An interview with Wayne Reuvers, CEO at LiveTechnology Holdings
We sit down with Wayne Reuvers, Founder and CSO at LiveTechnology and LiveRetail. He has successfully invested in and built multiple subsidiaries and successfully exited 6 businesses having created over $110 million in wealth for the investors.
How did you end up at LiveTechnology Holdings and what problem does LiveTechnology Holdings solve for its clients?
I founded LiveTechnology as an incubator (we have built and sold a number of businesses). LiveRetail is the latest iteration that solves the cost and complication of creating and running on-brand advertising. A set of ready-to-run posts and ads are created for a local franchisee at no cost. They can be posted to their Social Media at no cost, or run as a campaign across Facebook, Google Display Network, Twitter, Instagram and more for as little as $10, or whatever fits the business's budget.
As the Chief Strategy Officer, what are your main responsibilities at LiveTechnology Holdings?
Identifying how our technology stack can be adapted to replace costly, cumbersome and complex processes (using automation and ai).
To get a bit more technical, what are some of the acquisition channels that have worked well for LiveTechnology Holdings and why do you think that is?
For LiveRetail, our target is 200,000 businesses as clients. As most business owners are also practive investors, we decide that a shareholder of LiveRetail is an even bigger advocate than a customer. So we recently launched a public stock offering (regCF) and we targeted Franchise owners who are investors.
What role does your C-level team play when it comes to organising, operating and improving your marketing-sales funnel?
Campaigns must effectively target audiences using emotional ties, such as their city or town of residence or work, which boosts response rates by 2-7x. Identifying and leveraging other emotional connections is also crucial. Integrating the franchisee's brand into the creative lowers media costs and increases response, generating a win-win. Continual improvement is achieved by monitoring and deactivating the weakest 15% of campaigns weekly, ensuring consistent success.
At ColdFire, when we look at our clients' Lead Generation strategies, they vary greatly. Some have found a single, scalable client acquisition process while others thrive on a mix of top-of-funnel strategies. If you had to summarise the high-level LeadGen strategy of LiveTechnology Holdings, what would it be?
Our marketing processes are driven by AIDA Attention -> Interest- > Desire -> Action Each part of the marketing process must ensure the target moves to the next part. By showing a target their ready-to-run posts and ads, we get their attention (they see their brand and storefront), their interest (professional), their desire (already created) and thus action - in that they post (at no cost) or run as an ad campaign across Facebook, Instagram, Google Display, etc. for as little as $10.
What is a Lead Generation technique that you've used at LiveTechnology Holdings or at previous companies which you believe is underutilized at most C-level teams - and why?
When presenting a target audience with an ad or email featuring prebuilt posts and ads, fully customized with their storefront image, location, and their franchisee brand (fully brand compliant), the response is outstanding. As they can post these at no cost it builds trust, and with just two clicks, they can then launch these ready-to-run, highly targeted campaigns.
Lead Generation can happen using inbound and outbound strategies. Which has worked better for LiveTechnology Holdings and why do you think that is?
LiveRetail uses its own platform to target franchisees in specific locations, effectively bridging the gap between marketing and sales by focusing on trust-building. Two key concepts drive trust and encourage closures: 1) Zero cost - by providing ready-to-run posts and ads at no cost, franchisees are more willing to try the service without financial risk; and 2) Streamlined process - a user-friendly two-click process for posting and purchasing a $10 campaign enables easy customer conversion. By combining these strategies, LiveRetail efficiently fosters trust and accelerates the process of turning prospects into clients.
Has your C-level team experimented with some kind of cold outbound strategy (like cold email)? If yes what was the general outcome and if no, why not?
LiveRetail has experienced significant success with a tailored cold email strategy. The key to this success lies in personalizing each email to the franchisee's location, with posts and ads specific to their franchise directly embedded in the email itself. When the owner sees their store within the email (no broken link), the response rate increases 3-4x, highlighting the effectiveness of this tailored approach. It is VERY important to understand what "embedding images" in emails entails - none of the major email vendors are able to provide this and thus the recipient sees the broken placeholder in cold emails and ignores.
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