August 27, 2025 • 22 mins
How do you juggle multiple brands without losing momentum? In this 198th episode of the E-Comm Show, Andrew Maff talks with Rob Smead, President of One Ink Seven, LLC, and founder of multiple tattoo industry brands including Electrum Supply and Electrum Ink. Rob shares his unique approach to managing a portfolio of interconnected brands, balancing niche tattoo culture with broader consumer reach.
From leveraging authentic behind-the-scenes content to navigating shifting industry conventions, Rob reveals why staying nimble and on top of social trends like TikTok UGC is essential. He also dives into their evolving retail strategy—expanding from Amazon to Walmart shelves—while wrestling with how to maintain brand cohesion amid growth and diversification.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why balancing multiple brands requires both cross-pollination and clear brand identity
- How behind-the-scenes content builds trust and loyalty in niche communities
- Why industry conventions have shifted post-COVID and how to get ROI from events today
- The power of networking and leveraging organic relationships over paid tactics
- How TikTok and incentivized UGC are changing influencer marketing in real-time
- Expanding beyond a niche market—pros and cons of broadening your audience
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rob Smead (00:03):
You want to try to stay cohesive with one brand.
You want to keep your messagingand esthetics kind of looking
the same.
Unknown (00:09):
Welcome to the E comm Show podcast. I am your host.
Andrew Maff, owner and founderof Bluetusker, from
groundbreaking industry updatesto success stories and
strategies. Get to know the insand outs of the E commerce
Industry from top leaders in thespace. Let's get into it.
Andrew Maff (00:23):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of
the E comm show as usual. I amyour host, Andrew Maff, and
today I am joined by thepresident of One Ink Seven, Mr.
Robert Smead, Rob, how youdoing, buddy? Ready for a good
show?
Rob Smead (00:35):
Great man. Thanks for having me on the show today.
Andrew Maff (00:38):
Yeah. Super excited to have you on the show. I am a
big fan of this industry. Wifeand I are obsessed. So it's
having you on the show is goingto be really fun. I always like
to kind of start it off prettystereotypically. Just give you
the floor. Let you tell everyonelittle bit about your
background, how you got startedwith One Ink Seven and then
we're going to take it fromthere.
Rob Smead (00:55):
Well, it's a long story, so I'll condense it down
as I can but I've been in thetattoo industry for about 32
years now. 1994 is when Istarted in tattooing, and then
around 2012 is when I developedmy first product in the tattoo
(01:16):
space, which was a tattoostencil primer, which my whole
business has been built onmaking products out of
necessity, so really findinggaps in my tattoo process where,
you know, products that I neededto make my job easier that
didn't exist, and how I couldfill those gaps. And so, yeah,
that's basically how thebusiness started. Before that I
(01:40):
was I had a T Shirt Company,tattoo related T Shirt Company.
I made some foot switches andsome portfolios for other
artists and things like that.
But in 2012 is when the businessreally started to take off after
I invented the first productunder our brand.
Andrew Maff (01:54):
It's awesome. What was the first product?
Rob Smead (01:56):
Tattoo, stencil, primer, yeah,
Unknown (01:59):
So there's multiple one ink seven is essentially like an
umbrella company, correct,because there's multiple brands
under it. So you've got Electrumsupply, Electrum Ink, Electrum
print, I've got my notes here.
And 1974 holdings, correct,
Rob Smead (02:15):
Yeah, 1974 Holdings is a separate entity that's just
like my personal holdingcompany, which is involves some
other independent projects thatI work on outside of the tattoo
space.
Andrew Maff (02:27):
Gotcha.
Rob Smead (02:27):
So it's like, I have a podcast that's, that's part of
1974 holdings. But yeah, one inkseven is all tattoo related
stuff. Electrum supply, ElectrumInc, Electrum print, like you
said,
Unknown (02:38):
Interesting. So why?
Why'd split them out? Why'd youdo supply versus ink first
print?
Rob Smead (02:43):
Uh, well, they were all started at different times.
So Electrum supply started in2012 and Electrum Inc came along
in 2022 okay, and then Electrumprint just started up in 2024
and so they're separatebusinesses, separate ein
(03:06):
numbers. So they're just part ofthe holding company. They're
they're run independent of oneanother, but they are similar to
one another.
Andrew Maff (03:14):
Yeah? Say they're similar audiences, though,
right? Yeah, all the sameaudience, yeah. Okay. Do you
kind of find ways to crosspollinate? And basically, you
know, from, I guess, from amarketing perspective, find ways
to kind of sell people ontoother of the businesses
Rob Smead (03:30):
We do. But I guess one thing that I like about
having them separate is that wecan be a little bit more
creative in our marketingapproaches, where you want to
try to stay cohesive with onebrand you want to keep your
messaging and esthetics kind oflooking the same. It's nice
because Electrum Inc, you know,for example, we could be a lot
more edgy and metal in ourmarketing approach, whereas we
(03:52):
wouldn't necessarily take thatapproach with Electrum supply.
So I do like the fact that Ihave some flexibility and
creative leverage in regards tobeing able to experiment with
different marketing techniqueson the different channels.
Andrew Maff (04:05):
Interesting. What have you seen working the best
for you so far?
Rob Smead (04:10):
Really, you know, it's I'm finding now, more it
changes. You know, all the timeit's like people's interests
change, and people's attentionfocus changes. I feel like
social media really ischallenging to keep up with in
general, as far as, like, whatpeople are going to be engaged
with today versus what they'regoing to be engaged with
(04:31):
tomorrow, it seems to constantlybe changing all the time. Yeah,
so I feel like a huge part ofthe marketing side is just
constantly trying to keep upwith what's relevant today and
knowing that it's probably goingto be outdated tomorrow. So
yeah, more or less now, I'mfinding the most engaging
content is like the behind thescenes type of stuff, where,
where we're like, we'll do skitswith our employees, or we'll do
(04:54):
sit downs with our employees andor we'll take a camera behind
the scenes and actually take ourcustomers inside. The warehouse,
and, you know, show you how wedo things as far as packing
their orders or talking tocustomers on the phone or
engaging with customers whenthey come in the store, that
seems to be the content thatreally generates the most
interesting engagement rightnow.
Andrew Maff (05:14):
Interesting. The in your space. I know the one thing
that's a pretty different,comparative to almost every
other brand we've had on theshow, very heavy in, like
conventions and going todifferent shows and things like
that. Because I know in thetattoo industry, I mean, there's
one in a different city, like itseems like every other day. So
(05:35):
is that? Is that a big part ofthe different businesses for all
the electrums? Is it kind ofshowing it all of those. Are you
still leaning in on most of thedigital side?
Rob Smead (05:45):
Um, you know, with Electrum supply, we used to do a
lot of conventions. We've kindof backed off of that some,
because after covid, theconvention circuit kind of
really changed a lot. So yeah,and the economy's been really
kind of screwed up for the lastcouple of years. So tattooing,
unfortunately, is more of aluxury expense. So when money
(06:08):
gets tight for people, you know,they're not necessarily
splurging on tattoos like theywould when the economy's healthy
or when they're when they'rebringing in money, and the cost
of goods isn't so high, youknow. So, yeah, I think, I think
the challenge now withconventions is that it's not
bringing the same amount of foottraffic through the doors as it
did pre covid. So for for brandslike me, where you go to a
(06:29):
convention and you potentiallyhave, you know, seven other
supply companies on the floor atthe same time, it's very
challenging to make money there.
So we're kind of doing adifferent strategy with
conventions now where we're justkind of going to shows, but not
necessarily purchasing booths orfloor space or hauling products
to the show, but we're justgoing to the show, walking the
floor, maybe taking some samplesof products to give to artists,
(06:52):
and really just trying toconnect more one on one with
artists at the show and justgenerate leads that way. That
seems to be a more healthyapproach and a more fiscally
responsible approach today,whereas with Electrum Inc, we're
full blown doing conventions butbut heavily in South America,
the tattoo scene is reallythriving in South America,
(07:13):
interestingly. So we're still,we're still bringing artists to
shows in South America. We'restill setting up booths. We're
still, you know, given someawards at the tattoo
competitions, so, so we're stillvery heavily engaged in
conventions on the tattooingside.
Unknown (07:31):
Interesting. I mean, that makes a lot of sense,
right? Because now you canthere's a specific product line
that does really well in theconvention, so you lean in on
that, but then you're able totake that data and then kind of
replicate it across to, let'ssay, over to, like, Electrum
supply or something like that.
So that makes a ton of sensethat. So I didn't even know that
South America was a growingtattoo industry. So tattooing is
(07:54):
changing, like, it feels likeit's all the time, right? Styles
go in and out. There's hugepeaks of like, everyone wants to
get new tattoos, and thenobviously you deal with issues
like inflation and stuff, and soobviously it's not always the
cheapest thing in the world. Soit kind of spins off, like,
what's How do you adjust basedon this industry that's like,
constantly changing?
Rob Smead (08:15):
I mean, you got to study a lot of trends and
patterns. You know, like,historically in our industry, we
always have busy time around taxtime, because that's when people
get their tax returns. They gotthat extra money to burn, and
they go get tattoos. Whereas,whereas around the holidays,
November through December, itcan become a real ghost town,
(08:36):
you know, like people just arespending their money on
Christmas presents and holidaytype stuff. So they're again,
they're not going out andspending money on tattoos around
those times. So you always haveto ebb and flow with those
seasonal highs and lows. Buteven now, it's becoming more
challenging, because it's justlike I said, it's an ever
evolving landscape. In someways, it's a very diluted
(08:59):
landscape in regards toproducts. So there's a lot of
there's just a lot of dilutionin the product space. So, you
know, you could have 20different ink brands that you're
competing against in a smallniche market. So you more or
less, now, we're really tryingto find ways that we can kind of
branch out of the tattoo scene alittle bit with some of our
products. You know, is there,are there applications in sports
(09:21):
medicine or at pet care, youknow, for example, we've got a
few products that we think wecan cross over into some
different markets and maybe getsome traction in those regards.
So it's interesting because, youknow, I probably spend 20 hours
a week in marketing meetings,you know, with my team, and
we're just constantly talkingabout different things on
(09:42):
different platforms, and itseems like there's also a new
social media platform popping upevery other month. So you got to
try to pick and choose whichones are going to be the ones
you know. So right now we'rereally putting heavy emphasis on
Tiktok. We just feel like wefeel like Facebook and Instagram
has really kind of lost its you.
Power in regards to ad spend.
(10:05):
And like paid, paid ads, youknow, we're seeing that we're
not getting a good return on ourad spends on Facebook and
Instagram. So now you know, andwe want to figure out, you know,
how can we get more usergenerated content? And it seems
like Tiktok is the place forthat. And we like tick tock
because you can incentivizeusers to create content by
offering them commissions onyour products and and them
(10:25):
helping you sell your products.
So we're kind of excited aboutgetting into that. We've been
plugging a lot into that this
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Unknown (11:01):
Do you lean in a lot into the UGC and kind of like
influencer marketing and justhaving other tattoo artists
basically leveraging all thedifferent product lines as much
as possible?
Rob Smead (11:09):
Yeah, I feel like, well, networking is the most
important thing in our world. Ifeel like I'm probably in most,
most businesses. I feel likenetworking is probably the most
powerful tool that you canleverage, especially if you
have, you know, creators with,you know, 500,000 followers or
more in there and and theirdemographic is the demographic
that you're trying to target,you know. So, you know, if you
(11:30):
can pay them $40 for a $200 itemthat you're selling, I mean, and
all they got to do is make avideo and put a shop link on it.
It's kind of a no brainer forthem, you know.
Andrew Maff (11:39):
Yeah, there's a good point which so you're
leaning in heavy on the Tiktokside. Obviously, you've got it
on your own site. Are youselling anywhere else besides
just your own website?
Rob Smead (11:49):
Amazon? Yeah. I mean, we're, we're building on Amazon.
We've been, we've been sellingon Amazon for a few years, but
now we're really focused ontrying to build that platform
out more, also looking atplatforms like Walmart, and
trying to also get a get some ofour products on the shelves and
like Walgreens or CVS or storeslike that, we have a couple of
(12:10):
FDA approved numbing productsthat that we'd like to see on
the shelf next to back teen, youknow, in the in the pharmacies
and things like that. So, butthat's all part of the plan
where we're trying to kind ofbranch out of branch out of the
tattoo focus a little bit andget get into a broader
marketplace.
Unknown (12:27):
Yeah, that's a very interesting move. You know, you
don't hear a lot of brands, youknow, they they always look at
their product line, look attheir target audience. Really
segment in on the audience. Theyrarely try to step back and look
at the product line and go, whoelse would like this? And start
to re look at differentaudiences that they could
potentially tap into. Are youthinking of basically expanding
(12:51):
the brand enough to where themarketing is just relevant for
additional audiences, or are youthinking like we're actually
just going to launch a separatebusiness with the same product
line so that we can hyper focuson the audience.
Rob Smead (13:03):
Oh, you know, I don't, I don't know that I
thought that far ahead of ityet, as far as, like, you know,
right now, my mind is justaround doing what I have with
the business that I have now andthe brand that I have now,
because we built a prettypowerful brand in the tattoo
space, and it's got goodesthetics and it's got good
social awareness already. So Idon't necessarily know that I
(13:25):
would want to start from scratchwith a whole new business. I
think it's probably better tojust keep building on the
platform that we have and, youknow, just trying to maybe
branch out. You know, there's noreason why, there's no reason
why a brand necessarily has tostay stuck in the same, you
know, demographic or targetaudience. You know, I feel like
(13:46):
a really good and powerful brandshould be able to reach people
in any segment, you know,
Unknown (13:50):
yeah, how is it with tattooing? I mean, it's a, it's
an art, right? I mean, you'reselling to artists. So it's uh,
it's very much a extremelycreative, uh, industry, but
you're running a business in it.
So how do you what's kind of theapproach there to make sure that
you're still kind of catering tothat classic art form and the
(14:13):
artist, as opposed to just like,you know, stringent corporate
business stuff.
Rob Smead (14:22):
Well, the that's funny, because that's a that's
always a real big topic ofconversation in the industry,
because recently, a lot of thesmaller, independent brands have
gotten bought up by, you know,capital ventures firms, you
know. So there's, there's acouple big capital ventures
firms out there that have, thathave formed a couple big
conglomerates in the space now,and they've gotten very
(14:43):
corporate, and they've reallylost their they've lost that
connection to the artist, I feellike, with, with bringing a lot
of suits and ties into the mixand that that are just focused
on the bottom line numbers andnot necessarily the craft of
tattooing. And I think that'swhere we continue to keep our
advantage, because I've been anartist for 32 years, you know?
(15:03):
So I understand the business. Iunderstand the business from an
artist's perspective. And whenI'm developing products, I'm
developing them from an artist'sperspective and practical
application and use. So I knowthat the products I'm putting
out in the market are going tobe beneficial to the artists
that we're selling them to and Ithink if, if, if we were to
(15:24):
ever, you know, we're pretty seton not selling out. We've had a
couple of offers to sell ourcompany to to these people and
and I've turned it down everytime, because I just feel like
it's very important for us tokeep that connection with the
artist. And that's always beenthe most important part of my
brand is just being that artistowned brand and and I think it's
(15:44):
what's gotten us, as far aswe've gotten, is keeping keeping
true to our roots and in ourties with the community, and we
just stay focused on that. And Ithink that's the right thing to
Unknown (15:54):
do. Yeah. So is your role really kind of continuing
to build almost a little bit ofthe personal brand? Is that why
you kind of went into, like, thepodcast side to help kind of
elevate the personal brand andthis kind of trickle down
effect, to make sure that peopleare aware that you're, you're
one of them, and not one of thesuits and ties.
Rob Smead (16:13):
Yeah. I mean, you know, the community recognizes
me. I mean, I've been around fora long time, so I'm, I'm, I'm
very well recognized in thespace. So they, I don't know.
It's never a case where I haveto prove that I'm one of them.
They know I'm one of them. It'sjust, it's just, I'm the
visionary of the company. Youknow what I mean? So I'm always
fueling the growth ideas and thestrategies and and just giving
(16:35):
my team the freedom to do thethings that they want to do. I'm
not necessarily the forwardfacing Person of the company.
You know, my daughter is more ofthe hands on Artist Relations
person. She's very good with theartist. She's been by my side
since she was 15 years old. Soshe's, you know, long time.
She's been by my side learningthis business, in this trade,
(16:56):
and so she can connect just aswell, if not better, with the
artist than I can, and she'smuch more personable. And, you
know, I'm just more strictlybusiness in my approach to
things. You know what I mean?
Like I'm I'm looking at numbersall day and trying to strategize
marketing plans. And youknow,she, she thoroughly enjoys going
out and talking to artists andbeing at shows and picking up
(17:16):
the phone or or talking toartists when they come in the
shop, and she's just always gota smile on her face. And I feel
like, you know that customerservice is really, that's really
the secret sauce, man, you know,it's, it's, it's all about good
customer service.
Unknown (17:31):
Oh yeah, especially in that, in that industry, because
I know, like the, you know,there's, you have artists that
feel certain way about otherartists, but that's usually
nuanced, small things, buteither way, like, once you kind
of break into that community,it's definitely a tight knit
community. Word travels fast. Soreally good customer service and
being able to take care of them,things tend to spread pretty
(17:53):
quickly. Do you do anything interms of kind of cultivating
that community and keeping themall in one place? Like, I know
some people do like Facebookgroups, or like Slack channels
or anything like that, likeanything you you kind of do to
bring everyone into one area.
Rob Smead (18:06):
Yeah, we've done that the whole time. So, you know,
way back in the beginning, wehad a group called the killer
artist alliance that was likeartists that we traveled to
conventions with, and that'sit's always been kind of that
family dynamic. We've also hadlike Electrum elite, which would
be like our sponsored artist, orlike our pro team artist or and
then we, just recently, we'velaunched like, the business of
(18:29):
tattooing, which is like acomplete educational content
platform. So we do a lots oflots of educational content on,
like, just how to be a bettershop owner, how to market
yourself on social mediaproperly, and we don't charge
anything for that. You know,it's all just a free service to
our user base and our our fansand customers. And we've gotten
(18:51):
a lot of good, positiveengagement and feedback from
that, and we just like to beable to do that. So I think, I
think that really keeps ourcommunity tight, and it's what
keeps people coming back to usand staying loyal to us for all
these years.
You get a lot of businesses thatkind of feel like, you know,
(19:11):
typically it's not the case, butthey feel like they've capped
out on their community, and sothey usually just say, like,
Okay, this is it. I've kind ofhit a wall, but I think it's a
genius to start creating contentto educate people, to help them
get more involved in thecommunity or join the community.
And so you're actually growingyour artist base or your
community base by starting offright from the beginning. It
(19:34):
makes a ton of sense. What's theyou know, you started the
business. It was at 17, I think,right. So, like, you've been at
this, or even in the industry,since for years. So what's the,
what's the next step? Like, whatare your thoughts on where you
want to take one ink seven inthe whole Electrum line?
Man, I've got a lot that's,that's the that's the problem
(19:56):
with my my headspace is that,I'm an elite visionary,
realistically in everydefinition of that word. So I'm
just constantly brainstormingnew product ideas, new growth
ideas. You know, I've got amillion ideas. And the good
thing about my internal team isthat they're very good at
recognizing that 99 out of 100of my ideas aren't necessarily
(20:16):
good ideas, you know what Imean? And we don't want to
really invest time and resourcesinto all 100 of these ideas,
yeah, but out of every 100ideas, I come out with a good
one, and that's just continuesto what build, what builds our
business? You know? We're, we'rejust going to keep building our
(20:38):
educational content, working onexpanding our podcast platform
with with educational andregulatory navigation content,
and just keep building ourcommunity of artists. And, like
I said, try to find ways tocreatively expand out of the
tattoo space in some, some way,shapes and forms. Yeah, and
(20:59):
then, and then we've got, youknow, other ideas with, with
some product launches and thingslike that, and just creative
marketing ideas. But otherwise,we're, we're just, we're just
focused on, you know, growingour bottom line and bringing,
bringing more customers into thebusiness. In the Electric
Unknown (21:16):
love to give you the floor let everyone know where
family.
they can find out more aboutyou, and, of course, more about
One Ink Seven.
Rob Smead (21:30):
Sure. So the best way is Instagram, Tiktok, Electrum
supply, Electrum Inc, both, bothof those platforms. You can find
us on Facebook, Electrum supplyand Electrum Inc,
electruminc.com orelectrumsupply.com and then my
personal social media isNoFlashNinja on Instagram.
Andrew Maff (21:50):
Love it. Rob. Thank you so much for being on the
show. Everyone who tuned in asusual. Thank you as well. Please
make do. Make sure you do theusual thing. Rate, review,
subscribe, all that fun stuff onwhichever podcast platform for
or ever did the Ecomm show.comto check out all of our previous
episodes. But as usual, thankyou all for joining us. See you
all next time, have a good one!
Narrator (22:10):
Thank you for tuning in to the Ecomm show. Head over
to Ecomm show.com to subscribeon your favorite podcast
platform or on the BluetuskerYouTube channel, the Ecomm show
is brought to you by Bluetusker,a full service digital marketing
company specifically for Ecommerce sellers looking to
(22:32):
accelerate their growth. Go tobluetuskr.com now for more
information, make sure to tunein next week for another amazing
episode of the E comm show!
You want to try to stay cohesive with one brand.
You want to keep your messagingand esthetics kind of looking
the same.
Unknown (00:09):
Welcome to the E comm Show podcast. I am your host.
Andrew Maff, owner and founderof Bluetusker, from
groundbreaking industry updatesto success stories and
strategies. Get to know the insand outs of the E commerce
Industry from top leaders in thespace. Let's get into it.
Andrew Maff (00:23):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of
the E comm show as usual. I amyour host, Andrew Maff, and
today I am joined by thepresident of One Ink Seven, Mr.
Robert Smead, Rob, how youdoing, buddy? Ready for a good
show?
Rob Smead (00:35):
Great man. Thanks for having me on the show today.
Andrew Maff (00:38):
Yeah. Super excited to have you on the show. I am a
big fan of this industry. Wifeand I are obsessed. So it's
having you on the show is goingto be really fun. I always like
to kind of start it off prettystereotypically. Just give you
the floor. Let you tell everyonelittle bit about your
background, how you got startedwith One Ink Seven and then
we're going to take it fromthere.
Rob Smead (00:55):
Well, it's a long story, so I'll condense it down
as I can but I've been in thetattoo industry for about 32
years now. 1994 is when Istarted in tattooing, and then
around 2012 is when I developedmy first product in the tattoo
(01:16):
space, which was a tattoostencil primer, which my whole
business has been built onmaking products out of
necessity, so really findinggaps in my tattoo process where,
you know, products that I neededto make my job easier that
didn't exist, and how I couldfill those gaps. And so, yeah,
that's basically how thebusiness started. Before that I
(01:40):
was I had a T Shirt Company,tattoo related T Shirt Company.
I made some foot switches andsome portfolios for other
artists and things like that.
But in 2012 is when the businessreally started to take off after
I invented the first productunder our brand.
Andrew Maff (01:54):
It's awesome. What was the first product?
Rob Smead (01:56):
Tattoo, stencil, primer, yeah,
Unknown (01:59):
So there's multiple one ink seven is essentially like an
umbrella company, correct,because there's multiple brands
under it. So you've got Electrumsupply, Electrum Ink, Electrum
print, I've got my notes here.
And 1974 holdings, correct,
Rob Smead (02:15):
Yeah, 1974 Holdings is a separate entity that's just
like my personal holdingcompany, which is involves some
other independent projects thatI work on outside of the tattoo
space.
Andrew Maff (02:27):
Gotcha.
Rob Smead (02:27):
So it's like, I have a podcast that's, that's part of
1974 holdings. But yeah, one inkseven is all tattoo related
stuff. Electrum supply, ElectrumInc, Electrum print, like you
said,
Unknown (02:38):
Interesting. So why?
Why'd split them out? Why'd youdo supply versus ink first
print?
Rob Smead (02:43):
Uh, well, they were all started at different times.
So Electrum supply started in2012 and Electrum Inc came along
in 2022 okay, and then Electrumprint just started up in 2024
and so they're separatebusinesses, separate ein
(03:06):
numbers. So they're just part ofthe holding company. They're
they're run independent of oneanother, but they are similar to
one another.
Andrew Maff (03:14):
Yeah? Say they're similar audiences, though,
right? Yeah, all the sameaudience, yeah. Okay. Do you
kind of find ways to crosspollinate? And basically, you
know, from, I guess, from amarketing perspective, find ways
to kind of sell people ontoother of the businesses
Rob Smead (03:30):
We do. But I guess one thing that I like about
having them separate is that wecan be a little bit more
creative in our marketingapproaches, where you want to
try to stay cohesive with onebrand you want to keep your
messaging and esthetics kind oflooking the same. It's nice
because Electrum Inc, you know,for example, we could be a lot
more edgy and metal in ourmarketing approach, whereas we
(03:52):
wouldn't necessarily take thatapproach with Electrum supply.
So I do like the fact that Ihave some flexibility and
creative leverage in regards tobeing able to experiment with
different marketing techniqueson the different channels.
Andrew Maff (04:05):
Interesting. What have you seen working the best
for you so far?
Rob Smead (04:10):
Really, you know, it's I'm finding now, more it
changes. You know, all the timeit's like people's interests
change, and people's attentionfocus changes. I feel like
social media really ischallenging to keep up with in
general, as far as, like, whatpeople are going to be engaged
with today versus what they'regoing to be engaged with
(04:31):
tomorrow, it seems to constantlybe changing all the time. Yeah,
so I feel like a huge part ofthe marketing side is just
constantly trying to keep upwith what's relevant today and
knowing that it's probably goingto be outdated tomorrow. So
yeah, more or less now, I'mfinding the most engaging
content is like the behind thescenes type of stuff, where,
where we're like, we'll do skitswith our employees, or we'll do
(04:54):
sit downs with our employees andor we'll take a camera behind
the scenes and actually take ourcustomers inside. The warehouse,
and, you know, show you how wedo things as far as packing
their orders or talking tocustomers on the phone or
engaging with customers whenthey come in the store, that
seems to be the content thatreally generates the most
interesting engagement rightnow.
Andrew Maff (05:14):
Interesting. The in your space. I know the one thing
that's a pretty different,comparative to almost every
other brand we've had on theshow, very heavy in, like
conventions and going todifferent shows and things like
that. Because I know in thetattoo industry, I mean, there's
one in a different city, like itseems like every other day. So
(05:35):
is that? Is that a big part ofthe different businesses for all
the electrums? Is it kind ofshowing it all of those. Are you
still leaning in on most of thedigital side?
Rob Smead (05:45):
Um, you know, with Electrum supply, we used to do a
lot of conventions. We've kindof backed off of that some,
because after covid, theconvention circuit kind of
really changed a lot. So yeah,and the economy's been really
kind of screwed up for the lastcouple of years. So tattooing,
unfortunately, is more of aluxury expense. So when money
(06:08):
gets tight for people, you know,they're not necessarily
splurging on tattoos like theywould when the economy's healthy
or when they're when they'rebringing in money, and the cost
of goods isn't so high, youknow. So, yeah, I think, I think
the challenge now withconventions is that it's not
bringing the same amount of foottraffic through the doors as it
did pre covid. So for for brandslike me, where you go to a
(06:29):
convention and you potentiallyhave, you know, seven other
supply companies on the floor atthe same time, it's very
challenging to make money there.
So we're kind of doing adifferent strategy with
conventions now where we're justkind of going to shows, but not
necessarily purchasing booths orfloor space or hauling products
to the show, but we're justgoing to the show, walking the
floor, maybe taking some samplesof products to give to artists,
(06:52):
and really just trying toconnect more one on one with
artists at the show and justgenerate leads that way. That
seems to be a more healthyapproach and a more fiscally
responsible approach today,whereas with Electrum Inc, we're
full blown doing conventions butbut heavily in South America,
the tattoo scene is reallythriving in South America,
(07:13):
interestingly. So we're still,we're still bringing artists to
shows in South America. We'restill setting up booths. We're
still, you know, given someawards at the tattoo
competitions, so, so we're stillvery heavily engaged in
conventions on the tattooingside.
Unknown (07:31):
Interesting. I mean, that makes a lot of sense,
right? Because now you canthere's a specific product line
that does really well in theconvention, so you lean in on
that, but then you're able totake that data and then kind of
replicate it across to, let'ssay, over to, like, Electrum
supply or something like that.
So that makes a ton of sensethat. So I didn't even know that
South America was a growingtattoo industry. So tattooing is
(07:54):
changing, like, it feels likeit's all the time, right? Styles
go in and out. There's hugepeaks of like, everyone wants to
get new tattoos, and thenobviously you deal with issues
like inflation and stuff, and soobviously it's not always the
cheapest thing in the world. Soit kind of spins off, like,
what's How do you adjust basedon this industry that's like,
constantly changing?
Rob Smead (08:15):
I mean, you got to study a lot of trends and
patterns. You know, like,historically in our industry, we
always have busy time around taxtime, because that's when people
get their tax returns. They gotthat extra money to burn, and
they go get tattoos. Whereas,whereas around the holidays,
November through December, itcan become a real ghost town,
(08:36):
you know, like people just arespending their money on
Christmas presents and holidaytype stuff. So they're again,
they're not going out andspending money on tattoos around
those times. So you always haveto ebb and flow with those
seasonal highs and lows. Buteven now, it's becoming more
challenging, because it's justlike I said, it's an ever
evolving landscape. In someways, it's a very diluted
(08:59):
landscape in regards toproducts. So there's a lot of
there's just a lot of dilutionin the product space. So, you
know, you could have 20different ink brands that you're
competing against in a smallniche market. So you more or
less, now, we're really tryingto find ways that we can kind of
branch out of the tattoo scene alittle bit with some of our
products. You know, is there,are there applications in sports
(09:21):
medicine or at pet care, youknow, for example, we've got a
few products that we think wecan cross over into some
different markets and maybe getsome traction in those regards.
So it's interesting because, youknow, I probably spend 20 hours
a week in marketing meetings,you know, with my team, and
we're just constantly talkingabout different things on
(09:42):
different platforms, and itseems like there's also a new
social media platform popping upevery other month. So you got to
try to pick and choose whichones are going to be the ones
you know. So right now we'rereally putting heavy emphasis on
Tiktok. We just feel like wefeel like Facebook and Instagram
has really kind of lost its you.
Power in regards to ad spend.
(10:05):
And like paid, paid ads, youknow, we're seeing that we're
not getting a good return on ourad spends on Facebook and
Instagram. So now you know, andwe want to figure out, you know,
how can we get more usergenerated content? And it seems
like Tiktok is the place forthat. And we like tick tock
because you can incentivizeusers to create content by
offering them commissions onyour products and and them
(10:25):
helping you sell your products.
So we're kind of excited aboutgetting into that. We've been
plugging a lot into that this
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Unknown (11:01):
Do you lean in a lot into the UGC and kind of like
influencer marketing and justhaving other tattoo artists
basically leveraging all thedifferent product lines as much
as possible?
Rob Smead (11:09):
Yeah, I feel like, well, networking is the most
important thing in our world. Ifeel like I'm probably in most,
most businesses. I feel likenetworking is probably the most
powerful tool that you canleverage, especially if you
have, you know, creators with,you know, 500,000 followers or
more in there and and theirdemographic is the demographic
that you're trying to target,you know. So, you know, if you
(11:30):
can pay them $40 for a $200 itemthat you're selling, I mean, and
all they got to do is make avideo and put a shop link on it.
It's kind of a no brainer forthem, you know.
Andrew Maff (11:39):
Yeah, there's a good point which so you're
leaning in heavy on the Tiktokside. Obviously, you've got it
on your own site. Are youselling anywhere else besides
just your own website?
Rob Smead (11:49):
Amazon? Yeah. I mean, we're, we're building on Amazon.
We've been, we've been sellingon Amazon for a few years, but
now we're really focused ontrying to build that platform
out more, also looking atplatforms like Walmart, and
trying to also get a get some ofour products on the shelves and
like Walgreens or CVS or storeslike that, we have a couple of
(12:10):
FDA approved numbing productsthat that we'd like to see on
the shelf next to back teen, youknow, in the in the pharmacies
and things like that. So, butthat's all part of the plan
where we're trying to kind ofbranch out of branch out of the
tattoo focus a little bit andget get into a broader
marketplace.
Unknown (12:27):
Yeah, that's a very interesting move. You know, you
don't hear a lot of brands, youknow, they they always look at
their product line, look attheir target audience. Really
segment in on the audience. Theyrarely try to step back and look
at the product line and go, whoelse would like this? And start
to re look at differentaudiences that they could
potentially tap into. Are youthinking of basically expanding
(12:51):
the brand enough to where themarketing is just relevant for
additional audiences, or are youthinking like we're actually
just going to launch a separatebusiness with the same product
line so that we can hyper focuson the audience.
Rob Smead (13:03):
Oh, you know, I don't, I don't know that I
thought that far ahead of ityet, as far as, like, you know,
right now, my mind is justaround doing what I have with
the business that I have now andthe brand that I have now,
because we built a prettypowerful brand in the tattoo
space, and it's got goodesthetics and it's got good
social awareness already. So Idon't necessarily know that I
(13:25):
would want to start from scratchwith a whole new business. I
think it's probably better tojust keep building on the
platform that we have and, youknow, just trying to maybe
branch out. You know, there's noreason why, there's no reason
why a brand necessarily has tostay stuck in the same, you
know, demographic or targetaudience. You know, I feel like
(13:46):
a really good and powerful brandshould be able to reach people
in any segment, you know,
Unknown (13:50):
yeah, how is it with tattooing? I mean, it's a, it's
an art, right? I mean, you'reselling to artists. So it's uh,
it's very much a extremelycreative, uh, industry, but
you're running a business in it.
So how do you what's kind of theapproach there to make sure that
you're still kind of catering tothat classic art form and the
(14:13):
artist, as opposed to just like,you know, stringent corporate
business stuff.
Rob Smead (14:22):
Well, the that's funny, because that's a that's
always a real big topic ofconversation in the industry,
because recently, a lot of thesmaller, independent brands have
gotten bought up by, you know,capital ventures firms, you
know. So there's, there's acouple big capital ventures
firms out there that have, thathave formed a couple big
conglomerates in the space now,and they've gotten very
(14:43):
corporate, and they've reallylost their they've lost that
connection to the artist, I feellike, with, with bringing a lot
of suits and ties into the mixand that that are just focused
on the bottom line numbers andnot necessarily the craft of
tattooing. And I think that'swhere we continue to keep our
advantage, because I've been anartist for 32 years, you know?
(15:03):
So I understand the business. Iunderstand the business from an
artist's perspective. And whenI'm developing products, I'm
developing them from an artist'sperspective and practical
application and use. So I knowthat the products I'm putting
out in the market are going tobe beneficial to the artists
that we're selling them to and Ithink if, if, if we were to
(15:24):
ever, you know, we're pretty seton not selling out. We've had a
couple of offers to sell ourcompany to to these people and
and I've turned it down everytime, because I just feel like
it's very important for us tokeep that connection with the
artist. And that's always beenthe most important part of my
brand is just being that artistowned brand and and I think it's
(15:44):
what's gotten us, as far aswe've gotten, is keeping keeping
true to our roots and in ourties with the community, and we
just stay focused on that. And Ithink that's the right thing to
Unknown (15:54):
do. Yeah. So is your role really kind of continuing
to build almost a little bit ofthe personal brand? Is that why
you kind of went into, like, thepodcast side to help kind of
elevate the personal brand andthis kind of trickle down
effect, to make sure that peopleare aware that you're, you're
one of them, and not one of thesuits and ties.
Rob Smead (16:13):
Yeah. I mean, you know, the community recognizes
me. I mean, I've been around fora long time, so I'm, I'm, I'm
very well recognized in thespace. So they, I don't know.
It's never a case where I haveto prove that I'm one of them.
They know I'm one of them. It'sjust, it's just, I'm the
visionary of the company. Youknow what I mean? So I'm always
fueling the growth ideas and thestrategies and and just giving
(16:35):
my team the freedom to do thethings that they want to do. I'm
not necessarily the forwardfacing Person of the company.
You know, my daughter is more ofthe hands on Artist Relations
person. She's very good with theartist. She's been by my side
since she was 15 years old. Soshe's, you know, long time.
She's been by my side learningthis business, in this trade,
(16:56):
and so she can connect just aswell, if not better, with the
artist than I can, and she'smuch more personable. And, you
know, I'm just more strictlybusiness in my approach to
things. You know what I mean?
Like I'm I'm looking at numbersall day and trying to strategize
marketing plans. And youknow,she, she thoroughly enjoys going
out and talking to artists andbeing at shows and picking up
(17:16):
the phone or or talking toartists when they come in the
shop, and she's just always gota smile on her face. And I feel
like, you know that customerservice is really, that's really
the secret sauce, man, you know,it's, it's, it's all about good
customer service.
Unknown (17:31):
Oh yeah, especially in that, in that industry, because
I know, like the, you know,there's, you have artists that
feel certain way about otherartists, but that's usually
nuanced, small things, buteither way, like, once you kind
of break into that community,it's definitely a tight knit
community. Word travels fast. Soreally good customer service and
being able to take care of them,things tend to spread pretty
(17:53):
quickly. Do you do anything interms of kind of cultivating
that community and keeping themall in one place? Like, I know
some people do like Facebookgroups, or like Slack channels
or anything like that, likeanything you you kind of do to
bring everyone into one area.
Rob Smead (18:06):
Yeah, we've done that the whole time. So, you know,
way back in the beginning, wehad a group called the killer
artist alliance that was likeartists that we traveled to
conventions with, and that'sit's always been kind of that
family dynamic. We've also hadlike Electrum elite, which would
be like our sponsored artist, orlike our pro team artist or and
then we, just recently, we'velaunched like, the business of
(18:29):
tattooing, which is like acomplete educational content
platform. So we do a lots oflots of educational content on,
like, just how to be a bettershop owner, how to market
yourself on social mediaproperly, and we don't charge
anything for that. You know,it's all just a free service to
our user base and our our fansand customers. And we've gotten
(18:51):
a lot of good, positiveengagement and feedback from
that, and we just like to beable to do that. So I think, I
think that really keeps ourcommunity tight, and it's what
keeps people coming back to usand staying loyal to us for all
these years.
You get a lot of businesses thatkind of feel like, you know,
(19:11):
typically it's not the case, butthey feel like they've capped
out on their community, and sothey usually just say, like,
Okay, this is it. I've kind ofhit a wall, but I think it's a
genius to start creating contentto educate people, to help them
get more involved in thecommunity or join the community.
And so you're actually growingyour artist base or your
community base by starting offright from the beginning. It
(19:34):
makes a ton of sense. What's theyou know, you started the
business. It was at 17, I think,right. So, like, you've been at
this, or even in the industry,since for years. So what's the,
what's the next step? Like, whatare your thoughts on where you
want to take one ink seven inthe whole Electrum line?
Man, I've got a lot that's,that's the that's the problem
(19:56):
with my my headspace is that,I'm an elite visionary,
realistically in everydefinition of that word. So I'm
just constantly brainstormingnew product ideas, new growth
ideas. You know, I've got amillion ideas. And the good
thing about my internal team isthat they're very good at
recognizing that 99 out of 100of my ideas aren't necessarily
(20:16):
good ideas, you know what Imean? And we don't want to
really invest time and resourcesinto all 100 of these ideas,
yeah, but out of every 100ideas, I come out with a good
one, and that's just continuesto what build, what builds our
business? You know? We're, we'rejust going to keep building our
(20:38):
educational content, working onexpanding our podcast platform
with with educational andregulatory navigation content,
and just keep building ourcommunity of artists. And, like
I said, try to find ways tocreatively expand out of the
tattoo space in some, some way,shapes and forms. Yeah, and
(20:59):
then, and then we've got, youknow, other ideas with, with
some product launches and thingslike that, and just creative
marketing ideas. But otherwise,we're, we're just, we're just
focused on, you know, growingour bottom line and bringing,
bringing more customers into thebusiness. In the Electric
Unknown (21:16):
love to give you the floor let everyone know where
family.
they can find out more aboutyou, and, of course, more about
One Ink Seven.
Rob Smead (21:30):
Sure. So the best way is Instagram, Tiktok, Electrum
supply, Electrum Inc, both, bothof those platforms. You can find
us on Facebook, Electrum supplyand Electrum Inc,
electruminc.com orelectrumsupply.com and then my
personal social media isNoFlashNinja on Instagram.
Andrew Maff (21:50):
Love it. Rob. Thank you so much for being on the
show. Everyone who tuned in asusual. Thank you as well. Please
make do. Make sure you do theusual thing. Rate, review,
subscribe, all that fun stuff onwhichever podcast platform for
or ever did the Ecomm show.comto check out all of our previous
episodes. But as usual, thankyou all for joining us. See you
all next time, have a good one!
Narrator (22:10):
Thank you for tuning in to the Ecomm show. Head over
to Ecomm show.com to subscribeon your favorite podcast
platform or on the BluetuskerYouTube channel, the Ecomm show
is brought to you by Bluetusker,a full service digital marketing
company specifically for Ecommerce sellers looking to
(22:32):
accelerate their growth. Go tobluetuskr.com now for more
information, make sure to tunein next week for another amazing
episode of the E comm show!
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