Breakfast with the Experts

DISRUPTIVE BUSINESS MODELS

& GROWTH HACKING@RICCentre

#GYBDisruptive2015

June 4, 2015

RIC Centre is a member of

Growing Your Business: Disruptive Business Models and Growth Hacking

RIC Centre

By: Jordan Whelan, Grey Smoke Media

Agenda

• My Background

• Grey Smoke Media

• Our Paper Life

• Framestr

• Lessons in Disruption

My Background

• Radio: Newstalk 1010 , Virgin Radio, Sirius XM

• Newspaper: Huffington Post, Toronto Sun & Syndicated

• TV: FOX Networks

• Founder: Grey Smoke Media- Diamond and Diamond, John Tory for Mayor

• Founder: Our Paper Life – Cardboard Design Firm

• Founder: Framestr.com – E-commerce reimagined

Current Sad Media State – Birth of Grey Smoke

• Overworked, Underpaid media employees, Mass layoffs

• Decreased Revenue

• Click Bait, Regurgitation of Content

• Paid Promotion/Sponsored Content

• Heavy influence of PR firms/Corporate $

• Newspapers with a business model on a house of cards

• Saturation of the Internet – Junk/Spun Content

Grey Smoke Media

• Team of Ex-Media Reporters, Journalists an Editors

• “How the Sausage is Made”• Reverse Engineering the Process of Media • All-encompassing

Step 1 Paid

Step 2 Earned

Step 3 Digital

Lost ROI through Single Agency Firms

Black Magic in Media

The Ultimate Media Marketing

Ashley Madison

The Bad

The Digital Age

• SEO (Backlinks, Guest Posting, Social Media Activity, On-site activity)

• Contextual Links in bought media

• Requesting links from earned media

• Page 11 to Page 1 in 5 Weeks (Search Boost)

Cardboard Furniture?

Slow Start… & B2B Shift

• High Shipping Costs

• High Acquisition Costs

• Awareness Problem

Room in a Box

• Market Research• SEO Benefits

Building a

Store

Lack of

Interest from

Bloggers

Limited Traffic

and Promotion

Seller, Listing

and Member

Fees

Case study: Our Paper Life does not have the resources or digital

acumen to compete with well established players. How do they

grow?

The Perils of launching an online business

Problem

Limited traffic from bloggers, promotion and digital acumen

Bloggers and users can act as powerful influencers for a

businesses’ products. How do you reach out to them?

Current Shopping

Platforms

Solution

A simplified, end-to-end, digital marketing vehicle for independent

sellers looking to grow their presence online

56

The New Display Network

1) Tell us about your

site

2) Target products to

your audience

• Provides a snapshot

of the site and

metrics

• Helps us determine

overall site quality

• Choose targeted

products for your

users

• Select different ad

sizes

www.louistwelve.com

Know Your User

Choose unique

products made

around the globe to

your audience.

Seamless Integration

In only a few clicks start

offering products from the

Framestr marketplace.

Mobile Optimized

Works on any device.

Mobile is the future of

commerce.

Keep Users Engaged

Users can check-out

directly on-site. No

redirecting traffic.

Increase Revenues

Earn commissions for

each sale generated.

Keep 100% of affiliate

revenues.

Fully Interactive

Users can see

multiple products,

pictures, information

and check-out on

site.

In Action

Lessons in Disruption• Don’t try to reinvent the wheel

• Digital, Digital, Digital

• What business are you in?