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Last updated on : December 12th, 2023
Reading time : 16 mins
Last updated on : December 12th, 2023
Nick Brogden, the founder of Earned Media, co-hosts this episode with David Koch, which talks about how brands can capitalise and grow their businesses online by looking at their competitors. Then seeing what they can do better.
Post-pandemic changed the ways businesses operate digitally online. We discuss tips on how businesses can gain an edge over their competition. Below is the episode description :
David Koch:
Coming up on Kochie’s Business Builders, marketing maestro, Nick Brogden, joins me as cohost. Jane Cay makes passion and purpose her final destination at Elvie Jewels. Plus, we meet an entrepreneur whose quick change efforts are keeping him flat out.
Good day, and welcome to another episode of Kochie’s Business Builders where we take a look at the issues facing small business owners and come up with practical advice and tips to help them succeed.
Joining me today as co-host is Nick Brogden. Nick’s the founder of Earned Media and an absolute whiz regarding digital marketing. If you want the low down on SEO or SEM, Nick is the man. Nick, good to see you.
Nick Brogden:
Thanks. Thanks for having me back.
David Koch:
The pandemic has changed how customers liaise with businesses and buy, isn’t it?
Nick Brogden:
Absolutely.
David Koch:
Does that mean digital marketing has never been more important?
Nick Brogden:
It’s pretty important these days. I’ve noticed in the industry that as COVID kicked in and the online traffic all just shot through the roof, it got pretty busy out there for us having to keep up with all the demand.
David Koch:
How do brands and small businesses cut through, if you like? What are some of the ways they can capitalise on this?
Nick Brogden:
Yeah, that’s a really good question because it’s quite tricky with the demand now that there’s so much competition online, so really the key to it is to look initially at what’s your competition.
Look at who are the industry leaders who are winning this game right now, and work out what you can do to compete and be better than them.
Once you understand that, it makes everything a lot easier because you now know, “Okay, well I need to build my website to this level to represent my brand at a point that will match my competitors or be better.”
David Koch:
That is such great advice. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this business, Elvie Jewels, which experienced a bit of a boom with its online sales during COVID but is now post-pandemic.
Elvie Jewels is assessing whether to make a major play in eCommerce or grow their bricks and mortar store instead. How can Elvie leverage its eCommerce sales to drive more sales to its store or vice versa? Does it work like that?
Nick Brogden:
One thing I’ve noticed lately working in the eCommerce space a lot is that people that have a brick-and-mortar store often tend to perform better.
From a conversion standpoint, because the bricks-and-mortar store — if promoted correctly through your website, it’ll actually grow the authority of their site, it’ll grow the reputation of their brand, so then people will actually be more likely to purchase from them.
David Koch:
More advice from Nick coming up, but to help John and Nicolle work through their options, KBB expert Jane Cay joins the couple for one final visit to see how the numbers stack up for online versus in-store.
Jane Cay:
Knock, knock.
Nicolle Ullo:
Hi.
Jane Cay:
Hi, Nicolle. Hi, John.
Nicolle Ullo:
How are you? So great to see you.
John Ullo:
Hey, great to see you too.
Jane Cay:
You too.
John Ullo:
How have you been?
Jane Cay:
How are you two more to the point?
Nicolle Ullo:
Great. Yeah, we’ve had a pretty exciting couple of weeks since we left you.
John Ullo:
The day we filmed, that night, there was a what was it called?
Nicolle Ullo:
Rain storm.
John Ullo:
Rain bomb.
Nicolle Ullo:
Bomb. Yeah. Rain bomb.
Jane Cay:
Oh, rain bomb.
John Ullo:
A rain. I know. And basically, this whole part of the ceiling was on the floor.
Nicolle Ullo:
Yeah.
John Ullo:
And then there was just a downpour of water, and it went all the way back to the back of the office.
Jane Cay:
Oh, dear. It looks amazing because there’s no sign of a flood right now.
John Ullo:
Yeah.
Nicolle Ullo:
Yeah.
John Ullo:
Yeah.
Jane Cay:
Well done.
John Ullo:
Yeah. Yeah. We just had to get the contractors in and clean the carpet.
Nicolle Ullo:
Yeah.
John Ullo:
Repaint, repair, repaint and everything. And in the midst of it still keep getting the orders out the door.
Jane Cay:
Oh, great. Isn’t that the way? You can’t just stop. You got to keep going.
John Ullo:
You just got to make it work. Make it work. That’s it. Yeah, yeah.
Jane Cay:
So drama here. What about the store? How has it been going?
Nicolle Ullo:
Yeah, it’s great. So I’ve got three staff currently at the store which is really great. One of the staff we are bringing her into the office.
Jane Cay:
Yes.
Nicolle Ullo:
So we’ve got a bit of backup now happening, and on Mondays, she comes into the office and helps She’s learning from beginning to end with doing the orders.
Jane Cay:
Fantastic.
Nicolle Ullo:
So that’s really great.
John Ullo:
And I think it’s really good giving her that insight and seeing how things work in the office and the online aspect. Tomorrow, we are going to see a new piece of machinery. We’ve got the backup here in the office that lets us go and do that so we can improve other processes.
Jane Cay:
So now that you’ve freed yourselves up just that little bit more, what’s it really meant for you?
John Ullo:
Well, for me, it’s given me the capacity, I mean, not just time, but just mentally as well, to focus on positioning the brand and the direction of the brand and doing the stuff that I like, like the photography and the imagery and the website and all that sort of-
Jane Cay:
Creative.
John Ullo:
Creative, branding, sort of marketing, and so forth. Yeah.
Jane Cay:
Which is so important when you’re trying to grow a brand.
John Ullo:
Yeah, absolutely. Because yeah, people can, they sort of see the images and the website, and they relate to it and yeah it creates their connection. Exactly.
Jane Cay:
Oh, that’s good news.
John Ullo:
Yeah.
Nicolle Ullo:
Yeah.
Jane Cay:
Yeah.
Nicolle Ullo:
Yeah. So thank you for all those suggestions. It’s been really helpful. Extremely. Yeah. It’s really great.
Jane Cay:
You’re the ones that have made it happen. It’s all very good to have an idea, but you actually have to, you have to put it into practice, don’t you?
Nicolle Ullo:
Yes.
Jane Cay:
Yeah. Incredible. Congratulations.
John Ullo:
Thanks. Well, I’ve got a lot more to tell you.
Jane Cay:
Oh, excellent. All right. Shall we sit down and talk about it?
John Ullo:
Yeah, let’s go.
David Koch:
Welcome back to Kochie’s Business Builders. Well, this week’s Ask Kochie question comes from Michael Maher, Founder of OnePassport.
Michael Maher:
We get a lot of client calls and phone inquiries. What’s the best way to manage this when you have some team members working remotely and some in the office?
David Koch:
Well, to help answer this question, I spoke with Mark Liebach, the Managing Director of BusinessCom. This company helps Aussie small businesses find the right business communication products and services. Mark, good to see you.
Mark Liebach:
Good day, Kochie. How are you?
David Koch:
Good. So Mark, how do you deal with the flexibility needed in phone systems in today’s work environment?
Mark Liebach:
Well, there’s no doubt that over the last couple of years, businesses have almost gotten called out. They have outdated systems that didn’t really adapt to the environment and what we’ve seen and what we recommend is for businesses really to utilise the cloud technology. That offers superior flexibility, and most importantly, it empowers and enables remote workers.
David Koch:
So how do these cloud systems work?
Mark Liebach:
Yeah.
David Koch:
And who do they best suit?
Mark Liebach:
Well, a cloud-based system delivers phone system functionality over the internet. And then that’s one of the biggest advantages of using a system like that because anywhere you’ve got internet, you can access it. So you’re not restricted like in the old days, having a couple of lines coming into the business premises, and you can only use the system at the business premises.
David Koch:
So what should you look for when buying a system?
Mark Liebach:
It has to deliver the functionality that is suitable for your business. It has to work for your business. It has to be backed by a leading carrier. Very important.
They’ve got to have the resources to back the system. Last thing you want is for the system to keep on dropping out and not being able to use it. And being able to use by multiple devices is very important.
So the softphone option, in particular, has the ability to use it via either via a PC or a laptop or a mobile phone, of course, goes back to really empowering the remote workers. Whichever device they want to use, they’re still connected.
David Koch:
And most importantly, how can you keep costs down?
Mark Liebach:
Well, yes, that’s a big one. Well, number one, just getting across to a cloud system, you’ll save money. It’s on a per-user basis, so if you’ve got two staff members, you only pay for two staff members.
If you’ve got 40, pay for 40, so you save money there. And look, we recommend not signing long-term contracts.
A lot of businesses get locked into whether it’s three years, four years, you’ve seen five years used to be the norm, and the problem with that is five years, the technology is almost like a lifetime, and you’re not able to upgrade to the newest technology.
The ideal way is really to have a month-to-month arrangement and take advantage of the newest technology.
David Koch:
Mark, great tips. Thanks for joining us.
Mark Liebach:
Good day, Kochie. Thank you.
David Koch:
Well, no doubt upgrading your business tech can make a powerful impact on your day-to-day operations. Ashley Perkins, a Commercial Master Trainer at Microsoft, shares a few clever productivity tips with us.
Ashely Perkins:
Hi, I’m Ashley Perkins, the Commercial Master Trainer at Microsoft. Here are three features of Windows 11 Pro modern devices powered by the Intel vPro platform that can help your small business.
Windows Hello is a more personal, secure way to access your Windows 11 devices using your fingerprint, facial recognition, or even a pin. You can also switch between users on any devices you share within your small business.
I love using task view with multiple desktops. Not only can I see everything that is open with task view, but I can also switch between different desktops. With this, I can move between different projects or even keep my personal and work app separate.
If you’re like me, do you spend a couple of minutes every time you finish a meeting rearranging those apps on that secondary display? Well, you’re going to love the new docking feature on Windows 11 Pro.
Keep focused on the important bits and don’t worry about having to rearrange your apps every time you connect to that external display where the docking feature will remember what apps you had open and how you had them arranged.
These features are just an example of why Windows 11 is great within your small business to enhance productivity, collaboration, and security.
David Koch:
Are you back in the air for business? Well, here’s a prize you don’t want to miss out on. Kochie’s Business Builders and Qantas Business Rewards are giving away 250,000 Qantas points to four lucky Aussie businesses.
Qantas Business Rewards now offers even more benefits to make flying for work better value with greater member flight savings, bigger discounts on Qantas Club membership, and a new flyer bonus for your travelers every time they fly for work on top of the Qantas points and status credits they already earn. For the chance to win 250,000 Qantas points to let your business fly, go to kochiesbusinessbuilders.com.au/qantas. Get in quick.
Travis Osborne:
I had an interest in cars. I wasn’t a rev head by any stretch. My father raced MG sports cars, and he was always tinkering in the garage, but interestingly enough, after 10 years, I still have yet to change a tire. It was purely by chance.
Here I was over on holidays in the U.S., walking down the street, and here’s this guy, what I thought was stealing the tires off a car, and I looked over to realise what he was doing was taking the wheels off the car, going to a little van, and getting the tires changed.
It wasn’t for a couple of months after I got home when I needed tires that I realized what a great idea it would be to find out there was no one doing it in Melbourne. I spoke to a couple of friends and asked them the question if somebody came to your house and changed your tires, would you use that service? And we all unanimously agreed what a great service.
So probably naively, I went off and started the business. We launched with the strategy that it needed to be a national business, so all the decisions we made for the business were about how our vans and technicians could work remotely.
So we spent a lot of time and money developing our systems and infrastructure, enabling our vans to work remotely. Whether they’re working in Melbourne or across Perth, we work on very similar systems.
We had a call from a customer that was going to a funeral and actually ran over some spikes at the cemetery. We ended up sending a van and replacing four tires while that customer was at a funeral. Shark Tank was a fabulous experience.
At the time, although I received the two offers from the sharks, I just wasn’t ready as a business to take on the investment. It wasn’t until 2017 that we found our business is very capital intensive with the cost of a van at approximately a hundred thousand dollars with equipment.
We brought on investors in 2017, and they’ve worked with us on the journey of growth.
Our vans operate seven days a week. For us, we really wanted a van that was comfortable and reliable. It’s important for us to have a safe workplace for our employees, and we found that the Peugeot van really achieved those goals.
In recent times, the most rewarding part of my job was through going through COVID. We’ve got 80 staff in the business, and we are fortunate we didn’t have to lay off any of our staff during a very tough period for the business. We all worked together, worked closely as a business, and we got through the COVID period.
Definitely, the best piece of advice I’ve been given is to create systems and processes. You need to create a business environment where the business operates without yourself, and you can step away from the business. The key advice is when you’re with your family, be present a hundred per cent, and anything that happens within the company will always be there and can wait.
Ian Whitworth:
Hi. I’m Ian Whitworth, Co-Founder of national audio visual business Scene Change and author of Undisruptable: Timeless Business Truths for Thriving in a World of Nonstop Change.
There are two ways to run a business. One is the idea that people are no damn good. The staff are all lazy and stupid. We can believe as we do, but the staff are basically good and want to do a good job because it makes them proud to do that.
If you start managing all your staff as if they come from the no-good end of the spectrum, that’s a pretty dark place to operate from. There’s always been a bell curve of a few stars, mostly good people in the middle, and then some terrible, hopeless people usually not employed.
You can’t treat all your staff like they’re in that tiny sector, and you also can’t put that down to coming from a specific age or generation. That’s just a really closed mindset that will make your business worse.
There’s this myth with a business that you have to be a numbers wizard. When you go to business school, you learn to create spreadsheets where you look at the upfront investments and then do the discounted cash flows.
That’s all very well if you are building a nuclear power station or a toll road, which you are not. Our business makes seven-figure capital investments, and our view is if you can’t do it on the back of a coaster, don’t do the investment. If you don’t think it’s going to make you a ton of money, don’t make the decision.
David Koch:
Well, it’s time to hear Bird’s Nest Founder Jane Cay’s final suggestions on how John and Nicolle Ullo can harness their passions to help their business, Elvie Jewels, grow.
Jane Cay:
Let’s have a look at how you’ve gone with your homework. I’m ready.
John Ullo:
Put the business glasses on.
Jane Cay:
I’m ready. Let’s get down to business.
John Ullo:
Okay. Yeah. Well, thanks for your suggestions. I went through everything. Let’s start with we spoke about the retail premises, which we have our lease coming up next year, so there are over 12 months still to go.
The online is still growing strongly, but I just looked at what some of our competitors are doing, and they have retail premises that don’t have to be in the CBD but in the inner city.
Jane Cay:
And so, how do the numbers stack up for the retail store?
John Ullo:
I’ve done a report to show you.
Jane Cay:
Excellent.
John Ullo:
So yeah, I went through the sales for our retail location and our online sales, and I did analyse the profitability. So you can see that it’s a very even split.
Jane Cay:
Yes, it is. And the store makes a really solid contribution.
John Ullo:
Yes.
Jane Cay:
And the online has caught up in a way.
John Ullo:
Yes.
Jane Cay:
The money that you pay to do your digital marketing so people find you online, what does look like as a percentage?
John Ullo:
Yeah. So that’s in this column, and you’re looking at about 22%.
Jane Cay:
So it’s exactly the same. Is that fascinating? So digital marketing is like the rent of your online store.
Nicolle Ullo:
Yeah, who will help to find you?
Jane Cay:
Yeah. Last time we were together, we were talking about shipping because that’s a really important component of the online part of your business and getting that model right. So where have you landed there?
John Ullo:
Yeah. I did quite a bit of competitor analysis to see what other people were doing and also looked at the cost that we were-
Jane Cay:
Incurring.
John Ullo:
Incurring.
Jane Cay:
It’s a big cost.
John Ullo:
It is a lot. I worked on a model of like $4.95 as a standard shipping rate.
Jane Cay:
Yes.
John Ullo:
And still offering free shipping over a spend of a hundred dollars. And that just lets us cover about 50% of our shipping costs.
Jane Cay:
That’s fantastic. What about your roles in the business? One of the things we really talked about is really we are in business for the long haul. What is it that you two really want to do as being part of the Elvie team?
Nicolle Ullo:
So I’m definitely focusing a lot more on the retail side.
Jane Cay:
Yes.
Nicolle Ullo:
Managing the staff and managing the running of the shop and looking at possible new locations. Also, focusing a lot on the engraving and the innovations available for engraving new machines or new products.
Jane Cay:
So you’re bringing out new product lines?
Nicolle Ullo:
Yeah. We are thinking of definitely bringing out new product lines.
John Ullo:
And for me, I guess I want to be in control of driving the Elvie brand and the imagery, the brand, the content, and the creative side. I want to manage all those aspects.
Jane Cay:
I know. You two sound so energised. It’s like you’ve just recharged and are ready to go.
Nicolle Ullo:
Yeah.
Jane Cay:
Doesn’t matter. Throw a flood at me. Throw anything at me, and you two just keep on going. It’s incredible.
John Ullo:
There’s no stopping us, but look, I really appreciate the time you’ve spent with us. I know you’re very busy, and you’ve taken a lot out of your schedule, and I want to thank you.
Jane Cay:
Been gorgeous.
John Ullo:
And we’ve made just a little gift for you to take home with you.
Jane Cay:
Oh, look at this. Honestly. Oh, thank you so much.
John Ullo:
My pleasure. Thank you.
Jane Cay:
Thanks, Nicolle.
Nicolle Ullo:
Thanks. You’re welcome.
David Koch:
Nick, Jane Cay has been wonderful with John and Nicolle, but it sounds as though they could fall into the danger of running themselves too thin on the digital side. Is it time to bring in support?
Nick Brogden:
Yeah, well, that’s definitely the case because that’s an area that somebody can help them with. They’ve just hired an agency. They should trust that they’ve hired the right people and sort of not try, not micromanage them. Let them be experts in what they do.
David Koch:
That is really smart. Nick, good to see you. Thanks for joining us today with some great advice that I reckon everyone has benefited from.
Nick Brogden:
Thanks so much. A pleasure to be here. Thanks so much.
David Koch:
And remember, if you are looking for small business tips or the latest news and expert advice, then you can find them all online kochiesbusinessbuilders.com.au or follow Kochie’s Biz on Facebook, LinkedIn, Insta, and Twitter. And I’ll see you next week.
Next week on Kochie’s Business Builders, Shoes of Prey, soul survivor Jodie Fox joins me in the studio. It’s last drinks for Holly Ransom when she pays her final visit to Tiny Bed Distillery. We also hear from three incredible women about how they push through barriers in business to achieve their goals.
Nick Brogden leads the company as Founder and CEO of Earned Media, acting as Chief SEO Strategist and primary client contact. Nick provides clients with personalised and expert SEO guidance that aligns with the industry’s best practices and has over 12 years of hands-on SEO experience. Have any SEO questions you’d like to ask Nick? Drop him an email at nick@earnedmedia.com.au.
Nick Brogden leads the company as Founder and CEO of Earned Media, acting as Chief SEO Strategist and primary client contact. Nick provides clients with personalised and expert SEO guidance that aligns with the industry’s best practices and has over 12 years of hands-on SEO experience. Have any SEO questions you’d like to ask Nick? Drop him an email at nick@earnedmedia.com.au.
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