Marketing Lessons from Spending $800K on Campaigns

Did you know companies often pour huge marketing budgets into campaigns with no concrete ROI tracking? After investing over $800,000, we found that even seemingly untrackable spends can yield valuable backlinks, brand awareness, and strategic insights.

The Costly Journey of Learning

When we first dropped $16,100 into Google Ads, our goal was straightforward: earn quality backlinks by bidding on high-value keywords and directing clicks to no-indexed landing pages. We tested different match types, adjusted bids weekly, and paused underperforming terms, while monitoring referring domains in Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. In total, the campaign secured 101 unique backlinks at an average cost of $159.31 per domain. These links included mentions on niche review sites, newsletters, and industry blogs—but many lacked real editorial value.

Only 36 of those referring domains met our quality threshold, driving the effective cost per decent backlink to $446.94. Though our video shows how we managed links for as little as $49.17 each, this campaign reinforced that paid backlinks can be expensive and unpredictable—especially when you factor in domain relevance and link placement. The experiment became a living case study for our team, highlighting the importance of ongoing optimization and rigorous quality checks.

Rethinking Our Homepage

By 2020, our homepage had grown stale after almost five years without major updates. To inject fresh messaging and personality, we hired three distinct copywriting agencies, each conducting market research, customer interviews, and brainstorming sessions over several weeks. For $33,000, we received three unique drafts covering different brand archetypes and value propositions, from data-driven authority to human-centered storytelling.

Instead of picking a single “winner,” we blended the strongest headlines, feature callouts, and customer testimonials into a composite layout. We also restructured the page hierarchy, improved CTA visibility, and refined our value proposition based on clear pain points. After qualitative user testing and an A/B experiment against the old design, the hybrid homepage reduced bounce rates and boosted time on page. This exercise proved that combining diverse creative perspectives often yields a stronger result than a one-size-fits-all solution.

The Revelation of Brand Exposure

Back in 2018, podcast advertising was virtually untested in our niche, so we allocated $14,200 to sponsor five shows with 30-second pre-roll ads. The immediate returns were modest—just 339 pageviews and 11 trial sign-ups, equating to $41.89 per click or $1,290.91 per lead. On paper, it looked like folly to promote a complex SaaS tool through brief audio spots, yet the real value emerged over time.

At industry conferences, our CMO Tim heard attendees repeatedly mention Ahrefs as the podcast they’d first encountered. During each episode, we’d asked hosts to highlight unique use cases, which sparked word-of-mouth and social buzz. This qualitative feedback revealed that podcast sponsorships function more as brand awareness campaigns than direct lead-generation channels. Armed with that insight, we invested another $37,775 to fund six additional podcast sponsorships—this time without tracking clicks or sign-ups—simply to keep our name top of mind with engaged listeners.

Championing Creators and Conferences

In December 2021, we redirected about $200,000 from traditional Google and Facebook ads to sponsor content creators across our industry. We supported 72 videos, 108 podcast episodes, 138 newsletter issues, 11 standalone projects and events, nine sponsored blog posts, and seven social media campaigns. For many influencers, Ahrefs was their first sponsor, resulting in authentic product integrations and genuine community goodwill.

Our partnership manager, Igor, orchestrated the effort by sending over 2,000 personalized outreach emails and logging 20 hours of discovery calls. The program scaled into 2022, consuming another $400,000 in creator sponsorships alongside $100,000 in conference sponsorship fees. Many sponsored videos ended up in evergreen playlists, delivering ongoing brand impressions long after the initial spend. Our conference sponsorships included branded lounges, coffee breaks, and speaker slots—touchpoints that no simple click-through metric can fully capture.

Reflecting on the Experience

Altogether, we spent approximately $838,875 on these diverse marketing campaigns, excluding salaries, overhead, and travel expenses. In the past, we would have demanded a painstaking spreadsheet of conversions and cost-per-acquisition metrics. Today, after five years at Ahrefs, I’ve learned to trust a blend of data and common sense. Campaigns without direct ROI tracking can still generate invaluable learnings, organic backlinks, and sustained brand momentum that compounds over time.

1. Multi-Purpose Marketing Campaigns

Whenever possible, design experiments that double as content assets. Our Google Ads backlink test not only produced links but also served as a detailed case study, earning over 500 social shares and driving referral traffic months after the ads stopped. By documenting both successes and failures, you create unique, hard-to-replicate content that appeals directly to marketers hungry for real-world examples.

2. Accepting the Untrackable ROI

Not every sponsorship or conference appearance will provide clean attribution via UTM parameters or campaign codes. When someone chats with a peer, attends your talk, or hears your name on a podcast, those interactions rarely show up in analytics dashboards.

"Making assumptions based on bad data will most likely lead to bad decisions."
Over-reliance on flawed metrics can blind you to the broader impact of brand exposure and community engagement.

3. Investing in What You Believe In

Allocating budget toward initiatives that resonate with your company mission—like empowering independent creators or sponsoring in-person events—yields rewards beyond measurable conversions. These campaigns foster genuine relationships, open doors for co-branded webinars and guest posts, and reinforce your position as an industry thought leader.

Conclusion

• Boldly allocate budget toward creative marketing approaches—even without strict ROI tracking—to unearth unexpected benefits like backlinks, brand awareness, and deeper customer insights.

What unconventional lessons have your marketing experiments taught you? Share your experiences in the comments below!