Yana Makarochkina, CMO at Blask, on PR, content and growth without paid ads.
🎯1. How intentional was Blask’s PR strategy?
Yana:
From day one, Blask’s growth strategy was built around PR and content marketing.
We made a clear decision not to rely on paid traffic. Instead, we focused on something much more valuable: our own data, original research and insights that the market could not get anywhere else.
That became the foundation of our visibility.
Today, Blask works with more than 50 partners, including international industry media, Telegram channels, business communities and companies with their own editorial platforms.
We do not treat these partnerships as simple distribution deals. We build long-term relationships around content. For some partners, we create exclusive reports and datasets. For others, provide regular market analysis, expert comments and data-driven stories. This model works because both sides benefit.
So yes, PR was not an additional marketing activity for us. It was the core of our go-to-market strategy from the beginning.
📇2. Which channels drove most business impact?
Yana:
I would not separate industry media, Telegram and LinkedIn too strongly, because together they form one content ecosystem.
Each channel plays a different role, but the principle is the same: we take unique Blask data, turn it into a clear and useful story, and deliver it to the right audience.
Industry media gives us authority and broad market visibility. Telegram gives us speed, direct access and strong engagement inside professional communities.
LinkedIn works differently, but its impact can also be very strong. A well-structured post with a clear insight can achieve the same reach as a publication in a large industry outlet. And get viral. More importantly, it allows us to build a direct relationship with our audience over time.
Podcasts and speaking opportunities serve another purpose. They create deeper trust.
When Max Tesla or Dmitry Belianin speaks on a podcast or at an industry event, they can explain not only what Blask does, but how we think, how our data works and how companies can use it in practice.
This gives Blask a human face and connects the product with recognised experts. It is especially important at the later stages of the customer journey, when people already know the brand and want to understand whether they can trust the company behind it.
So I would not say that one channel wins. The real advantage comes from using all of them as one connected system.
⚖️3. How much of Blask’s growth comes from marketing vs product?
Yana:
The product is the foundation of everything. Blask created something that did not exist before: a new way to understand demand, competition and market performance across the global iGaming industry. That is why I would say that 99% of the reason customers choose Blask comes from the strength and uniqueness of the product itself.
But even the strongest product does not automatically become a market leader. People still need to know that it exists, understand what problem it solves, what value it creates and how they can use it in their daily work.
This is where marketing becomes critical. It translates product value into a language the market understands. It turns complex technology and large datasets into clear use cases, business outcomes and stories that people remember.
Before Blask, I worked in fintech, where we competed with major banks and much larger marketing budgets. PR and content helped us stay visible and credible without trying to outspend the market.
At Blask, the situation is even stronger because we have a truly differentiated product. Our job is not to invent reasons for people to care. Our job is to show them why the product matters.
This is where marketing creates the biggest competitive advantage: it helps Blask define the category, educate the market and become the company people think of first when they need iGaming market intelligence.
📱 Yana Makarochkina
📱 Blask