Book a 30-min call to see what off-market acquisition opportunities exist in your space.
The Smartest Marketing Dollars You’ll Ever Spend
In 2022 Semrush bought Backlinko and erased their biggest competitor from the conversation on the most-trusted site in SEO.
Overnight, instead of hoping to be mentioned on Backlinko, they owned that entire audience.
Here’s what they got in one swift move:
- 272,000 keywords bringing ~500k monthly organic visits
- Top rankings for every competitive and branded query in their space
- Industry authority and trust you just can’t manufacture
- Search visibility that extends well into AI Overviews and LLM answers
One acquisition and they controlled the conversation.
The same thing is happening in every niche, right now. If acquiring Owned Media isn’t in your playbook, you’re leaving growth (and market control) on the table.
Here were the keywords Backlinko ranked for that Semrush owned on day one:
Imagine owning the conversation around the buying keywords your target customers are searching for on a site everyone trusts.
Look at this traffic graph showing the moment they acquired the site through to 2025:
This similarly-shaped graph shows the value of the traffic they bought (specifically, how much it would cost to buy the same amount of organic traffic with ads).
- owning the conversation instantly
- a million+ in monthly organic traffic
- a million dollars+ in monthly traffic value
That is what Semrush bought.
See what off-market opportunities could exist for your business:
The Cost of Being Slow
Markets move too fast for the “three-year SEO plan.” Ai Overviews, the proliferation of zero-click search results, and attention shifts mean you cannot wait.
If you’ve maxed out your content playbook, starting a YouTube channel, podcast, or newsletter from scratch isn’t just expensive, it’s risky af.
The reality:
- Building a 100k subscriber YouTube channel takes years and a six-figure plus investment.
- Growing a newsletter to 50k engaged readers is a grind most companies don’t have the stomach for and quickly abandon.
- Organic rankings are harder than ever. Google rewards brands with search demand and cross-platform authority.
Solution:
Skip the building phase. Buy the asset your audience already trusts and consumes. Overnight, you own the traffic, the audience, and the brand equity.
Lower CAC. Higher LTV.
When you own media properties, you’re not just renting reach.
You control reach.
- Lower CAC: No bidding wars for clicks or impression. Reach your audience without paying for everything.
- Higher LTV: Engage your audience continuously through your owned channels.
- Search + LLM Dominance: Secure rankings in Google and AI-generated answers.
- Brand Authority: Inherit the trust, reputation, and topical relevance the asset already commands.
Play Monopoly While Your Competitors Play 52 Pickup
The Process:
- Audience Mapping: We identify exactly who your customers are and where they spend time online.
- Opportunity Pipeline: We deliver a curated list of off-market assets, such as Youtube channels, newsletters, forums and communities, podcast, social media, etc., that reach your audience.
- Outreach and Negotiation: We contact owners directly, secure NDAs, and keep your business anonymous until the time is right.
- Acquisition Facilitation: If you choose to move forward, we connect you with the owner, guide due diligence, and ensure a smooth transition.
- Integration and ROI Maximization: Optional post-acquisition strategy to ensure you monetize the asset from day one.
We’re relentless in our search. If the perfect asset exists, we’ll find it… before your competitors do.
Work Directly With Me
I’m Sean Markey, and I’ve been acquiring, building, and selling Owned Media assets since 2019–from $1,000 domain names to eight-figure businesses.
I built jnpr so you can do what Semrush did to the SEO industry–only in your niche.
When you work with us, you get:
- Direct access to my acquisition playbook
- A network of deal flow you won’t find on public marketplaces
- A partner obsessed with your market domination
The team at Ranks bring a unique perspective to their strategic approach… these folks are in the trenches, doing the work, ranking sites, and so they understand what makes a partnership (or acquisition) truly valuable for an investor. They are consummate professionals and I would recommend anyone looking to drive growth through strategic acquisition to work with them.
–Nick Eubanks: Vice President of Owned Media, Semrush
Schedule a 30 minute strategy call directly with Sean to see if this is right for you:
Are Your Ready to Work With Us?
You’re ready if
- You have $100k – $1m to deploy
- You’ve hit a ceiling on traditional content marketing
- You want to accelerate growth without waiting years
- You’re ready to own your audience instead of renting
You’re not ready if
- You can’t move quickly on an opportunity
- You need a guarantee (eery deal is unique)
- You’re not ready to manage a newly acquired property
The future of marketing isn’t making more content, it’s owning the properties your audience already trusts.
Book a founder call to explore off-market acquisitions and see if this approach fits your growth goals:
Questions + Answers
How do you find properties that aren’t for sale?
Relentless outreach. We email, call, DM, respond to newsletters–whatever it takes. We make conversations happen.
How fast will see ROI?
Day one. You own the audience the moment the deal closes.
How do I know if this is a fit?
Book a call. We’ll review your business, walk you through our process, and share 5 acquisition targets you could own right now.