Episode 138

LinkedIn Brand Building: How to stand out in today's digital business landscape with Steve Dart

In this episode of Biz Bites for Thought Leaders, host Anthony Perl sits down with special guest Steve Dart to talk about LinkedIn brand building. Steve is a Fractional CMO and the Creator of the Brand Salience Factor.

They discuss how to optimise your LinkedIn profile, create a personal brand that rises above AI-generated content, and apply marketing lessons from global brands like Red Bull to your own business. Tune in to learn how to make a lasting digital impact and stand out in today's crowded business landscape.

Listen now and subscribe to "Biz Bites for Thought Leaders" for more essential insights!

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Connect with Steve on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-dart/ 

Check out their website here: buntu.com.au 

Join LinkedIn neXt VIP business professional community of Steve Dart $47 + GST per month


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Connect with Anthony Perl on LinkedIn:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/adperl/ 

If you would like to be a guest on the program or you have a mentor that you think would be ideal, please reach out to us on LinkedIn so we can connect.

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#leadership #professionalleaders #expertstrategy #podcastshow #podcasting #linkedin



Transcript
Speaker:

Anthony Perl: LinkedIn Brand

Speaker:

building, how to stand out in

Speaker:

today's digital business landscape.

Speaker:

Welcome to Biz Bites for Thought

Speaker:

Leaders, where we deliver actionable

Speaker:

insights for today's business leaders.

Speaker:

I'm your host, Anthony Pearl, and

Speaker:

today I've joined by Steve Dart, who

Speaker:

is a fractional FMO.

Speaker:

And a creator of the Brand

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Salience Factor.

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In this episode, you're gonna

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discover how to optimize your

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LinkedIn presence, build a memorable

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personal brand that stands out

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from AI generated content, and apply

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marketing lessons from global brands

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to your business.

Speaker:

Steve shares his journey from Red

Speaker:

Bull to helping businesses create

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digital impact.

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Of all shapes and sizes for brands

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just like yours, Steve Dart is a

Speaker:

very special guest because he has huge

Speaker:

amounts of insights, lots of information

Speaker:

to give you.

Speaker:

Get your pen and paper ready.

Speaker:

Let's get into it.

Speaker:

Hey everyone.

Speaker:

Welcome to Biz Bites for Thought

Speaker:

Leaders, and I am very excited to be

Speaker:

having my guests Steve Dart with me

Speaker:

today because Steve and I have known

Speaker:

each other for a few years now and

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got to know one another better and

Speaker:

better all the time.

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In fact, we were just sitting in

Speaker:

something yesterday together, so I

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thought, why not get him on the program?

Speaker:

Steve, welcome to Biz Bites for

Speaker:

Thought Leaders.

Steve:

Thank you so much Anthony.

Steve:

Great to be spending time with you

Steve:

and we do seem be crossing paths a lot

Steve:

lately, so you're in those good circles

Steve:

as well as I am.

Steve:

It's great to see.

Steve:

Anthony Perl: Yeah, it's always

Steve:

interesting, isn't it, that you have

Steve:

that situation, but we're gonna get into

Steve:

that in a minute or two I think.

Steve:

Firstly, I'm gonna allow you to

Steve:

introduce yourself to everyone.

Steve:

Wonderful.

Steve:

I've got a bit of a new title

Steve:

after working with Steve Broman.

Steve:

He's an amazing guy.

Steve:

So I used to be a LinkedIn trainer,

Steve:

but look, I've got this and I'm I'm

Steve:

a fractional FMO, which is Freelance

Steve:

Marketing Officer, and I'm the creator

Steve:

of the Brand Salience Factor,

Steve:

and I'll talk about that as we go

Steve:

through this because Brand Salience is

Steve:

about building a brand online that's

Steve:

remembered very quickly through

Steve:

a purchasing or service.

Steve:

Conditions.

Steve:

So I work with people especially

Steve:

on LinkedIn or who wanna know,

Steve:

understanding of how to use the LinkedIn

Steve:

platform, especially the premium

Steve:

products like Sales Navigator core for

Steve:

lead generation, but actually build

Steve:

your brand profile online to be the

Steve:

number one in the market you serve.

Steve:

So that's a little bit about what I am.

Anthony Perl:

We are gonna delve into

Anthony Perl:

that in a minute.

Anthony Perl:

But firstly, I've, I would like you

Anthony Perl:

to do a bit of a shout out to Steve.

Anthony Perl:

He's been a guest on the program

Anthony Perl:

in the past.

Anthony Perl:

So those of you that don't know

Anthony Perl:

Steve, check it out.

Anthony Perl:

In a previous episode we'll try

Anthony Perl:

and put a link in the show notes

Anthony Perl:

to that as well.

Anthony Perl:

But let's dive in Steve, because as I

Anthony Perl:

said, you and I go back a little while

Anthony Perl:

and I guess we got to know each other.

Anthony Perl:

The primarily initially through

Anthony Perl:

LinkedIn and a around that.

Anthony Perl:

And I wanted to ask you that as this

Anthony Perl:

kind of a starting point before we go

Anthony Perl:

a little bit more into brand, because

Anthony Perl:

LinkedIn has become, the accepted place

Anthony Perl:

for businesses to hang out.

Anthony Perl:

Is that the best way of describing

Anthony Perl:

what LinkedIn is these days?

Anthony Perl:

'cause it's gone through a

Anthony Perl:

few iterations.

Steve:

Yeah, look, I had a friend of

Steve:

mine call me up the other day and said,

Steve:

you've been on this LinkedIn stuff for

Steve:

a while now, and it seems like it's all

Steve:

coming to fruition.

Steve:

And I said, look, LinkedIn is just

Steve:

a place where it's a massive my, like

Steve:

it's a place where people store data,

Steve:

especially LinkedIn.

Steve:

And I've always used it as a

Steve:

communication platform.

Steve:

And the early situation for me

Steve:

with LinkedIn is I was on the platform

Steve:

early when someone sent me a connection

Steve:

request and I didn't know what it was.

Steve:

And I built a profile out.

Steve:

And sorry.

Steve:

Build a profile out and basically

Steve:

left the pro, left, left LinkedIn.

Steve:

I just think I, I had a job.

Steve:

I was working with Red Bull.

Steve:

Everything was going good.

Steve:

I didn't really need to put a

Steve:

CV up on there.

Steve:

And then it wasn't until I came back in

Steve:

2012 where actually saw it was a

Steve:

different platform.

Steve:

It looked incredibly different.

Steve:

So Richard Branson was the first

Steve:

millionth follow up person on there,

Steve:

and you could create content.

Steve:

I was like, wow, this is quite

Steve:

incredible.

Steve:

So I actually stayed on the platform and

Steve:

started building out and used it to

Steve:

communicate with my other business

Steve:

professionals lead generation, and just

Steve:

really storyboarding what I was doing

Steve:

in the market.

Steve:

So its iterations has happened over

Steve:

the last 21 years.

Steve:

It was just a place you had put your

Steve:

CV to a place now that you actually

Steve:

build brand and build profiling

Steve:

and it's still a recruitment tool and

Steve:

I understand that.

Steve:

But you can actually have really good

Steve:

conversations and a lot of lead

Steve:

generation activity within the platform.

Steve:

So yeah, that's how I see it.

Anthony Perl:

Yeah, I think that's the

Anthony Perl:

interesting point for people, isn't

Anthony Perl:

it that posting is one part.

Anthony Perl:

Getting followers is another part,

Anthony Perl:

but ultimately it's about the

Anthony Perl:

conversations, isn't it?

Anthony Perl:

I think people miss the point of that,

Anthony Perl:

that it's lovely to post, it's lovely

Anthony Perl:

to for an ego trip to say, I had x

Anthony Perl:

number of people like, or comment or

Anthony Perl:

share it or whatever it might be.

Anthony Perl:

But that is not much more than an

Anthony Perl:

ego trip, right?

Anthony Perl:

The million followers is nice,

Anthony Perl:

but what does it actually mean?

Anthony Perl:

It's the true engagements,

Anthony Perl:

the one-on-one conversations

Anthony Perl:

that you can have through LinkedIn,

Anthony Perl:

which I think are the most powerful

Anthony Perl:

aspect of it.

Steve:

Yeah, absolutely.

Steve:

And you know what I love about LinkedIn

Steve:

is when you connect with someone,

Steve:

you're giving each other authority

Steve:

to then talk, to get to each other

Steve:

on the platform.

Steve:

You don't have to go to email

Steve:

or any other kind of communication.

Steve:

You can actually talk them directly

Steve:

on the platform and then share

Steve:

content and that kind of thing.

Steve:

I love it because it's a place

Steve:

where business professionals do

Steve:

go to learn from other business

Steve:

professionals and better themselves

Steve:

every day.

Steve:

And one of the things I love to

Steve:

see when people are on the platform and

Steve:

they are getting better and they

Steve:

are using it as a tool of trade, and

Steve:

I do call it a tool of trade because

Steve:

like you have a car or a computer

Steve:

or anything else that helps you get

Steve:

through business, LinkedIn should

Steve:

be seen as that.

Steve:

I call it the oxygen of business

Steve:

because it's where business does.

Steve:

Come to play.

Steve:

And if you think about it, in the

Steve:

market we live in, out of all those

Steve:

seven different apps on your

Steve:

phone now being Facebook, Instagram,

Steve:

TikTok, and YouTube and all that,

Steve:

LinkedIn is where business happens.

Steve:

Why do they rob banks?

Steve:

'cause that's where the money is.

Steve:

And why do you go to LinkedIn?

Steve:

'cause that's where the people that

Steve:

are doing business within the social

Steve:

serving place.

Steve:

So that's how I look.

Steve:

Anthony Perl: I want to start

Steve:

crossing over into brand building and

Steve:

things as well.

Steve:

And I think using LinkedIn as a

Steve:

starting point for that conversation is

Steve:

a really interesting one because it's

Steve:

become a playground as well for a lot

Steve:

of ai and trying to balance that use of

Steve:

AI and building your brand because they

Steve:

can be in conflict with one another

Steve:

if you're not careful about it.

Steve:

And it's interesting to me that

Steve:

LinkedIn has.

Steve:

Really decided to embrace and even

Steve:

push AI to a large extent as well.

Steve:

And I wonder if that's to the

Steve:

detriment of a lot of people and

Steve:

a lot of brands.

Steve:

Yeah.

Steve:

Look, time will tell on that.

Steve:

I know I'm using AI every day.

Steve:

I am probably 10 hours in ai.

Steve:

I use it.

Steve:

Part of my business activity, one

Steve:

that I'm in quite often is notebook

Steve:

L. And that is a fantastic 'cause.

Steve:

It's an actual resource gathering

Steve:

where you can actually put your

Steve:

LinkedIn profile, you can do website

Steve:

and all your other assets.

Steve:

And when you prompt engineer it, it's

Steve:

only pulling from that resource.

Steve:

That's what I love about that AI tool.

Steve:

But AI tool, it's one of those things

Steve:

that, I think that people will discover

Steve:

it's gonna be a great time saver,

Steve:

and I think people are discovering

Steve:

the more that these ai agents

Steve:

come into play, it's gonna be very

Steve:

interesting times.

Steve:

One thing that I'm trying to really

Steve:

make stand out to most people I speak

Steve:

to is, you must get your personal brand

Steve:

out into the market.

Steve:

Because the way that AI's coming

Steve:

it's now equaled the playing field

Steve:

with knowledge.

Steve:

So our brand and our personal brand

Steve:

has to really be positioned higher

Steve:

now, so people would choose us

Steve:

because of the experience we hold

Steve:

as a human being.

Steve:

So I wanna pick

Anthony Perl:

up on something you've

Anthony Perl:

said there as well, because you

Anthony Perl:

referenced personal brand and I think

Anthony Perl:

we are in this really interesting

Anthony Perl:

situation because for a long time

Anthony Perl:

it's been about business brands.

Steve:

Yeah,

Steve:

Anthony Perl: it's the personal

Steve:

brand is very much taken a backseat.

Steve:

But that seems to have changed again,

Steve:

that the need to push a personal

Steve:

brand and trying to find that balance

Steve:

of where do you have a personal brand?

Steve:

Where do you have a business brand?

Steve:

And I know certainly if you go back

Steve:

a few years.

Steve:

It was, I remember seeing a statistics

Steve:

on Facebook and saying that on

Steve:

average people followed one brand

Steve:

only, and yet follow hundreds of people.

Steve:

So it's not a surprise that

Steve:

personal brand has started to build,

Steve:

but it's really started to take

Steve:

some more momentum.

Steve:

And again, it's that balance on

Steve:

some, on a platform like LinkedIn,

Steve:

how much energy do you put into the

Steve:

business versus the personal one?

Steve:

What are the risks attached to that?

Steve:

Yeah, I think it's an end story

Steve:

there because we know that people

Steve:

don't buy off logos, they buy off people.

Steve:

So that's why LinkedIn was formed

Steve:

to actually put personal profiles

Steve:

before business company pages.

Steve:

But I'm seeing a real trust recession

Steve:

at the moment, as most people

Steve:

are, and people are really not

Steve:

trusting of brands as they're not

Steve:

trusting of people these days as well.

Steve:

So I think by showcasing

Steve:

yourself as your authentic self.

Steve:

On these platforms, all those seven

Steve:

platforms, and presenting yourself

Steve:

as the, the way you're putting

Steve:

yourself into market and that you are

Steve:

trustworthy and that you're credible,

Steve:

and that you've got competency.

Steve:

And that's why I love LinkedIn,

Steve:

because it's the one stop shop for

Steve:

displaying all that at one viewpoint is

Steve:

a big reason why.

Steve:

You can see people are elevating into

Steve:

the market because they're micro

Steve:

nicheing, their skills and talents.

Steve:

Yes.

Steve:

And I've been on a lot of

Steve:

presentations and podcasts recently

Steve:

talking about LinkedIn because I'm

Steve:

positioning myself as a knowledge

Steve:

person on that.

Steve:

And that's why I'm getting asked to

Steve:

do a lot more of these presentations

Steve:

and podcasts.

Steve:

Anthony Perl: And I've sat in

Steve:

on some of those presentations and

Steve:

I know how good you are at that.

Steve:

And it'd be remiss be not to ask you.

Steve:

Before we delve a little deeper

Steve:

into some of the other things what

Steve:

are the, probably the top three

Steve:

things that people should be doing on

Steve:

LinkedIn to really make a difference

Steve:

at the high level?

Steve:

What are the areas that they

Steve:

should focus on?

Steve:

Yeah, number one, absolutely

Steve:

publish your profile for your

Steve:

authentic self.

Steve:

And then there's what's called an add

Steve:

to profile button on your profile, which

Steve:

then extends it out and you can actually

Steve:

publish your honors and awards.

Steve:

You can put your, any kind of detail

Steve:

for projects you've been doing, if

Steve:

you've got any licensing, and

Steve:

really populate that so people get an

Steve:

understanding when they review your

Steve:

profile, what it is that you've actually

Steve:

accomplished over the years you've

Steve:

been working or in that kind

Steve:

of situation.

Steve:

So what I have felt with the.

Steve:

The clients I've worked with is when

Steve:

I see them in real life and then I look

Steve:

at their profile and I've spoken to them,

Steve:

they're completely different.

Steve:

So I want people to build out their

Steve:

digital twin from a, a headline that

Steve:

is representing of how they help

Steve:

people in market.

Steve:

Also, a banner image that has their trust

Steve:

value phrasing or overlay and their

Steve:

photo to be up to date and current,

Steve:

and especially.

Steve:

Positioned as you would meet them

Steve:

belly to belly.

Steve:

You don't wanna have something

Steve:

from 10 years old.

Steve:

You don't wanna have a profile photo.

Steve:

It's got glasses.

Steve:

You're at the races, it's a

Steve:

professional site.

Steve:

Make sure you're smiling.

Steve:

It's warmth.

Steve:

And people want to really get a

Steve:

an understanding of you.

Steve:

They actually form a bias of

Steve:

you before they even met you by.

Steve:

So your pro profile is your digital

Steve:

twin, and if it's relevant and

Steve:

positions you as the person they'd

Steve:

love to meet or do business with,

Steve:

it's a great first stepping stone.

Steve:

Anthony Perl: Yeah, I think

Steve:

that the photo is something that is

Steve:

actually really an interesting one

Steve:

because when you meet people, whether

Steve:

it's physically in person or whether

Steve:

it's gonna be online, invariably

Steve:

you're checking out their profile

Steve:

before you go and have that meeting.

Steve:

And I had one recently where I

Steve:

had to do a double take because I'm

Steve:

going, hang on.

Steve:

The person that I think I'm meeting

Steve:

because I did see them somewhere

Steve:

else and their profile photo.

Steve:

Were so completely different that I

Steve:

thought it was the wrong person and

Steve:

it was only when I started digging a

Steve:

little deeper and going no, this is

Steve:

the right person.

Steve:

Then I started looking more

Steve:

closely at the face and I went,

Steve:

okay, yes, there's a difference here.

Steve:

In the, in.

Steve:

In some of the other features and things,

Steve:

but the core of it, it is definitely

Steve:

the right person.

Steve:

And a shout out to Nancy Za as well

Steve:

who's also been a guest on the podcast

Steve:

in the past who I know specializes

Steve:

in taking a look at people's images

Steve:

that are there and helping you

Steve:

identify how best to interact with them.

Steve:

So it's, it does tell a lot and it's

Steve:

interesting what you say, how often there

Steve:

are photographs that are.

Steve:

Substantially older than it, and when

Steve:

you start getting to photos that are

Steve:

10 plus years old, then you should

Steve:

be going, hang on, this is, what are

Steve:

you hiding from?

Steve:

Why aren't you showing a current

Steve:

professional photograph?

Steve:

So it is something that's, I think

Steve:

is an important aspect that is

Steve:

often overlooked.

Steve:

Yeah, and one of the things

Steve:

about LinkedIn, when you actually

Steve:

sign onto LinkedIn, the algorithm

Steve:

firstly checks your in contact

Steve:

info card and it actually scans and

Steve:

has a look at the details and the

Steve:

photo to see if it's a current photo.

Steve:

If you can actually remove your photo,

Steve:

then upload exactly the same one, it

Steve:

actually makes you a better time value

Steve:

of data for LinkedIn because it's

Steve:

number one client is recruiters,

Steve:

and if you are a better product

Steve:

on this and for recruiters to find

Steve:

you, that's always a good thing in.

Steve:

In your favor.

Steve:

So here's a good opportunity to

Steve:

remove your photo and upload a current

Steve:

one, and then you get a better time

Steve:

value of data.

Steve:

So you're doing two value

Steve:

exchanges there on the platform.

Anthony Perl:

I wanted to ask you

Anthony Perl:

as well before we leave LinkedIn a

Anthony Perl:

little bit behind, but in ask you

Anthony Perl:

keeping up with.

Anthony Perl:

What's happening on LinkedIn?

Anthony Perl:

It's a very difficult thing.

Anthony Perl:

The algorithm is one thing, and I think

Anthony Perl:

for the longest time people have

Anthony Perl:

been obsessed with how do I, crack

Anthony Perl:

the algorithm, which is constantly

Anthony Perl:

changing and almost impossible to crack.

Anthony Perl:

But I think it's also balancing that

Anthony Perl:

with how do I keep up with what is

Anthony Perl:

the latest features that I should be

Anthony Perl:

cottoning onto?

Anthony Perl:

Is it just.

Anthony Perl:

Fun and nice to have?

Anthony Perl:

Or is it actually making a difference

Anthony Perl:

in, the way you are going to be

Anthony Perl:

found and the banner image and

Anthony Perl:

the change of the changes that have

Anthony Perl:

happened with that in recent times.

Anthony Perl:

Is it probably a good case in

Anthony Perl:

point is are they something that

Anthony Perl:

you go, yes, you have to jump on?

Anthony Perl:

How do you stay on top of what

Anthony Perl:

the latest and greatest is?

Anthony Perl:

'cause it is literally

Anthony Perl:

just following someone like you.

Anthony Perl:

Yeah,

Steve:

look, I like the way that

Steve:

LinkedIn has moved.

Steve:

Look, it is a free site.

Steve:

It costs nothing to join.

Steve:

But what it is LinkedIn is

Steve:

trying to upgrade people into their

Steve:

premium products.

Steve:

'cause you get a better experience.

Steve:

For instance, the banner, rather

Steve:

than being a static placement,

Steve:

it actually gives you five

Steve:

rotating banners.

Steve:

And that's good for people that

Steve:

have got multiple things going on

Steve:

within their work.

Steve:

Whether it be an event coming up or

Steve:

they're displaying a couple of jobs

Steve:

that they do within their, in,

Steve:

in their current work situation.

Steve:

So it gives you a better experience

Steve:

that way.

Steve:

It gives you a better analytics

Steve:

when you're sending out connection

Steve:

requests on a premium product,

Steve:

you get to send out up to 150

Steve:

connection requests.

Steve:

Out to somebody rather, and with a

Steve:

personalized note, except for the free

Steve:

version, you only get five a month.

Steve:

So it's really decreasing its

Steve:

opportunity with a free version

Steve:

and extending opportunities and

Steve:

analytics and the experience for

Steve:

the user in those premium offerings.

Steve:

LinkedIn is a business.

Steve:

It actually Microsoft

Steve:

purchased it for $26.2 billion.

Steve:

And it's starting to reclaim its

Steve:

money, but it's giving you a better

Steve:

experience in the premium offerings.

Steve:

I use Sales Navigator Core

Steve:

because it's a premium sales

Steve:

analytics tool, which gives me

Steve:

40 features or 40 filtering options,

Steve:

advanced search just to find my

Steve:

ideal client profile or person out

Steve:

of, 10,000 data.

Steve:

Data points.

Steve:

So if you are looking for lead

Steve:

generation or you're trying to

Steve:

get more sales activity happening,

Steve:

sales navigator call is the one.

Steve:

It's about 99 USD a month that is.

Steve:

And I highly recommend it for

Steve:

someone to trial it at least.

Steve:

Anthony Perl: Yeah, absolutely.

Steve:

I think it's one of those

Steve:

things, isn't it?

Steve:

You have to make use of the tools.

Steve:

I think we, that's one of the

Steve:

challenges in this day and age, right?

Steve:

That there are so many tools and

Steve:

you need to make use of them in

Steve:

order to justify their, their value.

Steve:

And I think the key is as well

Steve:

with LinkedIn is, as I said is I'd

Steve:

encourage people to follow you because.

Steve:

You give tips regularly on what

Steve:

the latest and greatest is, and

Steve:

I think it is important to stay on

Steve:

top of those things.

Steve:

We will absolutely make sure that

Steve:

those details are in the show notes,

Steve:

but I wanted to delve deeper into

Steve:

this whole idea of brand a little bit

Steve:

more and how you are positioning

Steve:

yourself as well.

Steve:

But let's start off with the background.

Steve:

How cool was it working at Red

Steve:

Bull and why would you leave?

Steve:

Yeah, look, red Bull's

Steve:

fantastic.

Steve:

I was there in the early days and it

Steve:

was one of those brands that was

Steve:

new to market.

Steve:

They were coming out from Austria.

Steve:

Unfortunately the founder just passed

Steve:

away last year, Mr.

Steve:

Mani or Dietrich Mani.

Steve:

But it was a very progressive brand.

Steve:

It was very youth orientated.

Steve:

And one thing I learned from being

Steve:

there was they were different to market.

Steve:

And I love that about the product.

Steve:

I was there in the early days

Steve:

when there was only six of us,

Steve:

I think, within the Queensland

Steve:

office with our energy teams,

Steve:

which is the little Volkswagens that

Steve:

drove around with a can in the back.

Steve:

And they gave us the opportunity

Steve:

to wear many hats.

Steve:

We were sales, we were event

Steve:

organizers, we were dealing

Steve:

with PR teams.

Steve:

And it just gave me such an opportunity

Steve:

to have a diverse range of skill sets.

Steve:

And I worked with there for many years

Steve:

and thought after working there, I

Steve:

think for eight years, what could I

Steve:

actually take from the market working

Steve:

with Red Bull out to the SME market and

Steve:

see if the Red Bull way really worked?

Steve:

And I'd worked with a couple of

Steve:

companies after that using that kind of

Steve:

methodology and had enormous success.

Steve:

So I loved learning one.

Steve:

Or a one style of skill within

Steve:

marketing and the methodology of

Steve:

being a mystique brand in the way

Steve:

that Red Bull went to market, and then

Steve:

taking across into smaller, medium

Steve:

brands and using the same philosophy.

Steve:

To give you an idea, I actually

Steve:

worked writing a blueprint for the

Steve:

Hard Rock Cafe.

Steve:

And the first thing I did was I created

Steve:

an activation where we had Axel Roses

Steve:

Harley Davidson, that set up on a

Steve:

showcase piece.

Steve:

You couldn't touch it, you could only

Steve:

just take photos.

Steve:

And I said to the general manager,

Steve:

why is that sitting up there?

Steve:

He said, oh, people take photos of it.

Steve:

I said, why don't we put on the ground

Steve:

with a banner of the hardware cafe

Steve:

Gold Coast with all the elements

Steve:

of the skyline for the guitar?

Steve:

Let's let people sit on it and let them

Steve:

have the experience and then they can

Steve:

take Instagram shots and help promote.

Steve:

And we had basically a lineup

Steve:

down the stairs.

Steve:

So people came for the activation of

Steve:

sitting on Axel Roses, Harley

Steve:

Davidson, and taking a photo and then

Steve:

sharing that for the company, and

Steve:

then they decided to grab a burger while

Steve:

they were there.

Steve:

It's using that really cool

Steve:

activations to try something different

Steve:

in markets they hadn't tried.

Anthony Perl:

I think that the

Anthony Perl:

really interesting part about that is

Anthony Perl:

it's an experience and I think that's

Anthony Perl:

what people are looking for, right?

Anthony Perl:

Is they need to experience something

Anthony Perl:

with your brand in order to then

Anthony Perl:

be able to share it and to, take

Anthony Perl:

some kind of enjoyment out of it.

Anthony Perl:

'cause the interesting thing

Anthony Perl:

about that is, the.

Anthony Perl:

The burger just needed probably to

Anthony Perl:

be good and didn't need to be great

Anthony Perl:

in order to get people to come back

Anthony Perl:

because you had this showpiece that

Anthony Perl:

was there, whereas the emphasis on

Anthony Perl:

trying to be well, are we the greatest

Anthony Perl:

burger place in wherever you are

Anthony Perl:

is a lot harder road to travel and

Anthony Perl:

it's the experience that you get.

Anthony Perl:

That was really what Hard rock

Anthony Perl:

cafes were all about, wasn't it?

Anthony Perl:

Yeah.

Anthony Perl:

The experience.

Steve:

Yeah, rock and roll even.

Steve:

I actually had a conversation with

Steve:

the general manager and the team and

Steve:

I said, unless we are relevant to

Steve:

the youth, because everything was,

Steve:

there was heritage, it was old, photos

Steve:

and guitars.

Steve:

And I said, we have to be relevant to

Steve:

the youth, otherwise we don't become

Steve:

relevant as a brand and they're

Steve:

out, they're outta business now.

Steve:

And I think that was one of the

Steve:

main reasons they just didn't look

Steve:

at new activations or new markets to

Steve:

actually bring their product in front of.

Steve:

So it just became an old brand

Steve:

in the end.

Anthony Perl:

Yeah, it's interesting.

Anthony Perl:

Because it was, and for those that

Anthony Perl:

maybe that don't even remember Hard

Anthony Perl:

Rock Cafe that might be listening

Anthony Perl:

it, they really were a phenomenon,

Anthony Perl:

weren't they?

Anthony Perl:

They were, you would go to different ones

Anthony Perl:

in, around the world because you wanted

Anthony Perl:

to see the stuff, but the problem was

Anthony Perl:

that once you went once there wasn't

Anthony Perl:

really a reason to go back because

Anthony Perl:

there wasn't a rotation of things.

Anthony Perl:

And so you went and you had an

Anthony Perl:

experience and you had a great

Anthony Perl:

experience.

Anthony Perl:

Maybe you went back a second

Anthony Perl:

time, but it's unlikely you went

Anthony Perl:

back thir three or four times because.

Anthony Perl:

There was nothing new about it.

Anthony Perl:

And I think that's the, that is also

Anthony Perl:

the dilemma with something like that

Anthony Perl:

is, is creating experiences but

Anthony Perl:

keeping up with, need to adapt

Anthony Perl:

and change.

Anthony Perl:

Otherwise you do fall behind.

Steve:

Yeah.

Steve:

One thing I learned from being at Red

Steve:

Bull was about you always had

Steve:

to re, you had to be relevant

Steve:

to the youth.

Steve:

And that's one thing you can see in their

Steve:

marketing today.

Steve:

They're very relevant to the

Steve:

youth market coming through because

Steve:

then they get brand loyalists

Steve:

starting at a young age and carrying

Steve:

that through.

Steve:

Also with LinkedIn at the moment, the

Steve:

most engagement on the platform is 25

Steve:

to 33 year olds, the Gen Z market.

Steve:

And it's a, it's an interesting

Steve:

stat when I bring that up.

Steve:

People can't believe it.

Steve:

They think LinkedIn's quite

Steve:

old with, its with, with its viewpoint.

Steve:

But no, it's a young demographic coming

Steve:

onto it and they're omnipresent across,

Steve:

seven of those different platforms.

Steve:

They understand they're native to

Steve:

these platforms.

Steve:

They know that they need to be on

Steve:

it to be relevant because attention

Steve:

is the asset.

Steve:

And so I, when I teach my programs

Steve:

within the LinkedIn platform is about

Steve:

making sure you are not only

Steve:

omnipresent, but definitely be on

Steve:

LinkedIn because that's where

Steve:

the business is

Anthony Perl:

and it keeps you feeling

Anthony Perl:

young, right?

Anthony Perl:

We are definitely in that age group,

Anthony Perl:

aren't we, Steve?

Anthony Perl:

Absolutely.

Anthony Perl:

Now I just finishing up on I'm intrigued.

Anthony Perl:

A little bit further just to

Anthony Perl:

push you a little bit further on

Anthony Perl:

the Red Bull thing because, I find it

Anthony Perl:

fascinating that I'm, engaged with

Anthony Perl:

Red Bull as a brand on a regular basis.

Anthony Perl:

'cause I happen to love Formula One

Anthony Perl:

and Red Bull is very prominent in Formula

Anthony Perl:

One, of course.

Anthony Perl:

But I've never drunk a Red Bull

Anthony Perl:

and I don't think I ever will.

Anthony Perl:

But I love the brand and that's a

Anthony Perl:

really interesting thing, isn't it?

Anthony Perl:

Because you do have these brands

Anthony Perl:

out there that are like that, that you

Anthony Perl:

want to champion.

Anthony Perl:

Because you like what they stand for.

Anthony Perl:

They're the, they're on the edge, right?

Anthony Perl:

They're a brand that is of a similar

Anthony Perl:

ilk to Virgin in that they're not

Anthony Perl:

afraid to take risks and they're not

Anthony Perl:

afraid to go out there and promote.

Anthony Perl:

New things, but it's interesting.

Anthony Perl:

I find that it with such a prominent

Anthony Perl:

brand that their market is, they're

Anthony Perl:

not expecting me to be in their

Anthony Perl:

market either.

Anthony Perl:

That's the interesting thing

Anthony Perl:

about it is I don't think people my

Anthony Perl:

age are picking up a Red Bull for

Anthony Perl:

the first time.

Anthony Perl:

I think their target is a lot younger.

Anthony Perl:

Yeah I think there's a lot of lessons

Anthony Perl:

to be learned from those kinds of

Anthony Perl:

experiences as well.

Anthony Perl:

That you have to know your market,

Anthony Perl:

but doesn't mean you can't be.

Anthony Perl:

Seen in a broader sense as well.

Steve:

Yeah, and obviously that

Steve:

was one of the big programs for

Steve:

Red Bull was the marketing of the

Steve:

sampling program, where they sampled

Steve:

you the product and they actually

Steve:

told you about the benefits and the

Steve:

ingredients and things like that.

Steve:

And so they spent a lot of money and

Steve:

time on educating the consumer on

Steve:

why the products functionality use

Steve:

and when they should have, and how they

Steve:

should actually, use it because it

Steve:

is just a delivery through the can.

Steve:

The actual energy, it does give you

Steve:

wings and you might not be a consumer

Steve:

at the time, but if you are gonna

Steve:

make an energy drink or a drink

Steve:

consumption and you need energy because

Steve:

you've got that brand persona of

Steve:

Red Bull supported you, you are more

Steve:

likely to grab that as a product

Steve:

than you would as a competing product.

Steve:

So just putting Red Bull in the

Steve:

conversation.

Anthony Perl:

And I think the question

Anthony Perl:

then becomes for you is, as you've

Anthony Perl:

delved into this role, and I love

Anthony Perl:

the interesting title this whole

Anthony Perl:

idea of being a fractional operator,

Anthony Perl:

it's become a, a trendier term.

Anthony Perl:

I've heard that used a little bit more

Anthony Perl:

in recent times.

Anthony Perl:

So explain to me what that is

Anthony Perl:

and explain to me how you take

Anthony Perl:

learnings from.

Anthony Perl:

Your experiences in Red Bull Hard

Anthony Perl:

Rock Cafe what you're doing with

Anthony Perl:

smaller businesses through LinkedIn

Anthony Perl:

and other places, how does that

Anthony Perl:

play out in what you're doing now?

Steve:

Yeah, look, I'm just coming in

Steve:

with fresh eyes and I deal with a lot

Steve:

of head of brand just to come, just

Steve:

speak to them about what they're doing

Steve:

with their programs, their marketing

Steve:

strategies, managing in-house teams.

Steve:

And a lot of them are, they don't

Steve:

have the wisdom of seeing what

Steve:

brands going from, startup to being

Steve:

more progressive in the market.

Steve:

And so I just come into these

Steve:

businesses and I just see what

Steve:

they're doing now and work with their

Steve:

head of branches.

Steve:

Just say, look, maybe you

Steve:

should make.

Steve:

Try these, you should be

Steve:

broadcasting your branding message

Steve:

across different platforms and

Steve:

just being fresh eyes to what they

Steve:

normally know.

Steve:

Like when I started with Red Bull,

Steve:

one of the first things they said

Steve:

to me, if you've got a marketing

Steve:

degree, don't worry about it.

Steve:

We don't use it.

Steve:

We do it our own way.

Steve:

And I thought that was really

Steve:

interesting that they said that.

Steve:

And they were a hundred

Steve:

percent right.

Steve:

They didn't do anything.

Steve:

That I was learning in marketing.

Steve:

And so I actually take that into

Steve:

marketing teams now and I say to people,

Steve:

especially even on LinkedIn, make

Steve:

sure your marketing in the year we

Steve:

actually live in, doesn't matter what

Steve:

you've done before.

Steve:

Have a look at what the market's doing.

Steve:

Look who the creators are, look

Steve:

at the culture of things and make sure

Steve:

you are relevant in today's market.

Steve:

And a lot of people, especially with

Steve:

their LinkedIn, talk about the

Steve:

good old days.

Steve:

We're not on the good old

Steve:

days anymore.

Steve:

We wanted to work with leaders who

Steve:

are progressing ourselves and our

Steve:

brands forward.

Steve:

And that's what I love about where

Steve:

LinkedIn can place you in today's

Steve:

market because you can be talking about

Steve:

in your content what you are doing

Steve:

as a business professional and

Steve:

you've learned from those scars, but

Steve:

you are, you're looking forward and

Steve:

that's what people are looking at.

Steve:

One of the reasons, I dunno if you know

Steve:

this, but why is the emu and the

Steve:

kangaroo on our coat of arms is 'cause

Steve:

they're only two animals that only

Steve:

will go forward.

Steve:

They'll never go back.

Steve:

So I dunno if you know that, but

Steve:

that's what I love to see if people

Steve:

are progressing, not about the

Steve:

good old days.

Steve:

And once upon a time.

Steve:

Anthony Perl: I love that.

Steve:

And I vaguely remember hearing

Steve:

that somewhere once before.

Steve:

Maybe you told it to me.

Steve:

I can't remember.

Steve:

Okay.

Steve:

But I love that It is and it's

Steve:

interesting, isn't it?

Steve:

Because we are living in an age

Steve:

where the rate of change, I believe,

Steve:

is faster than it has ever been.

Steve:

Absolutely.

Steve:

The efficiencies that are being

Steve:

created from ai.

Steve:

In particular are allowing more

Steve:

space to do things.

Steve:

And I think that's one of

Steve:

the big areas.

Steve:

And when you talk about marketing,

Steve:

it's creativity, it's fresh ideas.

Steve:

That's the big space that marketing

Steve:

has an opportunity to really grow.

Steve:

And in fact, AI is not countering that.

Steve:

It's actually.

Steve:

Creating more opportunities for

Steve:

that to happen because the

Steve:

drudgery of what's in marketing, if I

Steve:

can call it that, where, things

Steve:

like placement of content or and

Steve:

generating reports and other things

Steve:

can now be much more efficiently.

Steve:

Done with some AI assistance.

Steve:

So I wouldn't say ai, do it on its

Steve:

own, don't do that.

Steve:

But you've got mo greater efficiencies

Steve:

in there, which allows more space

Steve:

to be creative because in the

Steve:

face of all of the AI and LinkedIn's

Steve:

a good example of that, the face of

Steve:

all the AI that has been used to

Steve:

publish content, the way to stand out.

Steve:

Is the uniqueness, your unique stories,

Steve:

creativity, fresh ideas, which again,

Steve:

I'm not, I don't wanna dwell back

Steve:

on Red Bull, but that's and Virgin

Steve:

is the same.

Steve:

They're always about fresh ideas

Steve:

and new things.

Steve:

It's, you've got to keep moving forward.

Steve:

Yeah.

Steve:

Red Bull was never about being

Steve:

a copying brand.

Steve:

It was always being a leading brand.

Steve:

And I used to sit on round tables

Steve:

with athletes and they'd basically,

Steve:

they'd have to come up with something

Steve:

in their category that had never

Steve:

been done before.

Steve:

So if you know that when the Red Bull

Steve:

air race happened, that came from

Steve:

the concept of downhill skiing.

Steve:

Going through the gates, but

Steve:

doing it through aerobatics and

Steve:

things like that.

Steve:

So they're always very progressive

Steve:

in the market.

Steve:

Red Bull was never about following.

Steve:

It was always about leading.

Steve:

And I take that into what I do every day.

Steve:

I'm always, I'm an early riser.

Steve:

I dunno, I think I think, but I'm up

Steve:

at three 30 every morning and I'm

Steve:

into the gym and I'm listening to two

Steve:

hours of the best podcast of business

Steve:

professionals and forward leading

Steve:

thinkers like Gary Vaynerchuk and

Steve:

Alex Mosey, and I'm listening to

Steve:

that every day for.

Steve:

The whole year.

Steve:

So whenever I come into my first

Steve:

meetings, I'm talking to clients,

Steve:

I'm energized.

Steve:

I'm like, this is what's happening,

Steve:

because I know that they're being bold

Steve:

in what they're doing and they're

Steve:

testing the market and I'm listening

Steve:

to what's happening and I'm relaying

Steve:

it to my clients.

Steve:

And that's one of the reasons that

Steve:

I'm doing so well in Mark at the moment

Steve:

because I'm paying attention to what's

Steve:

happening through leaders who are

Steve:

trying new things.

Steve:

Plus, there's a lot of great LinkedIn

Steve:

trainers out there.

Steve:

I'm listening to what they're doing.

Steve:

I'm sure they're listening to

Steve:

what I'm doing, but together.

Steve:

We're all help benefiting people's

Steve:

opportunity to understand how

Steve:

to use this platform LinkedIn

Steve:

in a day-to-day operation and be

Steve:

and to be better.

Steve:

1% every day.

Anthony Perl:

Yeah.

Anthony Perl:

And that's the key, isn't it?

Anthony Perl:

It's taking your influences and being

Anthony Perl:

on the edge and not being afraid

Anthony Perl:

to try things.

Anthony Perl:

I think for so long, business has been

Anthony Perl:

about what's my competition doing?

Anthony Perl:

And I better just match the

Anthony Perl:

competition or try and stay a

Anthony Perl:

little bit ahead.

Anthony Perl:

But I think you don't even almost

Anthony Perl:

have to pay attention to your

Anthony Perl:

competition anymore.

Anthony Perl:

It's about what you can do, what you can

Anthony Perl:

bring to the table, what ideas you have.

Anthony Perl:

And bringing the audience along with

Anthony Perl:

you, because there's still, and that's

Anthony Perl:

the interesting thing about brands

Anthony Perl:

these days, is you have to almost be

Anthony Perl:

like Apple has been for the longest

Anthony Perl:

time where they're, what they believe

Anthony Perl:

people will want in the future,

Anthony Perl:

not what they know they want now.

Steve:

Yeah.

Steve:

And also treating your customer,

Steve:

not as a customer, but as a

Steve:

community member.

Steve:

One of the brands I was working with

Steve:

for many years is LSKD, and they're

Steve:

an Australian brand out of Logan

Steve:

south of Brisbane.

Steve:

And they, every time they're across

Steve:

all their socials, they've got an

Steve:

engagement officer that when they

Steve:

post content and there's engagement,

Steve:

someone goes back as the brand and

Steve:

has a voice and consistently talks

Steve:

and nurtures that relationship.

Steve:

So they're not customers anymore.

Steve:

They're community members, and I love

Steve:

that about that brand and that they

Steve:

wear that brand in their heart whenever

Steve:

they're making a purchase decision,

Steve:

which is salience.

Steve:

That's why they're growing at an

Steve:

enormous rate.

Steve:

So the takeaway is don't treat people

Steve:

as customers.

Steve:

Treat them as your, as a community

Steve:

member or your big sister,

Steve:

to be honest.

Steve:

Go over and above every time you

Steve:

deal with someone.

Anthony Perl:

So let me put you on

Anthony Perl:

the spot and tell me about some of

Anthony Perl:

the brands that you, whether you've

Anthony Perl:

worked with them or not, that you really

Anthony Perl:

love at the moment.

Anthony Perl:

And I think what's important is that

Anthony Perl:

we can, as we have, we've talked about,

Anthony Perl:

big brands, but let's talk about

Anthony Perl:

some of the smaller brands because

Anthony Perl:

most of the people listening to us

Anthony Perl:

these days are probably part of a

Anthony Perl:

smaller brand and want to know what

Anthony Perl:

they can do to make a different, so

Anthony Perl:

what's inspiring you on some of

Anthony Perl:

those smaller levels that are

Anthony Perl:

making a difference?

Steve:

Look, I've obviously, I do

Steve:

love Red Bull on it and I do love

Steve:

Harley Davidson, some of the biggest

Steve:

brands in the world.

Steve:

But LSKD is one brand that's doing

Steve:

extremely well.

Steve:

There's so many that I can't really

Steve:

put a name to what they are 'cause

Steve:

I'm not following in directly.

Steve:

But anyone that's, giving it a

Steve:

good red hot go.

Steve:

That's the main thing.

Steve:

There's many brands out there that will

Steve:

come and go, but the ones that you know,

Steve:

have resilience, they're bold,

Steve:

they're willing to have a bit of a step

Steve:

in the dark about trying new things.

Steve:

That's what excites me mostly about

Steve:

brands in the market at the moment.

Steve:

Obviously Virgin's doing well.

Steve:

I just love brands that had that hero

Steve:

statement status of progressing

Steve:

forward even at the toughest times.

Anthony Perl:

Is it achievable for

Anthony Perl:

smaller brands?

Anthony Perl:

You're spending some, you're

Anthony Perl:

spending time going in to working

Anthony Perl:

with smaller businesses and

Anthony Perl:

dealing with them.

Anthony Perl:

Are the real takeaways that you

Anthony Perl:

can have from what some of those bigger

Anthony Perl:

guys are doing?

Anthony Perl:

Is it true that's actually in many

Anthony Perl:

respects, easier to be out there?

Anthony Perl:

For smaller brands because they don't

Anthony Perl:

have the bureaucracy and the level of

Anthony Perl:

decision making that needs to happen, but

Anthony Perl:

they may not have the, counted with

Anthony Perl:

the fact they may not have the budget.

Anthony Perl:

Few people would have the budget

Anthony Perl:

of a virgin or a red Bull in terms

Anthony Perl:

of marketing.

Steve:

Yeah social media's been the

Steve:

big equalizer because people don't

Steve:

have to have big advertising budgets.

Steve:

They can actually use their phone

Steve:

record content and upload it

Steve:

across those seven platforms.

Steve:

And if you do that every day and

Steve:

for long enough, you'll get noticed.

Steve:

Even if your product's good,

Steve:

you'll survive.

Steve:

And if it's not good, you

Steve:

won't survive.

Steve:

One of the good things about.

Steve:

The state of play at the moment on the

Steve:

internet is we've all got an equal

Steve:

opportunity to be seen and discovered.

Steve:

And so that's why it's important

Steve:

especially for LinkedIn, is to

Steve:

people not to post every now and then

Steve:

or frequent it.

Steve:

Every now and then, it's actually put a

Steve:

plan or a strategy in place to be

Steve:

on the platform and telling you

Steve:

your unique story.

Steve:

In a way that it's interesting in

Steve:

informing for the potential client,

Steve:

because most people with your product

Steve:

in market, only 3% are interested to

Steve:

buy now, but 97% are looking for

Steve:

trust value from you and your brand.

Steve:

And so across those seven platforms.

Steve:

Especially with LinkedIn and

Steve:

Facebook and Instagram, just

Steve:

keep showing up and being your authentic

Steve:

self and you'll be discovered.

Steve:

The main thing with providing content

Steve:

is when you do get pro content

Steve:

that actually starts to get some

Steve:

great impressions and that, and

Steve:

it's doing well.

Steve:

That's the time to boost it with some

Steve:

advertising spend and it's called

Steve:

brand format.

Steve:

And that way when it's working, you

Steve:

know it's working, you put some money

Steve:

behind it and it does well then

Steve:

you can get some really good return

Steve:

in advertising spend and revenue

Steve:

starts coming back in the other way.

Anthony Perl:

Yeah, I think that's

Anthony Perl:

important for people to understand

Anthony Perl:

that you can.

Anthony Perl:

Compete as a small business owner, you

Anthony Perl:

don't have to, in the past it was like

Anthony Perl:

we were dominated by big brands and felt

Anthony Perl:

dwarfed by them.

Anthony Perl:

But in truth, because of your

Anthony Perl:

ability to niche and to be quite targeted

Anthony Perl:

in what you do, and you're talking

Anthony Perl:

about, LinkedIn is a great way of.

Anthony Perl:

Being able to find who your, if you

Anthony Perl:

know who your core audience is, you

Anthony Perl:

can find those people on LinkedIn.

Anthony Perl:

It's not just about the old days where,

Anthony Perl:

there were three or four TV stations and

Anthony Perl:

you, your chance to was to advertise to

Anthony Perl:

absolutely everybody and hope that

Anthony Perl:

you hit the right program and spent a

Anthony Perl:

huge fortune on it.

Anthony Perl:

Nowadays it's become more and more

Anthony Perl:

targeted, right?

Anthony Perl:

And it doesn't have to be through

Anthony Perl:

advertising.

Anthony Perl:

You can engage with people in lots of

Anthony Perl:

different ways.

Steve:

Yeah, a lot of brands, smaller

Steve:

brands are using influencers now

Steve:

through social media and getting

Steve:

huge engagement by, user generated

Steve:

content from these young influencers

Steve:

because, TikTok and Facebook and

Steve:

Instagram, they're getting, hundreds

Steve:

of thousands of followers, and if

Steve:

you have your brand associated with

Steve:

them, you're getting eyeballs seen

Steve:

on your product.

Steve:

So the influencer market is becoming

Steve:

a big play within marketing.

Anthony Perl:

So tell me, when you

Anthony Perl:

go into businesses these days and

Anthony Perl:

you're performing this fractional

Anthony Perl:

role, how do you make an impact?

Anthony Perl:

And that seems like a, a a high

Anthony Perl:

level question, but it's, if there

Anthony Perl:

are people that are maybe a little bit

Anthony Perl:

cynical about what difference someone

Anthony Perl:

can come in and actually make, what

Anthony Perl:

is it that you can see as a difference?

Anthony Perl:

How do you, how does being independent

Anthony Perl:

and coming in on a regular basis, but.

Anthony Perl:

And a small way gonna work

Anthony Perl:

for businesses.

Steve:

Yeah, look, a bit of housekeeping.

Steve:

Number one, making sure on their

Steve:

website alone that nothing's

Steve:

broken, no links are broken, they're

Steve:

easily found.

Steve:

Also, have a look over their, all

Steve:

their pages on a website and see

Steve:

where they're actually letting

Steve:

the customer know where the pro, what

Steve:

the problem is that they actually solve.

Steve:

A lot of people on their websites

Steve:

go straight into the, the value

Steve:

proposition of their products and

Steve:

services, but they don't actually

Steve:

indicate to the potential buyer of

Steve:

the problem that they solve within

Steve:

their products and services.

Steve:

So that's number one.

Steve:

By having a look over your website

Steve:

and just seeing if it's actually

Steve:

speaking to the client that they've

Steve:

got the issue, that you have the

Steve:

problem that you, that they, that

Steve:

you solve for them.

Steve:

That's number one.

Steve:

Also, making sure that you

Steve:

do have a social marketing plan

Steve:

across the seven.

Steve:

Channels that we were talking about

Steve:

before, LinkedIn being one, if it's

Steve:

B2B and just looking what assets they've

Steve:

got within the business to see what

Steve:

they can profile.

Steve:

What's their unique value proposition?

Steve:

What do they have that no

Steve:

one else has?

Steve:

And that's a big part of just

Steve:

building a strategy out around that.

Steve:

The main thing is attention is the

Steve:

asset and whatever business you go

Steve:

to, the reason they're in business

Steve:

is because they're solving a problem

Steve:

or they've got a product that is

Steve:

value orientated and you just need to get

Steve:

that message out.

Steve:

To the people that need the product

Steve:

or services.

Steve:

So it's just some of the basic elements.

Anthony Perl:

Yeah, and I think it's,

Anthony Perl:

it is important that people don't

Anthony Perl:

underestimate the value of someone

Anthony Perl:

independent that's specializing in it.

Anthony Perl:

I think the beauty of these

Anthony Perl:

fractional roles that have started

Anthony Perl:

to come about and there's certainly

Anthony Perl:

marketing is one area, certainly

Anthony Perl:

finance is another.

Anthony Perl:

Where I've seen that happen and

Anthony Perl:

other parts of the business as well,

Anthony Perl:

is it allows to have someone who.

Anthony Perl:

Can have a consistent view of

Anthony Perl:

what's going on, but are not encumbered

Anthony Perl:

by the day to day and can add, high

Anthony Perl:

level strategic, ongoing advice.

Steve:

Absolutely.

Steve:

There's a sports brand I'm working

Steve:

with at the moment that's got

Steve:

an outstanding athletics product.

Steve:

And once that gets passed through

Steve:

an certification, IAF certification

Steve:

that's got go global distribution

Steve:

opportunities.

Steve:

There's a few things in place that have

Steve:

to happen with a rule change, but

Steve:

once that happens, this small business

Steve:

they'll be working with, who's going

Steve:

over to Germany in, in a couple

Steve:

of weeks will then have the opportunity

Steve:

to sell their product worldwide.

Steve:

And that's another challenge this

Steve:

business is going to have from a

Steve:

small business doing, product and

Steve:

service delivery around Australia,

Steve:

Australasia to the going worldwide.

Steve:

So that creates another challenge

Steve:

that they'll find.

Steve:

So it's about having those different

Steve:

moments in time where you're moving

Steve:

from one to the next challenge,

Steve:

overcoming that and then moving

Steve:

to the next.

Steve:

So it's working with someone like

Steve:

myself who's been with these brands

Steve:

where they've started off small

Steve:

and you got larger, and what some of

Steve:

the challenges we faced and how they

Steve:

might come overcome them as well.

Anthony Perl:

I think it is an

Anthony Perl:

important aspect that people

Anthony Perl:

don't realize.

Anthony Perl:

They often stay with the teams

Anthony Perl:

that they've got, that they've built

Anthony Perl:

them up through a period of time

Anthony Perl:

and they want to keep them there.

Anthony Perl:

But sometimes you've, you outgrow

Anthony Perl:

those people.

Anthony Perl:

And I know I've experienced it when

Anthony Perl:

I've been employed in the past, and

Anthony Perl:

I won't say where, but I remember,

Anthony Perl:

the particular organization I was

Anthony Perl:

with that we went through a growth

Anthony Perl:

phase and the CEO stuck around and

Anthony Perl:

I think it was to the detriment of

Anthony Perl:

the organization.

Anthony Perl:

Because as, as great as he was

Anthony Perl:

at getting us to a certain point, he

Anthony Perl:

wasn't really the person to take us

Anthony Perl:

to the next level.

Anthony Perl:

And I think that can happen within

Anthony Perl:

an organization as well.

Anthony Perl:

And you have to recognize

Anthony Perl:

those things.

Anthony Perl:

And sometimes it, it might not be

Anthony Perl:

that someone like that had to step

Anthony Perl:

aside, but it's bringing in the

Anthony Perl:

right people around to help make sure

Anthony Perl:

that you can take it to that next level.

Anthony Perl:

Because you do need that experience.

Anthony Perl:

You do need those people that

Anthony Perl:

understand what what it looks like

Anthony Perl:

on the other side.

Steve:

Yeah, absolutely.

Steve:

And, I can't remember the book,

Steve:

but it's get the right people on

Steve:

the bus and that's, getting the right

Steve:

people in the business that's

Steve:

gonna project you forward.

Steve:

And I'm noticing a lot of CEOs now

Steve:

are coming back into businesses

Steve:

and sitting on the development or in

Steve:

the marketing teams.

Steve:

To get more involved with

Steve:

what's happening.

Steve:

They're not sitting in that high element

Steve:

within a business.

Steve:

They're getting more ingrained

Steve:

with the business, and I think

Steve:

that's important.

Steve:

So they actually see how the business

Steve:

is operating from inside and

Steve:

they're part of everyday activity.

Steve:

I think that's a big part of the

Steve:

CEO's and also GM's role to have a

Steve:

look how the actual business is going

Steve:

in internally.

Steve:

Is everything cohesive and is

Steve:

the culture good?

Steve:

Most businesses struggle

Steve:

with culture.

Steve:

Anthony Perl: Yes, that is a

Steve:

big area and one we might delve

Steve:

into another time.

Steve:

I've got a couple of final questions

Steve:

I wanted to ask you.

Steve:

Give me some tips on what you believe

Steve:

is where things are going, not

Steve:

just LinkedIn, but generally in

Steve:

terms of marketing.

Steve:

Where do you think people need to be

Steve:

in terms of focusing their attention?

Steve:

Yeah, definitely spending

Steve:

one or two hours on every AI tool that

Steve:

they can see at the moment and getting

Steve:

familiar with it because technology

Steve:

doesn't care about, it's coming here

Steve:

and it's arrived.

Steve:

So getting familiar with the different

Steve:

AI tools and how they work

Steve:

and how to start looking at giving

Steve:

them commands.

Steve:

And also in regards to platforms

Steve:

like, LinkedIn, things like that.

Steve:

Getting familiar, how to navigate

Steve:

around them.

Steve:

They are a tool of trade and if you

Steve:

understand how to use them, they.

Steve:

They make your day a lot quicker

Steve:

to actually, do general tasks

Steve:

by communication and then posting

Steve:

and getting seen.

Steve:

It's interesting I believe with

Steve:

the advancement of ai, especially

Steve:

the way that it's coming so quick,

Steve:

what we believe to be happening now

Steve:

will be completely different in the

Steve:

next three years.

Steve:

I dunno what that's gonna look like.

Steve:

I'm excited for it.

Steve:

It's gonna be challenging.

Steve:

It's gonna be exciting, but we

Steve:

have to invest our time to understand

Steve:

what's coming at us.

Steve:

And one of the tools I'm playing around

Steve:

with at the moment, I said before is

Steve:

Notebook lm? And I think that's an

Steve:

amazing tool to have a look at and

Steve:

if your viewers can have a look at that

Steve:

and getting involved with that a bit

Steve:

more, it's a great tool to have as an

Steve:

association within your business.

Steve:

It

Steve:

Anthony Perl: is a fun tool.

Steve:

I know I used a little while back

Steve:

to do to consume a lot of my podcasts.

Steve:

And to do a bit of a review of it,

Steve:

which was really interesting because

Steve:

it delivered a conversational

Steve:

review of the biz Bites for Thought

Steve:

Leaders podcast, which was which

Steve:

was a bit of fun.

Steve:

Yes, if anyone's interested in that,

Steve:

maybe I need to find that video

Steve:

again and repost it.

Steve:

Absolutely you should.

Steve:

Yep.

Anthony Perl:

It's one of those things.

Anthony Perl:

Now just to wrap things up, a

Anthony Perl:

question that I love to ask all of

Anthony Perl:

my guests that come on the program is

Anthony Perl:

what are the aha moments that people

Anthony Perl:

have when they come to work with you

Anthony Perl:

that you wish more people knew they

Anthony Perl:

were going to have?

Steve:

That I give more than I take.

Steve:

So I'm very generous with my time.

Steve:

I sit on a lot of 15 minute calls.

Steve:

I give a lot of advice to people.

Steve:

Sometimes that turns into

Steve:

business, sometimes it doesn't.

Steve:

I can lay my head down at the end of

Steve:

the night and say that I gave it all

Steve:

my that day and tomorrow's gonna

Steve:

be a better day.

Steve:

And I love helping people and I love

Steve:

spending time that they can be

Steve:

better at what they're doing.

Steve:

And if I can just support that I'm a

Steve:

very happy person.

Steve:

Anthony Perl: Fantastic.

Steve:

I love that Steve.

Steve:

And we are gonna include all

Steve:

the details of how to get in

Steve:

contact with you.

Steve:

And people that are listening in

Steve:

can jump on one of those 15 minute

Steve:

calls with you.

Steve:

I know how much value you bring to

Steve:

those 15 minutes.

Steve:

And I encourage people if you have

Steve:

looking after groups of people as well.

Steve:

Steve is a great speaker to come in

Steve:

and add some real value to that.

Steve:

And lots of things that we didn't even

Steve:

touch on connected with LinkedIn

Steve:

and other areas.

Steve:

Such as my most trusted and a shout

Steve:

out to Scott and my most trusted as

Steve:

well, which is a great tool to add

Steve:

on to your LinkedIn profile and other

Steve:

things as well.

Steve:

So you can ask Steve about that as well.

Steve:

And or just hit me up as well

Steve:

because I can also introduce you to

Steve:

that particular one.

Steve:

But Steve, thank you so much for being

Steve:

an amazing part of the program, giving

Steve:

so much advice and tips and insights

Steve:

along the way.

Steve:

Really appreciate it.

Steve:

Thanks Anthony, and thanks

Steve:

for everything you are doing.

Steve:

I appreciate it and it's great having

Steve:

a platform like you that we can

Steve:

tell our stories.

Steve:

Anthony Perl: Absolutely.

Steve:

And we'll look, we encourage everyone

Steve:

to make sure you don't forget to

Steve:

subscribe and leave us a like

Steve:

or a comment on anything that you

Steve:

want to see on the program coming

Steve:

up in the future.

Steve:

And we look forward to your company next

Steve:

time on Biz Bites for thought Leaders.

Steve:

Thank you everyone.

Steve:

Hey, thanks for listening

Steve:

to Biz Bites.

Steve:

We hope you enjoyed the program.

Steve:

Don't forget to hit subscribe

Steve:

so you never miss an episode.

Steve:

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Steve:

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Steve:

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Steve:

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Steve:

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Steve:

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Steve:

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Steve:

We look forward to your company

Steve:

next time on biz.

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Biz Bites for Thought Leaders
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About your host

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Anthony Perl

Anthony is an engagement specialist, building a great catalogue of podcasts of his own and helping others get it done for them. Anthony has spent more than 30 years building brands and growing audiences. His experience includes working in the media (2UE, 2GB, Channel Ten, among others) to working in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors, and for the last 13 years as a small business owner with CommTogether. The business covers branding to websites - all things strategic around marketing. Now podcasts have become central to his business, finding a niche in helping people publish their own, making it easy.