How using a spokesperson in their marketing has proved invaluable for Terrain Tamer 4WD | #403

Brent

We do. We do. It’s funny enough they’re not the customer your targeting. Your target in our industry, the aspirational are the one that actually does the work and the aspirational ones follow. So even though they might actually be a bigger part of the market, they’re not the ones that, they end up being, they end up following I guess.

Tim

Well I’ve been guilty of owning a couple of Range Rovers and I might have gone on to an unsealed road. That’s all.

Brent

Was it fully equipped to do everything?

Tim

Look, I don’t embarrass myself too much, mate. But I did. Gosh I wish I’d known you back then. They did used to the airbags, the suspension airbags. My gosh, I’d wake up in the morning look out the window just to see if it was you know sitting on its haunches or is actually still upright. You guys have come a long way Terrain Tamer four-wheel drive. Describe the content marketing that you’re really focusing on these days.

Brent

I hear the word described in your podcast quite often and which is terrific and it’s probably something that’s.

Tim

What word?

Brent

Content, Content, Content and something that we’ve done for over 10 years now. So, we’ll probably a little bit ahead of the curve particularly early but essentially, we were preparing videos, educational videos that we found or try to make humorous and enjoyable that people would then get on to and start learning about rebuilding their full drive and then obviously using training time apart all the way through them. We’re able to educate our customer base that we had the parts and what they could do with them.

Tim

So that was your original stuff, you were doing these DVD with Alan this old fellow putting them in four-wheel drive magazines. I remember in their first interview, the magazine needed you more than you needed the magazine which was a great place to be for a small business. But you’ve extended that now so you’ve still got, you very much video focused. You’ve got to ask Alan who’s a wonderfully funny character and just like you know given to you, what a gift to get us a four-wheel drive company but you’ve extended that right? You’ve got ask Alan Junior, explain what you’ve got because it’s a suite of videos.

Brent

Yeah there’s over 100. So, we do a different series each year and to try and take it to the next level is never easy. Here we sit down and how do we take this to the next level. So, we had junior ask Alan Terrain tamer with the Apprentice where we took on two young female apprentices just because they were the best not because they were female and then we had some grey nomads in there called master class and more recently, which is in the last 12 months, we found a young lady in outback Australia where a lot of our customers were. And her name was Jillaroo Jess and she had a Facebook page and quite a following that we didn’t really know about when we first started working with it and so it’s called trying to it meets Jillaroo Jess and we rebuild her 70 series Land Cruiser and have a lot of fun doing it.

Tim

So you really have gone down and you did from day one, video content strategy supported by a spokesperson, right? Which is really interesting because I have a lot of small business owners come up to me and say listen you’re talking about content you’re saying you know Timbo, you’re saying put yourself out there, become an opinion leader, a key person of influence but I’m not comfortable with it. Some would say, I don’t want to be in front of the camera or behind the microphone and having a spokesperson is an alternative and that’s clearly worked for you.

Brent

It has a little bit by accident and a little bit by design. So Alan was a long term employee of ours. He’s been with us for 20 years and for 20 years before that was the workshop next to us that helped us with our in-day and his early videos were terrible, you know by himself.

Tim

Just like these early episodes of this podcast.

Brent

And we have all come a long way.

Tim

Can I just pause and say that anyone listening to this who wants to embark on this kind of strategy, early stuff is going to be pretty average and that stops so many people. But how else can you improve unless you start slow.

Brent

So if we put the camera on in front of him he was by himself. He was terrible. He would get into a monologue but as soon as we had someone with him it became a conversation and he’s quite a naturally funny guy at the age of now maybe three. A lot of people say oh that’s the highest risk strategy of all time but for us, the bigger risk was not to take a punt and not to do these videos and we’ve had a lot of fun along the way so in this case we’ve introduced another character Jillaroo Jess.

Tim

Okay, hold the thought of Jillaroo. When you say another person with Alan who is this other person, is that someone off camera?

Brent

No, off camera doesn’t work. I tried being that other person and that didn’t work either so we put someone with him. So, we’ve changed it a few times in more recent episodes we’ve put his nephew in there and we got that idea from the TV show good chef, bad chef. So Alan did everything old school and non IHNS. And Andrew Grey, his nephew who’s very, very good mechanicing own right was very much about doing things safely and more modern and also gave a fresh approach to the brand. So there, a dynamic and interaction created a little bit more color.

Tim

Again, finding these people who can actually represent themselves, well on video. So Alan is made for it. Clearly his nephew is cut from the same cloth

Brent

Yes, he keeps getting better and better each year that we do it and. And I just discovered Andrew we went for driving on weekend and he was so passionate and I thought we’ll have a trial and like anything we did one episode and it went okay and we did two and it got a bit better. And so now they look forward to it every year they ring me and say, Okay when are we going away next and when can we start.

Tim

Well so what you’re doing is, because there’s two ways of doing this. I say to people you want to start a video strategy get your iPhone out and do a quick video. Great place to start. You have gone so many levels above that we have got very high production values, and you know you sort of subscribe to the thinking of do less but do very high quality. Is that what you’re doing?

Brent

True and sometimes I do look at a lot of people putting videos up every week but I think the world’s changed in the last, particularly the last two or three years where there’s so much of that, that we’ve got to find a way to stand out. And for us, you’re right we started with DVDs and magazines and we moved away from that but we got probably some good confidence out of that to go and then do our own. So we owned all the content and it’s a very high, high quality but there’s not really too many places in our industry where you can get such high quality, free of charge without subscribing and paying moneys as a subscriber. So that’s our strategy and eventually it all leads back to Terrain Tamer and is of great benefit to the company.

Tim

Well I’m very interested to know how all these fancy beautiful, they’re funny, they’re full of story all these videos, how they actually convert into sales, but hold it, keep that till later. Let’s explore one example which is Jillaroo Jess. So again, listener’s I mean we’re talking about video here. So Brent and I will try to be as you know, colorfully describe these things as we can but you’ve got a series of videos which you’ve just embarked on with Jillaroo Jess who’s a truck driver, correct And you have chosen her to be a spokesperson for your brand. How did you find her?

Brent

From her tracking videos. So she had a trucking video that went viral and I can hear you referring in your podcast about viral videos. And this is someone who has been riding in different forms and more recently in Facebook and now into other social media for probably seven or eight years. So she’s built up but overnight, 12 months ago or 18 months ago, she did a video that went viral about trucking safety. Yeah.

Tim

It’s very funny. Let’s describe that because again, viral videos, we all want one but all she did was walk around a bloody big truck. It sorts of facetiously saying you know these are very heavy, very hard, you don’t want to be hit by one, these big tires and kind of half funny half serious right

Brent

Yeah. She says it comes down to sarcasm but also the magic happened because she was just cut off moments before by a Ford driver. And so she gets out her phone and takes everyone through a tour of a truck explaining how big and hard they are to navigate, so don’t go scooting on the inside lane to try and beat the truck and you know she’s got a lot of lives of cattle or sheep in that case to care for and also truck drivers are human people. I personally think that video should be shown to every driver on their learner’s permit because I now have a second thought about passing a truck and making sure everything’s safe before I do so.

Tim

Yeah good point. So you found her through that video. You approached her, what was the approach

Brent

So I could see she had plenty of spunk and character and that’s all we needed with Alan. So I just simply murder a Facebook message and said Hi Jess my name is Brent, this is a little bit random.

Tim

I’m not weird.

Brent

Yeah, I’m sure she gets plenty of those. And I’m sure it was weird.

Tim

Quite attractive truck driver.

Brent

Yes, she’s terrific. She’s got plenty of character and comes across with all of that through the videos but what vehicle you drive and she came back and said I drive a 70 series Lancashire’s which is our prime customer base. And so from that point I explained what we do and we would like to call it Terrain Tamer strong or make a vehicle Terrain Tamer strong. Would she be of interest and every step of the way, it was very random for her because she actually at the time was working on a cattle station that’s the size of a small country in the Pilbara. It’s an enormous station and so she drives a truck seasonally and then works at a cattle station seasonally and mustering and also.

Tim

She is taking so many boxes for you, you haven’t had a female as spokesperson? She’s got your dream four-wheel drive as her personal car. She probably loves to talk. We’d talk you’d like to talk.

Brent

Yeah, she was interesting because she essentially represented the customer but she could give as much as she got from Alan as well and Andrew was there as well. But we literally all got in planes flew to Perth and then to Karratha and she meet us at the airport and said okay let’s get started. I didn’t think this was actually going to happen but for a week we filmed and we had a lot of fun and we had drones in the air and you know cameramen and an audio man and a producer and we all just had a lot of fun for a week and put the series together.

Tim

Wow okay. So many questions there Brent. I’d like just digressing. You have a phrase Terrain Tamer Strong, I like that. Is that something you’ve coined that is basically the outcome of being a customer of yours

Brent

And it’s fairly recent, it’s six months old. I like it as well. I think Jess actually referred to on social media the other day and I kind of liked someone else using it and I think it’s good because our parts aren’t seen on the outside of the vehicle so it’s hard for people to say, oh look it has a Terrain Tamer part because we’re all about keeping the vehicle strong underneath the gearbox and driving.

Tim

I think it’s a branding model called the powerhouse. House of brands has a brand, brand it House and the power house has one like Intel inside or you know your milk or your vital bits has got a heart tick on it right. That’s an endorsement. I can see Terrain Tamer strong being almost like a stamp that you can somehow, you know put on everything you do.

Brent

Yeah, yeah, my mind’s thinking as you say that.

Tim

Yeah. Thank you. All right. I love that phrase. Okay so you fly to Karratha. I just think I feel like there’s something in between there. You can’t just post a Facebook message and then hop on a plane to Karratha because what you are doing is you’re about to sign up someone to represent your brand. Did you do it for the checks, did she check you out, did you agree on a fee? How much was it, is there a contract

Brent

There’s a lot of questions and they’re good. I think with every relationship particularly someone that’s going to represent your brand, there’s a huge element of risk. And I think you need to feel comfortable every step of the way. And with Jess because you’re right I had to talk to her probably fortnightly and go through things and being a truck driver or on a station often she was out of mobile range and she would have to go to the top of a hill to give me a call back. And so there’s a whole lot of challenges but she was very fair and clear and honest all the way through. I felt really comfortable all the way through. We did sign a contract to make sure we could use her.

Tim

Is that a contract you’ve had drawn up by solicitor?

Brent

It is. It was pretty simple it was a one page. And I went through it with her and she had some questions and we changed some things at her request which was fine. And so essentially you have to be comfortable with the person but to be honest it started out as something small and I allowed it to get larger because it worked so well to the point where it was never meant to be called Terrain Tamer Meets Jillaroo Jess. Yes, but as we discussed it and I talk to her about it. It was just a great benefit. I say both brands, I guess both people.

Tim

Not both brands, One’s a personal brand one’s a business brand.

Brent

Yeah. So I would like to think it helped her just as much as it help to us and she’s been comfortable in that niche and.

Brent

Upfront before you flew to the Pilbara to Karratha and spent a week shooting stuff, did you have a list of like, this is what we want from you Jess in return for..

Brent

Yeah. So, one great thing is we need a project vehicle that we’re building. So then there’s literally thousands of dollars’ worth of parts it goes on. I remember very early on, her comment was you know I’d say what’s important to you. And take essentially like nine days of your time and we were up at sunrise and down at sunset so it’s a huge amount of work for someone let alone using their image and everything. And she said my vehicle is my pride and joy. I said, well great you’ve come to the right place because we can make it Terrain Tamer strong. And so that would benefit her far more than it would benefit someone off the CBD of Melbourne for instance. So then we just we talk, we get this contract in place, we map out the episodes. We always try and do one or two extra because there’s always things that go right or wrong during the shoot. But look, it went pretty well other than it being you know 35-40 degrees

Tim

So I don’t know whether you can reveal how much you paid her but I think it’s really interesting for you know, a small business looking for a spokesperson. Was there a payment or was it just getting her car a Terrain Tamer Strong?

Brent

Really to be honest, it was getting her car a Terrain Tamer Strong. And that was of great benefit to her. And like I said it’s and it’s probably worth a lot more to her than the average person. For us it’s good because it’s product. And then as we go further you know, we’ve had her at full drive shows and so then we discuss a monetary fee that she’s comfortable with it’s pretty fair and reasonable. And as we go forward, you know I think her brand is growing stronger and stronger so it’s better for us to be associated with it and have more benefits so it will grow over time depending on where we go to.

Tim

So you got there, you shoot a series of videos which I think you’re onto as we speak now the second one has been released is that right? So describe these videos for the listener.

Brent

So they go for about seven or eight minutes and they’re educational but there’s a lot of good humour. We allow, you know that it’s probably good for our brand, oh it is good for our brand. But also, Alan being 83 and Andrew being a very good mechanic in his own right are able to teach Jess a lot of things along the way. She gets her hands dirty, but is not afraid to ask the silly questions along the way which is great because so many of our customers would love to ask those questions or hear their responses and so we make the vehicle strong. We listen to her about what the challenges are. She’s Off-Road most of the time because I think her driveway was six kilometers long so we’re not talking about something that you know you pull into it. She made reference to voting and it had been raining a lot so she couldn’t get down the driveway without tearing it up because it’s so muddy but she had to vote or she would get fined. And you know, you think about these people in outback in Australia. MALCOLM TURNBULL understands that the effort to vote, even to get, you can just put it in the letterbox, you’ve got to get to town to post it. It’s not that easy but these were great challenges that we came across and helped to make our vehicle strong with stronger suspension.

Tim

So that’s the outcome is it. So Alan and nephew what’s his name? Andrew go in and this time Jess is the customer so to speak and you work with her and her vehicle to get it Terrain Tamer Strong. So she’s there to represent your ideal customer

Brent

Yeah great. And look there’s even a backdrop to that, that traditionally as an industry, we’ve been relying on mining and there’s no secret that Australia is going to be the food bowl of Asia for the next couple of decades at least. And so touching base with that rural customer is really not easy and really important for us you know for a long-term strategy and you’ll be amazed how connected they are on social media. Even more connected than we are in the city because they have to because they’re so remote. So to have a spokesperson like that using a vehicle that’s ideal helps us really touch into those customers in outback Australia.

Tim

A lot of people listening going, oh the spokesperson strategy sounds interesting but you mentioned before there’s a lot of risks associated with it. You know, as the person responsible, do you just go, okay well balance of probabilities, we’ve checked her out, she seems reasonable. She could go off and get drunk and have a terrible accident. That’s a risk I suppose. Risks of she could bad mouth you if you did something wrong or I mean how do you kind of just go, you know what I’m cool with that I’m comfortable with it. I’m going to take that risk.

Brent

Well I have a comment in our marketing is not to be vanilla. So we can all sit back and not take a risk and really, we’re a family owned business so that’s our great advantage overall the publicly listed companies is they would never do that. I remember saying that to Jess. I said oh look probably a risk could be that one of the listed companies would come in and offer you 10 times the price you know because I’m sure you’ll be worth it. And she said you can tell those guys that wily old 83-year-old mechanics and it was a term crazy redheads are in short supply. So it was certainly something that is a risk.

Tim

So what do you saying the big companies wouldn’t do. Because they’re employing spokespeople all the time.

Brent

They are. But I’m sure when making those decisions, they have to go through a number of checks.

Tim

Oh yeah there’ll be a lot of meetings.

Brent

Yes. And so you’ve got to then justify because they’d be what if things go wrong. I’m always thinking what if things go right. What if this goes yeah. And so suddenly we can do something that really, really non-vanilla and essentially, you’re trying to stand out in a crowded place not just in our industry but across all the social media content or ads. For me we’ve got to find ways to stand out and it’s worked well. And like I said, we took baby steps initially and it’s grown into actually we’re planning the next TV series with Jess.

Tim

TV?

Brent

Well we call it Terrain Tamer TV because we do manage to slide it in to within a show in Foxtel called Full drive pro tips. So you know we’re an advertiser on that show and say We’ve supplied that content and as part of that package they look forward the same

Tim

Let’s talk about that. So what we’ve got so far is you’ve gone up, you shot a series of videos with Jillaroo Jess in her hometown, they go on YouTube as a play list which is Terrain Tamer and Jillaroo Jess, that box has ticked but now, what you are doing is repurposing as much as you can getting as much mileage, excuse the pun, out of these YouTube videos that the kind Australian one of these ways is go and knock on the door of a TV show on pay TV.

Brent

That’s right and that’s where the magic happens. We actually call it TerrainTamer.TV. So that is a page within our website. But suddenly you are crossing a line into being a media provider and really the advertisers don’t know how to categorize us because they love the content. If you watch one episode, it’s not very advertorial you know. But for me it’s far more powerful than someone sitting up there saying you know this is the latest and the greatest. And so suddenly when we introduce, we also went to our events so we do a number of forward drive shows around Australia and we went to one of the groups and we said we’d like to talk about it, the making of it. And I said great, we’ll put you up on stage. So suddenly it was Jillaroo Jess and Alan Gray from Terrain Tamer TV. And I was able to introduce them and they were telling funny stories of working together and what it was like and suddenly you cross into the media space. So suddenly they’re no longer part of our company and that they are part of a Terrain Tamer TV, of which you know there’s over 100 videos that go back 10 years and then you go into a different category altogether.

Tim

So let’s understand that blurred line because I love that blurred line. Here you are as a business creating engaging, helpful, entertaining content that at the end of the day is there to sell. Not creating art, there is a commercial reality, right? Call to action at the end, visit Terrain Tamer four-wheel drive, buy our stuff, correct? And now then you go off and you find people who would like that content like the four-wheel drive show and pay TV who are like, his intention is to promote his brand but he’s giving us this real content that we could really use as editorial.

Brent

You’re right and it is a blurred line and they don’t know where to put it. I actually contacted Virgin Australia because I caught the flight from Karratha with all these miners.

Tim

Listening to this show I hope.

Brent

Yeah, I’m sure they were but they only have a limited time and so I said, well our show only go for five minute so if the plane is on to sense they can quickly watch an episode and they didn’t know how to put it and they came back with a no. And then they kind of came back with a half yes and at the moment we’re trying to at the moment it’s probably no but we’re getting into that field of how far and why can we really stretch this. And like I said Woman’s Day did an article on Jess and mentioned how Terrain Tamer TV came and filmed this TV show so suddenly it was a double page spread and that was interesting. And then we sent out some boxes and some posters and puns as you’ve seen in two different places.

Tim

Well let’s just understand that again visual we’re looking at it now but it’s a cut out board of the two boys and Jess and with a palm underneath which you send to five hundred four-wheel drive service centres around Australia.

Brent

That’s right and actually Alan’s a bit of a wordsmith and I knew he was quite good at Palm so I got him to write it and it’s quite entertaining and a bit of a laugh and it’s very carefully branded. You know it’s not in your face, a great deal is designed to be a little bit of entertainment when someone’s at an auto parts store and they can see that something’s happening at Terrain Tamer TV and there’s often five minutes gap while the person goes and picks the part and so they on their phone they can have a look and that gets them hooked and gets them amongst it and it’s a little bit of fun on the way.

Tim

Put a photo of that in the notes to this episode. What, in terms of repurposing, how much of it is the YouTube, is the show on YouTube, the playlist on YouTube versus all the repurposing in terms of effectiveness? Is it the repurposing that really gets you excited or it’s actually just getting the show up on YouTube?

Brent

It’s the repurposing cause that’s endless. So that is certainly exciting. I mean we’re on iTunes so you know we load them on iTunes and so people can follow which is useful for people travelling around Australia because often they’re out of range. But finding ways to utilize, we also play them in each one of our stores. So people walk to the front counter and they’re playing them along. We have email outs. I heard you say that was quite old school but an e-mail going out.

Tim

No, I don’t mind e-mail. Probably did so it’s old school nothing wrong with. I made it less and less. I think e-mail a good e-mail still get noticed.

Brent

Well I’ll tell you one thing that is old school. We actually created a DVD and post that to each one of our subscribers. We have about 3000 subscribers like retail people that have gone to the effort to fill in their details and I always feel, you know when you’re a subscriber, you want to receive something. So not only do they get the email but they get a physical DVD plus a little booklet from Alan on how to look after your vehicle and so many people come up to me at a show and say I received that DVD last year and it’s fantastic and I show them my little kids and it helps them again travelling around Australia. They’re often out of range but they might have a DVD player and it’s a message across.

Tim

I don’t mind that old school stuff you know. Why not. I mean I would imagine you know picking your audience people who are in four-wheel drive service centres probably are very old school.

Brent

They are. We as an industry, we are slow to respond which is great for us because you can then stand out amongst others in the industry. But also, you don’t get much mail these days. And I’ll tell you one thing, it’s interesting I actually personally write to each one of our stockist to keep me informed and I hand write the letter. And some may even comment and say, I haven’t received a handwritten letter in years and so by taking an extra couple of minutes, people that are very important to our business and help the whole wheel turn can be really, really important.

Tim

Again, yeah love the old handwritten letter. How many are you writing?

Brent

When we have a new stock. I ask for every staff members, often they’ll have let’s say five or seven members and so will hand write a letter to each one.

Tim

Wow. Hundreds?

Brent

I’ll do a couple of way. Oh, let’s say half a dozen a week and it might take 10 minutes but it’s certainly in my mind, it’s one way to make an impact.

Tim

So okay Brent we’ve got these videos, you’re repurposing, you’re finding yourself at four-wheel drive shows, you’re getting editorial in magazines, your profiles grow and Jess’ grow and I think you said that you quantified it by saying each if you’ve got an extra 10,000 fans on Facebook as a result of the series? That’s right.

Tim

That’s good. Okay where’s the money

Brent

So we’re very fortunate because you watch media companies put together series like this and then they’ll charge you sixty dollars for a pack of a DVD or digitally downloaded content. We can justify it by increase in sales. So when we look at say Facebook, we have I think over 270,000 views on Facebook alone of the most recent one which was all about suspension. So suddenly you need to increase that suspension category. And I watch it quite closely because I know that episode is about suspension and then I’m watching that suspension does it grow. And I’m pleased to say suspension sales are up 20 to 25 percent. And so then I can justify it and everyone back in the office can say, okay this is making an impact. I then look for what’s around me is changing and stories and is Alan’s profile growing? Is Jess’? And Jess rang me only a few weeks ago and said This lady in Karratha, her old home town came up and said, you’re Jillaroo Jess from Terrain Tamer not Jillaroo Jess from Jillaroo Jess. So suddenly you’re making an impact that’s on the other side of the country with people within that community in that target.

Tim

But I want to understand because again, there’s a lot of cynical business owners out there. Some who are listening that go, It’s great. He’s creating these beautiful videos, they’re funny, you got all that. How does a suspension go up 25 percent? Because you know, the videos are the very soft sell. I think the call to action at the end is visit Terrain Tamer Four Wheel Drive dot com dot au or something to that effect. There’s no product, there’s no price, there’s no buy this, is there

Brent

So we deal, our currency is trust. So in the aftermarket, first of all you’ve got to be aware of us. So a number of people watching this would never have known that our suspension range exists. So we’re increasing that substantially. Secondly, it’s trust. And so we have an 83 year old mechanic who worked on the very first land cruiser that arrived in the country 60 years ago. That’s how far he goes back and he’s teaching them the ins and outs of suspension, showing Terrain Tamer suspension parts and quite unassumingly pointing out key features that we’ve developed and quite innovative features that have led the industry in small areas. And then we do some product testing so we’re showing that Jess’ vehicle is the difference between what it was and what it is is super strong, so suddenly you’re creating that but you’re right there’s an undercurrent there that it is aware and then it’s trustworthy. And then once that customer goes to choose suspension, whether it’s in 12 months or 12 years the Terrain Tamer is top of mind. So I know you’d love to say for every dollar I spend, I received four dollars back but as I noted in a couple of your podcast recently, marketing is about so many parts. It’s really hard for us to departmentalize it and say okay we spend it all here and we made three dollars here but certainly it is a core part of our marketing strategy for the next 12 months.

Tim

Well music to my ears I mean I know there are marketers out there who got it down to the point of they spend a dollar on Facebook and they get 10 back and I get that. And that’s a secret formula and you know one day will expose all the standard and happy days. But marketing is hard to compartmentalize and you know, a little bit here a little bit. I always say I won and won at the end of the day I was 11 when it comes to marketing because one of your ideas alone is just a little idea. But when you do a whole lot of them now you’ve got a whole lot of play lists all sorts of different videos out there plus everything else you’re doing it adds up to a very big impact and a brand that you must be very proud of.

Brent

Yeah and look, it is marketing and art or is it a science?

Tim

Oh jeez! Bring in the experts!

Brent

And is our strategy for the next five minutes or for the next 10 years. Remember we’ve been doing this for 10 years. Just this morning I received an inquiry from Botswana and I asked him how he found it. He says he was watching Terrain Tamer TV. Now that customer for all we know over the next 20 years could spend a million dollars with us. Now am I going to say well that X amount of dollars we spent in 2017 equated to a huge amount of money over the next 20 years, it’s really hard to put together. But at the start of each year I know how much money, again we’re a family owned business so we don’t have exponential income coming in that we can suddenly just write off to marketing and no one has to justify everything. But I also share a lot of the winds along the way with everyone in the staff. And that’s really important because I’m sure there’s a lot of accountants and lawyers that go, hang on a second what’s this expense. And so if I can share that, then they can see the momentum and then you hear the stories coming back to you. And funny one I’ll just share with you quickly. Alan, you know is an auto mechanic that was with us for a long time no one knew about. Suddenly over the last 10 years, people write to us all around the country and his wife took his vehicle for a drive only a few months ago in the local supermarket and the lady saw his vehicle who was serving at the checkout chick and said, see that vehicle there, that’s a famous man called Alan Grays and Alan’s wife Sylvia said, Oh really. She said, yeah very famous, my boys and my husband, they watch every one of his videos and so she said, Oh I actually know him quite well. She said really you know him well until she said yes, I know him so well that occasionally I even sleep with him. And the woman was beside herself thinking oh my gosh who is this. And but suddenly you know, that’s something that Alan would come back and tell me that would never have heard of five or 10 years ago.

Tim

Oh, it’s a great story and you got to start somewhere. As you say, you know you don’t know the Botswana inquiry, you don’t know whether it was a recent video we watched or one that you’d created five years ago and I think anyone listening to this, you got to embark on some content, you’ve got to start creating your own media platform. If you don’t want to be in it, then find a spokesperson. I’m glad we’ve had this conversation because it’s a kind of strategy that we haven’t kind of uncovered before at least kind of gone into detail on this and it is absolutely valid.

Brent

Yeah and like I said, not to be vanilla is not easy. It’s much easier to be safe and okay, put the product up there but to create character and flair it means and like you said only six episodes over 12 months so we release them every two months. Everyone wants them every week. And yeah, we’re trying to go deeper with the customer rather than throw too many messages at them at once.

Tim

Yeah and just to finish up Brent it must create, I’m going to use the word energy. I’m going to get all woo woo on everyone but it must create a certain energy and vibe inside of your business with your 135 staff knowing that they’re part of this brand that is really engaging and entertaining and much more than just a price and a product.

Brent

Yeah it makes it makes them proud. I mean I was talking to one of our senior managers and he was at a party only a few months ago and Ron Barassi was at this party and he loves football and he is just five feet from Ron Barassi to go and say hello and have a chat to him and a bloke stopped him and he said you work at Terrain Tamer, aren’t you? And he said oh yeah happened to be. Ron Barassi’s out there. Can you tell me about Alan Grey and Terrain Tamer? I watch all your videos. I’ve got your suspension and look can I just talk to you about your stirring. And he said, I’m at this party, I want to talk to Ron Barassi and this bloke wouldn’t leave me alone for an hour and in the end, I didn’t get to talk to Ron Barassi. And he was rapt because this guy was more excited or as excited as he was. But you’re right, it creates its own momentum and a lot of excitement and something that they probably wouldn’t get elsewhere.

Tim

Good on you Brent. I didn’t get clear how much a video cost you. What are you spending

Brent

Look, when you factor in everything, we would spend ten thousand dollars on a video. And like I said that would be, that goes for say eight minutes and seen 250,000 times but we would more than then substantially increase suspension as a great example than that figure. And I know that in fact short term. So then when we look long term then it’s well worth it. But like he said it’s only as good as far and wide as you can push it. If we sat back and thought, I will do all the work itself then it wouldn’t be of great benefit. If we can get it into every platform we can and even push the likes of Virgin Australia. Then it suddenly becomes a really, really big

Tim

A great point to finish on market your marketing. You got it. Hey buddy where do people find these videos

Brent

So TerrainTamer.TV is the easiest and if they subscribe, they’re first to see it and really whatever media they like to digest their videos from iTunes or Twitter or Facebook.

Tim

Brent thanks for coming back and sharing your story mate, it’s a great one.

Brent

No worries, Tim. It’s exciting and it’s great to follow yourself and your journey as well.