The Small Business Big Marketing Podcast with Tim Reid

This is one of those interviews that could have gone on for much longer than the allocated 30-ish minutes. You see, Matthew Michalewicz is one smart guy. In 2005, Matthew co-founded SolveIT Software, an Australian software company. which he grew from zero to more than 150 employees in seven years, before selling the business for plenty! Under his leadership, SolveIT became the 3rd fasting-growing...

Mick Colliss is an author, writer, rugby commentator, emcee, guest speaker and modern day poet. He was also the vice captain of the first ever Australian Sudoku team and travelled to India to represent Australia at the World Sudoku Championships. Oh, and he's also a copywriter by trade and owns a copywriting agency in Perth, West Australia. He's an interesting fella with a great story to share abo...

Jim Penman started Jim's Mowing (the first franchise of the Jim's Group) as a part-time gardening business while he completed his PhD in History. It went full time in 1982 and was franchised in 1989. Currently, there are over 2,900 Franchisees in four countries covering 36 industries, and growing at the rate of around 200 per year. For all the business success he has enjoyed over the years, Jim Pe...

The Voice is currently Australia's most popular TV show ... and Adrian Swift is responsible for making it that way on the Nine Network. In this revealing fireside chat, Adrian takes us behind-the-scenes of how The Voice is marketed, what they learnt from last year's success (I also interviewed him during The Voice's first season), what messages work best and how they're using social media to serio...

Content marketing is the new marketing black ... I think most motivated small business owners are on to this important marketing fact by now. It's possibly the best marketing strategy for helping small business owners share that mountain of knowledge that they're standing on and become the thought-leader in their industry. Great content marketing starts with identifying your editorial mission. "My...

Tristan White is the founder and CEO of The Physio Co, which in 2012 was named the 8th Best Place to Work in Australia by BRW magazine. With this award, The Physio Co has been in Australia’s Top 50 Places to Work for 4 consecutive years in it’s 9 year history. And in this fireside chat I have with Tristan he explains exactly how to create a strong workplace culture that ensures he attracts and ret...

Imagine running a business based on happiness – that’s what Naomi Simson decided to try when she left a serious corporate career to set up online experience retailer RedBalloon in 2001. Since then RedBalloon has sold 1.8 million experiences and has been named a BRW Great Place to Work four times running. Naomi received the 2008 National Telstra Business Women's Awards for Innovation and the 2011 E...

Four years ago, Daniel Flynn had a big idea. Some would say an epiphany. Appalled to read that 900 million people had no access to safe water and equally angered by the idiocy of bottled water in a country where the tap is safe to drink from, the 19-year-old university student wanted to do something. He decided to start his own bottled water company (as if that market place wasn't already over-cro...

Ever wondered how to market a professional services business? I mean like really market one - in a clever, effective way that doesn't cost a fortune? In a way that avoids spending large sums on advertising or direct marketing? Excellent ... then you're going to love this interview with small business author Heather Smith - who has recently launched the wonderful book titled 'Learn Small Business S...

It's time for another round of Funny Business with Timbo and AG. This time: - Timbo shares a recent happening with a Scoopon experience. - We discuss those embarrassing moments when spell check lets you down. - We share some ideas about how to maximise business from an existing client. - AG suggests the comfort zone is a dangerous place to be for small business owners. PLUS I'm just back from givi...

David Malone is the CEO of V8 Supercars. I had the pleasure of having a fireside chat (well, trackside really) with him recently whilst I was down in Launceston, Tasmania as a guest of Microsoft Office 365 . David takes us behind the scenes of the marketing of V8 Supercars in Australia and New Zealand - which, whilst it looks like a very big business, V8 Supercars is still a very small business em...

This is the story of how Vintage Tub and Bath, a $25 million dollar a year online and offline business started from under two brother's parent's deck! That was 15 years ago ... and now it's cleaning up (excuse the bath jokes, they're unavoidable!) and is ranked in the top 500 online businesses in America. The really interesting part of this story is this online store hasn't had a decent make-over...

Email marketing tips and tricks. Who doesn't want some of that!? Clearly there's a whole lot of listeners out there who do, as when I posted on the show's Facebook the fact that I was interviewing an email marketing expert the amount of questions you had for him exceeded thirty! The reality is that so many small business owners use email marketing as part of their marketing strategy, however, so m...

Robert Gerrish is the co-founder of Flying Solo, Australia's largest online community of soloprenuers. Solo what? Soloprenuers ... Those motivated and interesting individuals who choose to work alone. As far as online communities go, it was started back in 2005 and is a treasure trove of information to help anyone build a better small business. Robert also had the foresight to make contact with me...

This is an encouraging story of a small business doing big marketing. Not massive marketing. Not ground breaking marketing. Jut good solid marketing following a tried and tested process of getting clear on your brand first, establishing clear messages around what they do and then applying the outcome of that clarity to all future touch points - business name, stationary, signage, website, imagery,...

Brighton-based business executive and fellow marketer, John Dingeldei wants a date with Kylie Minogue. Who doesn't! In fact, Dannii would be just fine! However, unlike my perverted reasons for wanting one, John's are pure - he's raising money for a number of charities as part of a campaign called 5 Dates In 5 Weeks. He's already knocked off his first four dates (so to speak!) and has now set his s...

Chris Savage is the Co-Founder & CEO of Wistia - a smart and simple video marketing and hosting service. His Twitter profile outlines his obsessions as: marketing, analytics, IPAs, coffee, and ping pong. But what he's known for is his passion for video marketing . as he says “Every business that I have seen that has invested in video, has done better for it.” In this episode of TheSmall Business B...

Olivia Fox is a leading expert in the area of charisma. And this fireside chat I had with her has convinced me that charisma is a under-used marketing strategy by us motivated small business owners. And the good news is, you don't need to be born charismatic ... charisma can be learned. Phew! My 3 key learnings from this episode to apply in your business are: 1. Charisma can be learnt. 2. Charisma...

Joe Pulizzi is the Founder of the Content Marketing Institute - a man way ahead of his time. With content marketing really hitting its straps this year, this fireside chat with Joe reveals everything any small business owner needs to know in order to ride the content marketing wave. And it's a big wave, team, so hop on it! PLUS I share an insight I've recently gleaned from running my Deep Dive Mas...

Sam Keck has just started the Commonfolk Coffee Company - a very cool cafe where he roasts and serves his own coffee, served expresso or drip filter style. The decor is industrial sheik, the staff are as well - the menu is limited but yum, and there's no shortage of cool customers coming in and out on a regular basis. Now that all sounds pretty normal - and I guess you're thinking, which cool inne...

Yep, it's that time of the month when all business becomes funny business. A chance for Tim Reid (Australia's #1 small business podcaster) and Andrew Griffiths (Australia's #1 small business author) to get together and throw around some issues that are on the collective mind of the small business community. In this month's episode we discuss: - Doing business in cafes. - Whether it's OK for us sma...

Ever since Jonathan Krywicki proposed to his wife in an amazing way seven years ago, he's been badgered by other would-be suiters to help them get it right when preparing to pop the big question. So much so, in fact, that he's gone ahead and started a business doing just that - an exclusive marriage proposal service aptly called Pitch and Woo. Now, here's the thing. Not only is Pitch and Woo a ver...

Four years ago (at age 22) George Ryan was working full time (55 hours a week) for a lumber yard, making $10/hour to provide for his wife and daughter, and had no sort of higher education. He decided he hated his job, and intentionally set out to start an internet company. Four years later, still with no sort of formal education, he now has a thriving business in Hatchwise and make six figures. On...

"Do we really need another social media channel?!" That was the premise I went in to this interview with. "Yes we do!", is my view following this chat ... on the proviso that it's easy to manage and provides a commercial return. The guy who convinced me is Jason Miles - the co-author of the best-seller Pinterest Power, VP of advancement at Seattle's Northwest University and co-founder (with is wif...

Cam Barber invented The Vivid Method to help people like you and I overcome the fear of public speaking. And thank God! I mean who doesn't (you know what) themselves when they have the opportunity to get up on a stage or present to an audience of more than one?! But here's the thing - public speaking is a marketing strategy many more small business owners should embrace. It provides leverage, it p...