“Brand Awareness Alone Isn’t Enough” – Mordy Oberstein on Getting Visible on a Budget
Natalia Toth
In this episode, Ranking Raccoon sat down with Mordy Oberstein, Founder of Unify Brand Marketing with a decade of experience at industry giants like Wix and Semrush. Mordy shares his unique perspective on building brand awareness with limited resources, thriving as a small business in an AI-driven landscape, and ditching outdated link-building tactics.
Curious about how to leverage your brand’s strengths and stand out without overspending?
You’ll know exactly how by the end of this interview.
On Building Brand Awareness on a Budget
Ranking Raccoon: Many SEO experts stress the importance of brand mentions and relevant context, especially with AI advancements. Big brands can afford to invest heavily in brand awareness, but how can smaller brands with limited resources compete with them?
Mordy Oberstein: There’s a fundamental mistake in how many SEOs approach brand building.
They often think like performance marketers, focusing only on brand awareness. But brand building requires a completely different mindset.
If you’re an SEO who struggles with this shift, hand it off to someone else. If you can switch from the usual performance-oriented approach to a more creative, introspective one, you’re on the right track.
"Brand awareness alone isn’t the goal. If you’re just creating social media posts or webinars without understanding your brand’s core identity, it’s like going on a date and talking about things you don’t really care about."
Instead, start with understanding who you are as a brand. Define your identity and ensure it’s rooted in deep emotions — not just transient feelings like fun but essential ones like connection.
From there, identify your audience and how your product or service fits into their lives.
On Why Small Businesses Have an Advantage
Mordy: Small businesses actually have an edge over big brands in brand building. Why? Big brands face bureaucracy, politics, and legacy systems that slow them down.
Small businesses are often more in touch with their mission, values, and audience. The challenging part for small businesses is disseminating their brand identity, but even this is possible with creativity.
For example, when I worked at Rank Ranger, we didn’t have a huge marketing budget, but we leveraged our wealth of internal data. We repurposed that data into insights and shared it with publications like Search Engine Land, so we gained massive exposure at zero cost.
"That proves why building relationships with key industry players and sharing your first-hand insights is a powerful strategy."
Read more: Is SEO Worth It for Small Business? [A 2025 Guide]
On The Key Role of Networking
RR: Let’s imagine I'm a marketer on a SaaS platform. I'm clear on who my target audience is, but my budget is limited to, say, $2,000 per month. How can I become known with my audience and stand out?
Mordy: If you’re a small business owner, kick off by leveraging your existing connections. For example, a wedding photographer can partner with wedding venues to create joint content, like “Best Wedding Venues” guides.
"Apart from that, think of collaborating with non-competitors in your industry to host webinars or create content together. As a SaaS company, you can partner with a complementary tool or agency to host a local event. Events like these often generate social media buzz, mentions, and links — all of which contribute to brand visibility."
When scaling globally, think about your unique assets. What do you have that competitors don’t? For example, a SaaS platform with proprietary data can repurpose it into insights that are valuable to industry publications.
Share such data strategically, and it will generate backlinks and strengthen your brand at the same time.
Read more: Link-Building for SaaS: The Big Guide for 2025
On Backlinks in the Age of AI
RR: What’s your take on backlink building in the AI era? Are collaborations, influencer marketing, or digital PR still effective?
Mordy Oberstein: Large language models (LLMs) care more about mentions than about backlinks. A brand mention carries more context than a naked URL, so it has a higher value in an AI-driven landscape.
That said, backlinks still matter. But don’t waste time on dated tactics like cold email outreach.
Instead, focus on building engagement. For example, big brands like Nike aren’t actively building links — but instead, they’re building awareness, which naturally results in mentions and links.
For smaller brands, it’s about creating content that resonates. If your brand identity, positioning, and messaging are strong, your efforts — whether a webinar, a partnership, or a local event — will generate the kind of engagement that leads to organic links and mentions.
Final thoughts
Mordy: So to sum it up, brand awareness is the result of resonance and reach.
Start with your core identity and audience, build meaningful connections, and leverage your unique assets creatively.
Whether you’re a local bakery or a global SaaS platform, the principles are the same: understand your brand, align it with your audience’s needs, and find strategic ways to amplify your message.
RR: Thanks for an insightful chat, Mordy! Here's to growing our SEO performance in 2025 and beyond.
Natalia Toth
Head of Marketing