Scaling a Billion Dollar Brand: Lessons from Semrush’s CMO

Ross sits down with Andrew Warden, CMO of Semrush, for a behind-the-scenes look at how the company has scaled past a billion-dollar valuation through brand innovation, performance marketing, and fearless experimentation.

Andrew unpacks how he’s built and structured Semrush’s powerhouse marketing team, why they favor in-house execution over agencies, and how data science and AI are reshaping modern marketing ops.

From viral hits like “Be Like Gaby” and “CEO Kiddos," this episode highlights what works—and what doesn’t—when building a global brand.

00:00 – Intro & Nick Eubanks M&A Stories
02:00 – Building the Semrush Marketing Team Structure
04:00 – Why In-House Creative Wins Over Agencies
06:00 – Brand, Digital, and Owned Media: Org Design Explained
08:00 – The Role of Data Science & Marketing Ops at Scale
10:00 – AI Ops: Automating for Speed, Not Just Hype
13:00 – Enterprise vs. SMB: Maintaining Brand Balance
16:00 – Big Wins: “Be Like Gaby” and User-Driven Campaigns
18:00 – When Humor Doesn’t Convert: Learning from the “CEO Kiddos” Flop
21:00 – Why Failure Is Part of the Process at Semrush
24:00 – Scaling Content: Growing the SEO Team from 4 to 40+
26:00 – Localization: What Works, What Doesn’t
29:00 – Brand vs. Performance: How to Actually Measure Impact
33:00 – Traffic Down, Revenue Up: Moving Beyond Vanity Metrics
36:00 – What SEOs Should Actually Be Goal-ed On
39:00 – AI and Search: The Real Impact on Marketers
41:00 – Semrush’s AI Toolkit & ContentShake Overview
44:00 – The Most Underrated Features in Semrush
47:00 – Prompt Engineering & Early AI Adoption Lessons
48:00 – Conference Announcements & What’s Next for Semrush

ContentShake: https://www.semrush.com/apps/contents...
Impress your boss commercial:    • Drive your business forward with measurabl...  
Semrush’s most popular campaign:    • Work Smarter Not Harder: Using Tools to Yo...  
Andrew Warden on LinkedIn:   / andrewwarden  

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