The Small Business Big Marketing Podcast with Tim Reid

Richard Everson owns and runs Schonegg, an award winning guesthouse in rural Australia. Recently he sent me an email requesting an interview, and it was this part of the email that caught my attention: "My wife and I own Country Guesthouse Schonegg. We love the business and after 10 years, 7 tourism awards and over 65% repeat/referral business, we like to think we’ve learnt a thing or two about ma...

Sam Cavanagh is the National Executive Producer for Austereo - Australia's largest radio network. This basically means he's responsible for the creative output, and ultimately the ratings success of some of Australia's most popular on-air talent including Hamish and Andy, Jules and Fifi and Kyle and Jackie O. "But what's this got to do with improving the marketing of your small business?" I hear y...

Mia Freedman is the editor and publisher of Australia’s fastest growing women’s website Mamamia.com.au. Having built her career around creating communities of women in magazines (as Editor of Cosmo and then Editor in Chief of Cosmo, Cleo & Dolly), Mia began Mamamia in her lounge room in 2007 and today it employs 30 people and has Mamamia has 500,000 readers and more than 14 million page views per...

I recorded this episode on New Year's Eve 2012, and was in quite the reflective mood. It's been a massive year of marketing ideas at the SBBM HQ, with so many amazing guests coming through the door and sharing some marketing gold. Whilst I'm not usually a big one for looking back, setting resolutions and generally getting in to a reflective mood, the general consensus on show's Facebook and Linked...

Tom Dickson is the star of the most famous series of viral marketing videos ever. He is also the founder and CEO of the company Blendtec, which makes the blenders that his crazy videos are intended to sell. In this wonderful fireside chat, Tom takes us deep inside the Will It Blend tent, explaining where the idea came from, how it's had a dramatic impact on sales (it increased sales 1,000% from th...

Greg Nathan is a leading franchise consultant in Australia. Prior to starting the Franchise Relationships Institute he ran three successful Brumby's Bakery franchises. he now consults to both franchisors and franchisees around the world on how to ensure the partnership is both profitable and sustainable for the long term. In this interview we cover plenty of ground including: - Who should and shou...

One of the great things I love about putting out this weekly podcast is the number of questions that come in from my listeners. It's a fantastic way for me to get a sense of what's on your marketing mind, and of course, for me to answer them every now and then in the actual show itself. And that's what I'm doing in this episode. So grab a cuppa and settle in (pen and notepad at the ready) as I tac...

What do you get when Australia's #1 small business author and Australia's #1 small business marketing podcaster get together? Funny business, that's what! It's a time for Timbo and AG to share what's on our minds in the hope it drives your business forward and gives you a chuckle along the way. In this episode we share our top public speaking tips, discuss how we plan for business, creative ways t...

Imagine walking in to a room full of budding entrepreneurs with a vague idea for a new business, then 54-hours later having that idea validated, a team behind it ready to take it to market and it being the winning idea of many that were presented. Well that's exactly what Joshua Carl just did - and in doing so won the coveted Startup Weekend Sydney grand prize with a very cool idea called Flixy, w...

Valerie Khoo is a journalist, speaker and small business commentator. She's also the founder of the Sydney Writers' Centre which is a world-class training facility for budding writers. Valerie is also the author of the best-selling business book - Power Stories - and that's what we talk about on today's episode. Valerie's belief is that when you tell the right stories, you can transform a brand in...

Having your own show is a brilliant marketing strategy for any business. And what better person to learn some tricks of the trade from than national TV and radio star, Jules Lund. I first met Jules Lund ten years ago when he was a young fella volunteering at The Reach Foundation. Since then Jules has gone on to become a super star of the Australian media scene. His meteoric rise to fame has includ...

Gordon Ryan owns and runs Riviver, a fancy cocktail bar in an old funeral home, that was part of a former Hurse garage in downtown Gosford - a regional city just out of Sydney, Australia. No, he's no goth ;0) Oh, and he's also a globe-trotting IT trainer for a not-so-small business called Microsoft! Gordon's passion for cocktails and for creating what he refers to as a third place for people to sp...

It's time for another solid chinwag with Andrew Griffiths in a segment that we lovingly call 'Funny Business' - an opportunity for Andrew and I to go head-to-head on various small business tips and issues that are on our collective minds ... and have a laugh along the way. We talk servile brands, being a salesperson, testimonials, petty problems and isolation. May what we discuss help grow your bu...

Creating great content is a no-brainer marketing strategy. And the King of content is video. And fortunately, marketing your small business using video has never been easier or cheaper. My guest today is Jules Watkins, former BBC, MTV and Pimp My Ride TV director and producer -  who's created a fantastic training system called iPhoneVideoHero that shows you how to create professional marketing vid...

Business is absolutely booming for a small, family-run sandwich stand that was established in 1954 in downtown Philadelphia. It's roast pork, provolone and broccoli rabe sanga was recently awarded The Best Sandwich In America by the Travel Channel's Man vs Food show. In this episode, I have a fireside chat with fourth generation owner Tommy Nicolic who runs Tommy DiNics with his son Joey (make tha...

In 2008 Rebecca Scott left her long-standing job as a Scientist at the CSIRO and co-founded Streat - a Melbourne-based social enterprise that sells delicious food and coffee whilst providing homeless young people with hope, self-belief and the opportunity to get qualified in hospitality. As Streat's tagline suggests - Streat stops homelessness the delicious way. Whether you're looking to start a s...

In this episode Andrew Griffiths and I launch in to our second Funny Business segment in which we: - Share a Modern Family moment we both had in an upmarket pet shop recently. - Cogitate over a first world marketing problem Timbo had in a 5-star hotel. - Discuss the importance of backing yourself. - Pose the question Is it enough to meet your customers' expectations? - And share some of our bigges...

Eugene Tan started Aquabumps in 1999, when as a frustrated Creative Director he combined his three passions: photography, surfing and the web. In the nineties blogs hadn’t evolved yet, but Eugene, better known as ::uge (yooj), thought he’d provide a nice daily break for his mates to see a bit of surf at work. The daily updates started flowing more consistently and the first handful of friends beca...

James Tuckerman is best known for launching Anthill Magazine, in 2003, from the spare bedroom of his parent's home. He was 26 years old. In 2004 and 2005, he was named Best Small Publisher in Australia by Publishers Australia. Not a bad achievement! Then, in early 2009, he reinvented the Anthill business model, abandoning its print origins in favour of a 100% digital product. (A couple of years ah...

Since starting the Messages On Hold business in 1988 from his bedroom in Perth, Kym Illman has generated tens of millions of dollars worth of free TV and press exposure at some of Australia's (and the world's) largest sporting events. His marketing tool of choice is the little understood strategy of Guerrilla marketing (AKA ambush marketing). Sacked from a cushy TV station job in 1988, Kym has ach...

In this special episode (it's spesh 'cause it's the first of many), I hook up with Andrew Griffiths (Australia's #1 small business author) to have a good old fashioned yarn about business and marketing issues, developments and current affairs that are on our collective mind. In this inaugural chat: - Andrew suggests that someone has to be the most expensive, so why not make it you? - Timbo is insp...

Imagine, if in the space of 3 years, you had a thriving business with a major retail presence, a major online presence, the #1 selling book in your industry, were about to launch a second book, had a major joint venture with your city's biggest public space and were absolutely in love with what you did. Life would be pretty good, huh? Well, that's the story of this episode's guest, Fabian Capamoll...

Geoff Harris is one of the original founders (and still current owners) of Flight Centre ... one of the world's largest travel agents. Certainly Australia's largest by a long shot. I shared a small part of this interview about 6-months ago. It was part of another series of interviews I intended doing with creators of iconic Australian brands. Alas, time wont allow me to indulge in that idea, so I'...

It's between you and your major competitor. You're both submitting on a big tender that, if you win it, will set your business up for a good 12-months. You're both comparable on price and service delivery, so there's not much in it and the client is having a hard time deciding who to award the deal to. Then the client remembers the book you'd written (that you'd personally signed and given them in...

This is a story of how and why it's so damn important to build a brand and have the guts to stick to it through thick and thin. In 2006, Andre Eikmeier started an online forum called Qwoff, a place where the average Joe could discuss wine without all the fancy talk. Three years later, and not a cent richer, he (and his business partner) launched VinoMofo, an online, in-your-face wine retailer that...