in this episode: 🏢 Companies & Products Intercom – “Fin” AI assistant: https://www.intercom.com 6sense (Lead & intent data platform) : https://6sense.com HubSpot (CRM): https://www.hubspot.com Slack: https://slack.com Claude (Anthropic AI): https://www.anthropic.com/index/claude ChatGPT (OpenAI): https://chat.openai.com Gemini (Google AI): https://gemini.google.com ⸻ 🛠️ AI, Automation & No-Code Tools Anthropic (Claude models): https://www.anthropic.com OpenAI (GPT models): https://openai.com N8n (No-code automation platform): https://n8n.io Relevance AI: https://relevance.ai Make (formerly Integromat – automation platform): https://www.make.com Unipile (LinkedIn scraping and automation): https://www.unipile.com Generect (Real-time B2B data enrichment): https://generect.com Apollo (Alternative B2B database tool): https://www.apollo.io Lovable (No-code app builder): https://lovable.dev/ Bubble (No-code app builder): https://bubble.io #ai, #automation, #swann, #customersupport, #humanaicollaboration, #businessscaling, #technology, #entrepreneurship, #saas, #innovation, #brand, #userexperience, #onboarding, #customerengagement, #contentcreation, #autonomousbusiness, #linkedin, #gotomarket, #websitevisitoridentification, #aiautonomy, #marketingstrategies, #businessgrowth