Paul Ramondo is the Owner and Director of the Brightside Agency, one of our private office members based out of FLUX, powered by Spacecubed. The Brightside Agency is Perth’s leading ROAS-focused digital marketing agency for e-commerce brands and hotels.
When asked how his business journey began, Paul states that in 2008, he was heavily involved in the local music scene as a promoter where he used to run pop punk and metalcore shows at the HQ Leederville Skatepark, selling tickets for $5. Back then, the only way to effectively advertise to their audience was through print ads in local music magazines, which were $200+ per ad.
“We’d be lucky if we averaged 100 kids to a show, which made the economics of the business challenging, as after we deducted venue hire, band payments and advertising costs, we’d only be left with $50.” He shared.
Paul reflected on the Myspace days, from back in 2008, where he realised the platform could actually be used as a marketing tool.
“Our personal Myspace profiles all had a few hundred friends, and when we’d post bulletins, they’d get a decent amount of engagement – which is when we had the lightbulb moment.”
What if we created an ‘avatar profile’ for our event’s company, and used Myspace to promote our shows, for free?
Myspace went on to eventually die at the hands of Facebook, but what Paul learnt about using social media was that you could build an audience, and then convert them into your own customers. This is what formed the foundation of his career in paid advertising.
“I went on to start my paid media agency – The Brightside AgencyTM (then RamondoMedia) – in 2015.” Paul shared, after reflecting on his journey using social media platforms.
When asked what the Brightside Agency is working on at the moment, Paul shared his thoughts.
“We help our partners scale their Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Google Ads to generate more leads and sales. With over 10 years experience in running profitable ad campaigns and managing over $4M in client ad spend annually, we know what it takes to get real results.”
“Externally, my current focus is on scaling our partnerships. Internally, my focus is on cultivating skilled talent and a supportive working culture of like-minded, like-hearted team members who love what they do.”
“When I’m not captaining the ship at Brightside, you can find me pursuing my alter-ego as the vocalist of the pop-punk band, One True North,” he continued.
When asked what he loves about being a part of the Spacecubed community, Paul stated the following.
“We’ve been members of the Spacecubed community since 2018. We’re grateful to be part of a diverse community of businesses (big and small) and have made many friends and memories over the years.”
His thoughts and feelings as to why he loves working out of FLUX, and has done so for so many years, are best summed up in this video Paul created, showing off and reviewing the flexible workspace of FLUX.
When asked what one of his favourite success stories so far is, Paul shared that the last seven years have been a rollercoaster of both successes and failures.
“Like many businesses, we were put into disarray when the pandemic hit in 2020. I was overseas speaking at a conference, business was booming, and opportunities were abundant. I flew home early and arrived home 8 hours before compulsory self-isolation was mandated.”
“At that time in our business, our client base consisted of nightclubs, hotels, resorts and international music festivals. Within 24 hours of being back in Perth and still jet-lagged, all of our clients (understandably) paused or cancelled their services with us – effectively sending us bankrupt in one day.”
“Whilst this was an extremely challenging period for the business – it provided us with the opportunity to rebuild from zero. And was also the catalyst that allowed our Head of Digital – John Duong – to join our team.” he continued.
As life in Perth started to become more ‘normal’ again, Paul and John have worked tirelessly on rebranding the business, rebuilding all of its systems and processes and have laid the foundation for the current chapter they now find themselves in.
“I’m so grateful to John for all of his help and support during the last two years, and we would not be Brightside in 2022 without him.”
“If you’re reading this and you’re thinking about joining Spacecubed, I can’t recommend it enough. From the facilities, the high speed internet, the events and the people, Spacecubed is a really special part of the Perth startup community. A big thank you to everyone at Spacecubed for the last 4 years,” Paul concluded.
If you want to learn more about the Brightside Agency, you can visit their website here, and follow Paul on socials via @paulramondo.
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