The Small Business Big Marketing Podcast with Tim Reid

Who doesn't love unconventional marketing ideas? Olivia Carr of Shhh Silk does. When it comes to marketing her business, Olivia Carr is all about out-of-the-box-thinking. How out of the box? Like … she flew to LA from Australia, hired a car and drove to the Kardashians house and left them some product! It’s an all-systems-go episode 656 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast. A little more about Shhh Silk's founder Olivia Carr ... Righto, at this point I normally rabbit on about supporting the work I do for small business by joining my Membership over at Patreon.com/MarketingPodcast.  But I have something so much more important to share with you, especially if you’re looking for new and effective ways to put your business on the map OR simply if you want to add more fun to your marketing. Olivia Carr is the founder of Shhh Silk. An online / offline business that sells silky things that help you sleep - eye masks, pillow cases, etc. It’s turning over around $2M a year and has seven staff. But that’s not important right now. What is important is the way she goes about building the business, through fun, Guerilla-type marketing ideas. And she has plenty. From driving right up to the front door of the Kardashian’s house unannounced, to flying a plane towing a promotional banner over the Melbourne Cup, Olivia is a huge believer of out-of-the-box thinking.  Her mantra is to do what other business owners aren’t willing or haven't even thought about doing. That’s where the clear air is. Now, a couple of things to note … Olivia has written a book called Self Made which you’ll hear referenced a few times, plus she’s endured a troubled upbringing, postnatal depression, and she’s a fellow sufferer of anxiety … all of which we touch on in the early stages of this very personal chat. If you are doing it tough, or you are triggered by any of this discussion, then please talk to a friend, or call your local support service which in Australia is Lifeline on 13 11 14. Let’s go meet Olivia Carr.   Businesses that make this podcast possible StudioHawk - No generalists, just a damn good SEO agency (award-winning actually!).   Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing.   Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing.   As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing. Timbo ReidSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/marketingpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eleven years ago, Frank Greeff was a chef.  Ten years ago he started a business with his brothers in a completely unrelated industry. Last year he sold that business for 180 million dollars! But it’s what he risked to achieve that outcome that is truly breathtaking! It’s a not-for-the-faint-hearted episode 655 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast. A little more about RealBase co-founder Frank Greeff ... Today’s special guest, Frank Greeff, used to be a chef who, with his two brothers ten years ago, started a business (from scratch) called RealBase, helping land rats, sorry I mean real estate agents with their marketing. It grew to 350 staff, turning over 35 million annually, and was then acquired by Domain.com.au for $180 million last year. Frank, welcome … I have so many questions! Why don’t you start by giving us the one-minute Realbase pitch, and telling us how the idea came about.   Businesses that make this podcast possible StudioHawk - No generalists, just a damn good SEO agency (award-winning actually!).   Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing.   Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing.   As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing. Timbo ReidSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/marketingpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who doesn't love a bit of unconventional business wisdom! Ben Leonard has no business training. In fact, his background is in Ecology. Oh, and he’s a whale and dolphin nerd, who had no interest in fitness, until his mid 20s, when he decided to build a successful online fitness brand called Beast Gear which, in its third year, turned over six million large ones! It’s an unbelievable episode 654 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast. A little more about this episode First and foremost Ben Leonard is an ecologist by trade, and a self-confessed whale and dolphin nerd. Thanks to a health scare, he’s also the founder of Beast Gear, an online business, built on a laptop, in a cupboard, in his spare time, with an initial £1,000 investment.  Three years later, Beast Gear was turning over more than £4 million at which point Ben achieved business’s Holy Grail …. and exited for life on a hammock. Well, that’s not exactly true … whilst he did exit with a nice little earn, he’s already in the throes of at least two more online business ideas … one which I absolutely love. Oh, and he’s also written a book titled Quit Stalling & Build Your Online Brand. What is it with these millennials?! In this chat, Ben generously shares where the idea for Beast Gear came from, how he scaled using chatbots and Instagram, why a huge fitness brand tried to sue him and failed, plus he’s a big fan of the business learnings from Sonic the Hedgehog! With all this success, and with so many eCommerce stores out there, I started off by asking Ben whether it’s too late for the average Joe to start one.   Links Mentioned Grab a copy (plus some free goodies) of Ben Leonard's book Quit Stalling And Build Your Online Brand.   Businesses that make this podcast possible StudioHawk - No generalists, just a damn good SEO agency (award-winning actually!).   Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing.   Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing.   As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing. Timbo ReidSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/marketingpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can you believe it’s not even a year since ChatGPT entered our collective consciousness, making AI part of everyday speak?! “How did we ever live without it?” some are saying. Whilst others are openly cursing it. Love it or hate it, AI (in all its forms) is here to stay, so best us business owners do our best to wrap our heads around it. It’s another artificially intelligent episode 653 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast.   A little more about this episode As you’re probably experiencing yourself, AI continues to be the talk of the town. You only have to visit any social media platform to see friends and colleagues boast about what they’re achieving thanks to their new found best artificial friend, the amazing images they’ve created and the crazy amount of time they’re saving by using the likes of ChatGPT. There’s no doubt AI is saving us all a bunch of time, and enabling us to get shit done that we never dreamed possible. But are you getting stuck on the AI treadmill? Or are you being super smart in the way you’re using it? Well today, myself and past guest (from episode 630) Troy Dean of Agency Mavericks continue the AI discussion. We discuss: How smart business owners are using AI. The interplay between human and machine, and the importance of being a good prompter! I share the results of a research study I did amongst my Facebook Tribe and LinkedIN followers, who revealed how they’re benetting from AI And we talk about how to get started with AI if you haven’t already. And just a reminder that all Silver Members of my Small Business owners Membership can watch the full video of this interview (plus access a bunch of other marketing goodies) over at Pateron.com/MarketingPodcast. There’s a free, no-obligation 7-day trial, then it’s 47 tax-deductible dollars per month.   Links Mentioned Learning Studio AI - Transform any subject into a stunning online course Holly Hires - AI powered virtual recruiter Task Ade - Unlock the power of generative workflows, task automation Google Duet - An always-on AI collaborator that provides help to users of all skill levels where they need it. Opus - Turns long videos into high-quality viral clips Product Hunt - From poetry writing to tackling tedious tasks, AI apps can automate almost anything    Businesses that make this podcast possible StudioHawk - No generalists, just a damn good SEO agency (award-winning actually!).   Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing.   Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing.   As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing. Timbo ReidSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/marketingpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Canva's Melanie Perkins. From her parent’s lounge room in 2013, 32 year old Melanie Perkins invented Canva; an online design tool with a mission to empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere. In 2023, Canva has just been valued at 25.5 billion dollars! It’s a rags to riches episode 652 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast. A little more about Canva founder Melanie Perkins ... In 2006, Melanie Perkins was a troubled 19 year-old teenager. Not by the usual stuff that troubles most people of that age. Oh no … something much more serious. Melanie was troubled by the fact that desktop publishing software (like Adobe, CorelDraw and Photoshop) was complicated and hard to use. So, like any smart, young entrepreneur, she came up with a simple, elegant solution … starting small by launching a business making high school yearbook design easy. It was a huge success, and following an unexpected meeting with a venture capitalist, she found herself able to pursue her original idea and the chance to take on the software industry giants of the desktop publishing world. Fast forward to 2023, and Melanie’s online design platform Canva, has recently been valued at $25.5B, she employs over 2,500 staff who have no working hours or dress code, Canva has over 135 million active users … and here’s the interesting bit … Melanie thinks she’s only just scratched the surface of what’s possible. This interview is from 2019 when I caught up with her in Canva’s new inner-Sydney 7-story office which resembles something more of an oversized cubby house for millenials, complete with a very cool rooftop garden, full commercial kitchen pumping out two home-cooked meals a day, a very funky, well-stocked bar, and all types of meeting booths and rooms and pods full of young folk getting stuff done. I started off by asking Melanie what it feels like to be the founder of a company that (at the time) was valued at a tiny $3B? Oh, and here's the transcript of my interview with Melanie Perkins of Canva.   Businesses that make this podcast possible StudioHawk - No generalists, just a damn good SEO agency (award-winning actually!).   Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing.   Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing.   As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing. Timbo ReidSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/marketingpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How and why a small business should design a category and own their niche with Christopher Lochhead. If the idea of standing out, for all the right reasons, in your crowded marketplace appeals (and why wouldn’t it?!), then it’s time you became a category pirate! Arrrrrrrrr, it’s episode 651 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast. A little more about Category Design expert author Christopher Lochhead ... If you’re a regular listener of this podcast, you’ll have heard me bang on about the power of owning a niche an inch wide and a mile deep. Well, you no longer need to take my word for it, as we’re about to hear from a world-leading expert on this exact topic or as he likes to call it …. Category Design. Christopher Lochhead is a dyslexic paperboy turned three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and investor / advisor to 50+ startups; however he’s best known as the Godfather of Category Design, having written numerous best sellers including Niche Down, Play Bigger and The 22 Laws of Category Design; he publishes a newsletter on the topic, plus he has a podcast called Follow Your Different. Get ready for a captivating conversation on how to think differently and why seeing the world through a category design lens can change the course of your business and your life. And just a reminder that all Silver Members of my Small Business owners Membership can watch the full video of this interview over at Pateron.com/MarketingPodcast. There’s a free, no-obligation 7-day trial, then it’s 47 tax-deductible dollars per month. Righto, here’s Christopher explaining what category design is and how it differs from niching.   Businesses that make this podcast possible eBusiness Institute - Watch eBusiness Institute's free 90-minute Masterclass on how and why to buy, renovate & sell content websites. StudioHawk - No generalists, just a damn good SEO agency (award-winning actually!).   Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing.   Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing.   As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing. Timbo ReidSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/marketingpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steve Sims, founder of the world's first luxury concierge, shares his advice on achieving ridiculous goals. From organizing events in unconventional locations like the headquarters of Space X to securing private tours with Elon Musk, Steve's accomplishments start with pushing boundaries. He emphasizes the importance of getting out of your own way, being willing to be laughed at, and creating a sense of community in business. Don't miss this episode full of unconventional wisdom!

Here's some B2B sales tips for small businesses. Afterall, B2B selling can be tricky. Even trickier if you’re selling a complex product or service to an infrequent buyer.  Today’s guest is confronted with both these challenges on a daily basis. Poor him, but lucky us as he’s about to share how he does it. It’s a businessy episode 649 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast.   A little more about BindiMaps Co-Founder Mladen Jovanovic ... So I know I’ve set up today’s special guest Mladen Jovanovic of BindiMaps, as a B2B sales expert. And he is; and you’re going to love the tips he shares including a super simple formula for ensuring your prospects feel understood, and why focussing on your staff first is also good for B2B selling. Buy Malden's B2B Sales Tips Training Course here. But Malden is also the co-founder of a very unique business. Called BindiMaps, think of it as Google Maps but for the indoors. That’s right, BindiMaps starts where Google Maps finishes. It maps large buildings, shopping centres, hospitals, sporting venues and so on, and delivers these maps via an app. I do love the never ending ways people make money! Launched in 2019, the business employs 19 staff, has offices in Sydney and Melbourne, and has mapped indoor locations across Australia, New Zealand and Europe. So lean in as Malden shares the BindiMaps origin story, why the original target audience quickly changed once they went live, and how they’ve gone about selling a complex product to an infrequent buyer. And just a reminder that all Silver-arma Members of my Small Business owners Membership can watch the full video of this interview over at Pateron.com/MarketingPodcast (in fact, it’s been up there for a week). It’s 47 tax-deductible dollars per month, and you can trial it free for 7-days. Righto, let’s go meet BindiMaps co-founder and B2B sales expert Malden Jovanovic …   Last Week's Episode of The Small Business Big Marketing Podcast Old School Marketing Strategies Built This Rock Solid Stone Empire | 648   Businesses that make this podcast possible eBusiness Institute - Watch eBusiness Institute's free 90-minute Masterclass on how and why to buy, renovate & sell content websites StudioHawk - No generalists, just a damn good SEO agency (award-winning actually!)   Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing   Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing   As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing. Timbo ReidSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/marketingpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Old-school marketing strategies. If you’re interested in building a business with rock-solid foundations that’s primed for growth, then you’re in the right place. Not because today’s special guest owns Australia's largest, family-run stone business; but because he’s doing it in a way that ensures steady, long-term growth that avoids the painful peaks and troughs. It’s a not-so-rocky episode 648 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast.   A little more about Gitani Stone Owner Jason Gittany... As an immigrant tiler, Jason Gittany’s father started Gitani Stone in 1974. At the time, it was a modest business providing exceptional supply and installation of marble stone bench tops and other stone products to homes across the Sydney metropolitan area. Fast-forward to 2023, and Jason’s now running the business, having taken it from a modest one man show, to now one of Australia's premier, family-owned stone suppliers and installers, employing 60 staff, and turning over $40 million annually. They even own their very own Australian quarry, whilst still importing from a quarry outside of Florence, Italy where Michaelangelo once acquired his own stone for the likes of creating David and other famous works. In this candid chat, Jason shares what he calls his steady strategies for growing the business to where it is today, how he builds loyal, trusted client relations, and how he targets both B2C and B2B customers, each one requiring something just a little bit different. I started off by asking Jason what the most extravagant project Gittany Stone has ever delivered.   Last Week's Episode of The Small Business Big Marketing Podcast AI For Small Business: A Beginner's Guide with Dr Catriona Wallace | 648    Businesses that make this podcast possible eBusiness Institute - Watch eBusiness Institute's free 90-minute Masterclass on how and why to buy, renovate & sell content websites Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing. Timbo ReidSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/marketingpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI for small business. Thanks to ChatGPT launching in November 2022, AI (AKA artificial intelligence) is now on the lips of every small business owner. To find out how we can use AI to our advantage, world leading expert Dr Catriona Wallace joins us to share the good, the bad and the downright ugly. It’s a no holes barred, slightly scary, and definitely artificially intelligent episode 647 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast.   A little more about world-leading AI expert Dr Catriona Wallace … In October 2022, we were all happily going along running and growing our precious businesses. Writing copy, creating content, SEOing, PPCing, recruiting, targeting, selling, pricing and so on. Then in November, ChatGPT launched and AI became the most talked about thing since, well … the Internet itself! But what really is AI? What types of AI are there? How do they work? Can they be trusted? How can they help your business grow? Should you be scared or excited? Or both? How can you use ChatGPT to your advantage? And what other AI applications are out there? So many questions! Fortunately, today’s special guest, Dr Catriona Wallace is a world-leading AI expert. She’s also a Shark on Network Ten’s hit series Shark Tank. She’s LinkedIN’s top voice on Technology. She’s Chairperson at BOAB AI, a VC firm investing in AI startups. The author of the best selling book Checkmate Humanity. Founder of the Responsible Metaverse Alliance. An advocate for the psychedelic renaissance. And she’s the mother of five. You honestly could ask for a better person to help us navigate this brave new artificially intelligent world. For those of you who are silver or gold Members of my small business owners Membership, you can also watch the video of this full interview. It’s been up there for a week. If you’re not a Member you can become one in less than 30 seconds over at Patreon.com/MarketingPodcast. I started off by congratulating Dr Catriona Wallace on her Shark Tank success. Last Week's Episode of The Small Business Big Marketing Podcast How (& why) to target small compounding growth initiatives not short-term sales with Ferndale’s Leigh Edward | 646   Businesses that make this podcast possible - Please support them ... Watch eBusiness Institute's free 90-minute Masterclass on how and why to buy, renovate & sell content websites Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing Book Tim Reid to speak or emcee at your next business event    As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing. Timbo ReidSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/marketingpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.