How did SparkToro market itself in its first year?
Mostly through other people's audiences. Rand Fishkin, SparkToro's co-founder and CEO, set out the first year in SparkToro's Year One Retrospective on the company blog on 23 April 2021, exactly a year after the 23 April 2020 launch. SparkToro sells audience research software, and it launched early in the pandemic with two people, Fishkin and co-founder Casey Henry; Henry is CTO, according to SparkToro's about page.
Read together, the retrospective describes four levers:
- Influence marketing. Fishkin pitched the people, shows and publications the target audience already follows. In the first months, nearly all awareness came from that direct work.
- A free plan. Nearly 40,000 free users signed up in 12 months, and Fishkin called free subscribers the company's top marketing channel.
- Feature launches. The biggest growth month came with the most-requested feature and a new $50-a-month plan, both in September 2020.
- Branded search. Google traffic rose from 113K visits in the first six months to 193K in the next six, with about 70% of it from branded searches.
The post does not share revenue. Fishkin wrote that SparkToro was not yet publicly sharing actual numbers, so the monthly recurring revenue chart has no figures on it. Everything below is as Fishkin wrote it, and all of it is company-reported. We read the post through the Internet Archive's copy of 8 May 2026, because the live page blocked automated access when we checked on 20 October 2026.
What does Rand Fishkin mean by influence marketing?
Finding the sources your audience pays attention to and doing something with them. Fishkin calls it Influence Marketing, spelled without the r of influencer, and the sources go well beyond individual creators.
The list in the post covers people, publications, email newsletters, podcasts, blogs, social accounts, industry news sites, webinars and YouTube channels that people in marketing and market research follow. Fishkin builds a connection or gets an introduction, then asks whether they would be interested in doing something together. The formats named:
- Calls and podcast appearances
- Webinars
- Guest contributions
- Joint research projects
- Requests for a social bump
Some pitches are as easy as an email or a DM. Fishkin found the ones outside the digital marketing world, where Fishkin has worked for a couple of decades, more difficult.
The results were uneven, and the post says so plainly. Some appearances brought in a load of new free sign-ups, many only a trickle, and about a third could not be linked to a single visit: "Probably 1/3rd of the time, I’ll do one and can’t prove it sent even a single person to our site."
Fishkin wrote of not minding that serendipity, because it is how SparkToro builds its flywheel. In the first few months after launch, people heard about SparkToro almost entirely from Fishkin's direct work with a source of influence. A year in, Fishkin put the share coming from secondary word of mouth at more than 80%.
Why did SparkToro do almost no SEO?
Because buyers don't search for what it sells. Fishkin, who co-founded Moz and ran it as CEO before SparkToro, wrote that the audience research SparkToro provides is something most marketers would never think to search for, or even know how to describe. At Moz there were thousands of keywords that brought in likely customers. At SparkToro, Fishkin wrote, that is just not true.
Google traffic still grew, mostly from people who already knew the name:
| Period | Visits from Google search | Share from branded searches (Google Search Console) |
|---|---|---|
| First 6 months after the April 2020 launch | 113K | About 70% |
| Next 6 months, to April 2021 | 193K | About 70% |
Branded means searches for SparkToro, Spark Toro, Rand Fishkin or one of SparkToro's free tools. Fishkin noted that search traffic almost doubled in six months while the site neither ranked for new terms nor improved its rankings. The effort went into raising branded search demand through influence marketing, which Fishkin admits is hard to measure.
Fishkin still likes SEO as a potential channel for many businesses; it wasn't SparkToro's early channel because people don't search Google for the product. Fishkin also wrote of preferring 100 people a day searching for SparkToro by name over 1,000 people clicking content for unbranded terms.
The test for your own company is the same one: if buyers type your problem into Google, SEO may earn its place. If they don't, go where they already listen.
How did the free plan and feature launches help?
The free plan spread the word, and launches created the spikes. On free users, Fishkin was direct: "Free subscribers are our #1 marketing channel". Many of the nearly 40,000 free users told SparkToro they got a lot of value from the free version, and Fishkin wrote that they were the ones spreading the word. In the Q&A at the end of the post, Fishkin added that choosing freemium over a free trial had been a big win so far.
Features and pricing moved the revenue line. The biggest growth month was September 2020, when SparkToro added its most-requested feature, email contact info, and launched a $50-a-month plan at the same time. Later features, Press+Media sources in January 2021 and Text Insights in April 2021, brought bumps in engagement, coverage and new subscribers. In the same Q&A list, Fishkin named getting good at quick launches of smaller features, one at a time, over big launches.
SparkToro hit cashflow breakeven in September 2020 and had been profitable every month since, as of the April 2021 post. Fishkin put average monthly growth at about 10%, against a projected 4% a month, and noted that months with spikes in sign-ups were almost always followed by months with higher-than-normal churn.
Two habits show how SparkToro treated subscribers. Fishkin looked at every new subscriber's profile and website and sent a personalised welcome note. And SparkToro nudged subscribers to cancel if they weren't getting value, with no setup fee or sales process.
SparkToro's first year in numbers
All figures are Fishkin's, from the 23 April 2021 retrospective, and company-reported.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| Late February 2020 | Early access emails start going out |
| 23 April 2020 | Launch, with $1 given to GiveDirectly for each person who tried SparkToro in the first two weeks |
| First 6 months | 113K visits from Google search, about 70% branded |
| September 2020 | Biggest growth month (email contact info plus a $50-a-month plan); cashflow breakeven |
| January 2021 | Press+Media sources feature |
| Next 6 months | 193K visits from Google search, about 70% branded |
| April 2021 | Text Insights feature; nearly 40,000 free users in 12 months; average growth about 10% a month |
| Team in April 2021 | Two co-founders, plus more than a dozen contractors, agencies and consultants |
The free sign-up chart in the post covers 11 months, from when SparkToro started tracking sign-ups in Google Analytics. Fishkin called the plans for the next year fairly modest: keep growing without heavy ad spend or a cycle of pricing promotions. The big, audacious goal was to repay SparkToro's investors their initial sum by the end of 2022.
What does the retrospective leave out?
Three limits matter before you copy it.
- No revenue or per-appearance numbers. The retrospective gives growth rates and traffic, but no revenue, conversion rates or results per appearance. You can't tell which podcast or newsletter paid off.
- A founder with an audience. In the Q&A, Fishkin wrote that without a brand in the marketing world, starting SparkToro might not have happened at all, and that founder-market fit has real power. Getting introductions is easier for someone the industry already knows.
- A deliberately small company. SparkToro was two people. It used more than a dozen independent contractors, agencies and consultants for work from classifying podcasts to taxes and design, and paid as it went instead of hiring.
None of this makes the method useless for a small B2B team. It changes the starting point: begin with sources where you already have some standing or a warm introduction, and judge the work by branded search and sign-ups over months, instead of trying to trace every appearance to a sale. If you are the founder, posting regularly is how you build that standing; our guide to growing on X as a B2B founder covers the basics.
How can a 1 to 5 person B2B team run influence marketing this week?
Pick a short list of sources, pitch a few, and measure the batch instead of each appearance. These steps are our adaptation of Fishkin's method for a small B2B team.
List 30 sources your buyers follow
Use Fishkin's categories: newsletters, podcasts, blogs, social accounts, industry news sites, webinars and YouTube channels. Ask your last ten customers what they read and listen to, and add their answers first.
Pitch five where you have a way in
Start with sources where you can get an introduction or already know the host. Offer something specific: a guest slot with a clear topic, a joint piece of research, a webinar, or data their audience would want.
Log every appearance and expect misses
Record each one with its date and topic. Judge the batch, since in Fishkin's experience about a third couldn't be shown to send anyone.
Watch branded search every month
In Google Search Console, filter queries that contain your company and founder names and track clicks by month. Add a how-did-you-hear-about-us field to sign-up.
Welcome every new user yourself
While volume is low, look at each new user's company and site and send a short personal note, as Fishkin did for every subscriber.
Ship one requested feature and tell your sources
SparkToro's biggest month came from its most-requested feature plus a new plan. Each month, ship the most-requested small thing and tell the hosts who featured you.
Between appearances, a steady presence on LinkedIn and X keeps your name in front of the same people; Siela's Social Media agents can post in your voice at the pace you set. For the wider plan, see marketing without a marketing team and our notes on founder-led sales.
Frequently asked questions
When did SparkToro break even?
SparkToro hit cashflow breakeven in September 2020 and had been profitable every month since, according to Rand Fishkin's year-one retrospective of 23 April 2021. The company had launched on 23 April 2020. Fishkin wrote that expenses were almost all salaries and health insurance, and the plan was to keep them minimal while growing organically.
How many free users did SparkToro get in its first year?
Nearly 40,000 free users signed up in the 12 months to April 2021, according to Rand Fishkin's year-one retrospective. Fishkin called free subscribers SparkToro's top marketing channel and wrote that many said they got value from the free version and were spreading the word. The post did not share paying customer numbers or revenue.
Does Rand Fishkin recommend SEO for startups?
In the 2021 retrospective, Fishkin wrote of still liking SEO as a potential channel for many businesses. SparkToro did almost no SEO because most marketers would never think to search for audience research. About 70% of SparkToro's Google visits in each half of its first year came from branded searches, such as the company or founder name.
How do you measure podcast and newsletter appearances?
Rand Fishkin's SparkToro retrospective doesn't try to measure each one. The retrospective tracks free sign-ups in Google Analytics and branded search in Google Search Console, and Fishkin accepts that about a third of appearances can't be shown to send a single visitor. A year in, Fishkin put more than 80% of awareness down to secondary word of mouth.
What is influence marketing, as opposed to influencer marketing?
Influence Marketing is Rand Fishkin's term, spelled without the r. It covers any source of influence an audience follows: people, publications, email newsletters, podcasts, blogs, social accounts, industry news sites, webinars and YouTube channels. The tactic is to build a connection or get an introduction, then propose doing something together, such as a podcast, webinar, guest piece or joint research.
Sources
- SparkToro: SparkToro's Year One Retrospective (Rand Fishkin) (published 23 Apr 2021)
- Internet Archive copy of the retrospective, used because the live page blocked automated access on 20 Oct 2026 (archived 8 May 2026)
- SparkToro: About (checked 20 Oct 2026 via Internet Archive copy of 11 Oct 2026)
- Siela: AI social media manager (checked 20 Oct 2026)