Smart Brand Marketing with Tom Libelt
Smart Brand Marketing is Tom Libelt's company. His sub-head for his podcast of the same name, is "what we do, we do for ourselves". What is refreshing about Tom, is he does not dress up his own drive to make money with altruism.
Tom relies on the Internet
It was interesting to discuss what would happen if the internet just stopped working. Graham takes an irreverent view as per...
http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Without-The-Internet.mp4
Parent company
This is the parent company. Any products or services that Tom builds, he puts underneath that brand. So that makes it easy to shut down or sell off a sub-business without touching the parent company.
Acolytes of Dan Kennedy and David Ogilvy, less so Zig Ziglar!
Both Graham and Tom Libelt are acolytes of Dan Kennedy. In addition to Dan Kennedy, Tom cites David Ogilvy as a big inspiration too. Ogilvy's book is a must read for any aspiring marketer. You might find this article a good read, but go buy his book, settle down and read it.
Tom's reputation for being strongly opinionated, came out when he spoke about Zig Zigler!
http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Zig-Ziglar.mp4
Tom's Social Mission - Put Money in His Pocket
Zig Ziglar was right about one thing, according to Tom. Help others first and they'll help you. He focuses on getting results for his clients, but with a view to enriching Smart Brand Marketing.
Half a Crown a Week!
Kevin Appleby admitted to receiving half a crown weekly from his Grandfather as a nipper. So, The Next 100 Days, is a story of the haves and have nots.
Instinct for Business - What a tale this is!
http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Instinct-For-Business-at-6-Years-Old.mp4
Imagine being 6 year old and being part of an international smuggling operation. Your job, if you choose to accept it, is to scream loudly on the back seat to distract the Polish border security checks!
International smuggling was really a political choice, Tom explained. His Dad was never going to join the Communists (good thing too) and so the alternative was to hustle to survive. His parents wanted a legal, normal way of making money, which is why they chose to move to America.
When Tom arrived in the States, he saw a lot of people hustling, but for others, and really getting nowhere. He worked a number of jobs. In sales. Once he was confident, he realised it was time to run his own business.
The Logic For Going Online Rather Than Bricks n Mortar
Tom invested in a couple of Bricks n Mortar businesses. The second, a coffee shop. Which meant he was serving food. And that meant, licenses and inspections and staff wages. The metrics were 75% outgoings and 25% margin for him. Not good maths from Tom's perspective.
By getting rid of the overhead, Tom thought it would be 75% for him. And that's what happened. Once he moved to the internet his profit margin has always been between 60-80%.
Initially, Tom offered SEO services. SEO back then was low barrier of entry, so he used his sales skills. Everyone he spoke to locally wrote him a cheque to get their businesses ranked.
He was successful at helping niche businesses get ranked, but he learned a new lesson. If you rely on platforms, it's not much better than a brick n mortar setting.
http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Brick-n-Mortar-Platforms.mp4
Do You Have Platform Risk?
That's where you build up a business on a particular platform THAT YOU DO NOT CONTROL and that platform delists you, or something similar. Tom recommended Convertkit for email marketing. Kevin uses the same email marketing platform.
http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Platform-risk.mp4
Why Does Tom Podcast?
The short answer is that it makes introductions for him that he'd otherwise not get.
He always looks for different angles in his business.
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