Last year, we published a children’s book about SEO.
We did not hire any consultants for this project. We didn’t create a polished brief to justify the book to stakeholders. We did not process any data to verify the potential impact on our brand awareness.
In fact, no one in the SaaS space has done this, let alone our competitors.
We just have a simple thesis:
- Parents traveling to attend conferences
- Both parents want to bring something home
- Parents get some credit from their children
- Parents remember honors they received for Ahrefs
- ???
- profit
Even though we had no prior data, we trusted our gut. Our intuition was correct. The book was very popular. People are not enough.
Check out the social media comments we received:
I started SEO education with my son at an early age. Thank you.@ahrefs .@TimsuLo Cute SEO-themed children’s book. pic.twitter.com/WLj6lqDSrv
— James Norquay (@connections8) August 6, 2024
In love with this beautiful children's book edited by @ahrefs to explain what is SEO. 😍
Charming story written by @timsoulo about Jessy, a girl who climbs Mount Fjoogle (with special presence of black hat and Twitter).
Congrats for the illustrations of White Haired SEO! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/YRNEDkXTsB
— Clara Soteras (@ClaraSoteras) February 12, 2024
In marketing, no data model can once Tell you to make a children’s book. But regardless, we took a leap of faith and believed that standing out required something bolder than numbers.
The fundamental goal of marketing is to stand out and differentiate from your competitors. However, if you look at the world of marketing right now, you would think that our job is to copy.
The logos look the same:
The same goes for brand websites:
I guess there's a new trend in SaaS homepage design 😆 pic.twitter.com/5qhQOCVBi5
— Tim Soulo 🇺🇦 (@timsoulo) July 12, 2019
Wendy’s was the first brand to talk trash on social media, but now every brand is trying to be the most avant-garde.
Once something works, every brand rushes to imitate it. But then they become indistinguishable and lose the unique qualities that make them special.
They blend in with the chaos of the market.
Maybe it’s not our fault. After all, most of the marketing channels we rely on today—TikTok, Instagram, Google, YouTube, X—they’re algorithmic.
While we love the data these platforms provide us, we must admit that they encourage us to produce content that is safe, replicable, and ready for clicks, likes, and shares.
Since we’re all trying to win with the same algorithm, we end up doing the same thing:
- Every K-pop release follows the same promotional strategy: Design a choreography suitable for the vertical video format, make it a dance challenge, and hope it goes viral on TikTok.
- How did a recipe on the Internet become the size of a Tolstoy novel? Because when something ranks #1 on Google, everyone will follow it. Same title, same subtitle, same content – now everyone has to go through the history of pasta to cook a 10-minute Aglio olio.
- On YouTube, clickbait titles, MrBeast thumbnail styles, and quick clips dominate, Every creator is imitating this formula so as not to fall behind.
This is the stranglehold of algorithms on marketing—the power to sap creativity and keep everyone stuck in a rut.
Advertising executive John Wanamaker once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the problem is I don’t know which half.” He would be delighted by the data revolution because it is completely Changed marketing methods.
For the first time, marketers can stop guessing and start understanding.
We can see exactly how many times a certain keyword was searched for, how many people clicked on each Facebook ad, and how many people opened our emails. Ultimately, marketing is not about throwing darts in the dark.
Each campaign can be fine-tuned to perfection, saving money and maximizing returns.
But optimization also has its drawbacks.
Optimization encourages focusing on what is proven to work rather than what is novel. It favors safe, incremental adjustments over bold, creative, and potentially risky choices.
It drives marketers toward partial maximization. It ensures we climb higher on the same boring mountain, even though the answer lies in creating something completely new.
Worse, the data we rely on may not be as reliable as we think.
Email open rates? Because tracking pixels are blocked, they are often inaccurate. Performance marketing? AirBnb famously slashed $542 million in ad spending and has no impact on sales. Then the fact is Up to 50% of web traffic Probably just robots.
The data revolution we’re obsessed with might just be a Nonsense.
Is this why we sacrifice creativity?
Last year, we sold links. Although purchase links violate Google’s terms of service and are therefore not welcome.
Who am I kidding – we didn’t. This is an April Fools’ Day prank. We just made cute linked images and sold them as NFTs.
Ha, kidding you – we didn’t cast them at all. You can right click and save everything you want. Best of all, the community loved our little prank.
When we sponsored BrightonSEO a few years ago, we made a coffee mug with keyword metrics for participants:
our Homepage design Very different from other companies in the same industry. We even made our own typography.
Last year we ( @ahrefs ) have hired a font designer to create a custom font for our brand, which would take our visual aesthetic to a whole new level.
Well, let me present to you…
Ahrefs Font-face! 🥳
We'll be gradually rolling it out in our interface and visual materials😍 pic.twitter.com/6Jpm2bmEVz
— Tim Soulo 🇺🇦 (@timsoulo) January 30, 2020
I don’t want to say we know these ideas will work. There’s a reason for their “bet”. We may lose money and waste our efforts. Or worst of all, become the laughing stock of the industry and accidentally create bad PR for ourselves. But we had a gut feeling, we experimented, and we accepted the results.
I think that’s why they’re great. By choosing to take risks, we can make an impact in an industry that outsiders often call “boring.”
Marketing is not meant to be a race to the bottom, with every brand copying the same formula, optimizing for the same algorithm, and making small tweaks endlessly. There are limited varieties of blue, and you can change the color of your CTA button.
When everyone zigzags, you zigzag too.
Recently, we conducted an off-site marketing, and our chief marketing officer Tim Sulow Reiterates that he doesn’t mind if the marketing team “fails.”
In fact, embracing failure is one of the reasons we’re willing to make these bets in the first place. The whole philosophy of our company revolves around doing it first, then just doing it right, and then doing it better.
So, how do you build a culture that encourages boldness and risk-taking?
Here are my suggestions:
- Prioritize long-term brand over short-term metrics ——I once Go viral on topic. I gained 0 followers in total. You may trick the algorithm a few times, rewarding you with millions of impressions, but that doesn’t mean you’ve built a successful brand that people trust and buy from. A strong brand is built over time with a bold message that stands out and stands out from competitors.
- Use data as a guide, not a dictator — Data should support you, not control every step of your marketing strategy. Combine what the numbers tell you with your own creative intuition. sometimes, The best marketing comes from intuition.
- invest in experimentation — Set aside a portion of your marketing budget for experiments with no direct expected return on investment. Use the 80/20 rule: 80% of your marketing can be safe, proven methods, while 20% can be “risky” measures.
- Look beyond your competition for inspiration — Copying competitors will only lead to singularity, where every product feature and marketing campaign looks the same. Don’t deal with clutter with more clutter. Look outside your own industry for inspiration. For example, Amazon created Amazon Prime after its airline loyalty program.
Ultimately, you must Treat failure as part of the process. Risk may be a dirty word to many marketing departments, but you have to admit that not every idea will succeed.
Because even if you “fail”, learning from those mistakes can lead to better ideas in the future.
So stop over-optimizing and take risks. Create something memorable for your target customers. The best marketing is not safe, but bold.
