Smart50 Awards: Online Marketing Gurus
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Online Marketing Gurus

REVENUE: $24 million
GROWTH: 89.95%
FOUNDER: Andrew Raso (32), Mez Homayunfard
HEAD OFFICE: Sydney
YEAR FOUNDED: 2012
EMPLOYEES: 114
INDUSTRY: Marketing and communications

How it started

Co-founders Andrew Raso and Mez Homayunfard started Online Marketing Gurus (also known as OMG) in 2012 with the goal to turn the opaque world of digital marketing into an evidence-based transparent one.

With $1000 of their own pocket money, it took them over a year of working out of a spare room, without taking a salary, and not being able to afford their own marketing or petrol to drive and pitch, before starting to get traction.

Growth

Throughout the pandemic, OMG managed to get a foothold in the US market, and increased revenue between the 2018-19 and 2020-21 financial years by $8 million, reaching $24 million from $16.55 million.

The company claims that since launching in the US, it’s received a 4:1 ROI on all marketing-related activities. The company has also built out its own internal R&D division that creates software for external and internal use.

And this isn’t the first year the business has been recognised — OMG was the 4th fastest growing SME in Australia in the 2016 Smart50 awards, and 44th in the 2018 edition.

Where to next?

OMG’s expansion plan features Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom, with the goal to establish headquarters in the main cities.

The 10-year goal is to list on the ASX, and in 15 years they aim to have a team of more than 400 employees. The business currently has 114, having added 49 more in the past year.

20 years down the track, OMG wants to be a market leader, providing training (and certification) to other players in the industry.