The sheer number of marketing agencies in Dubai is mind-blowing, and you can’t but ask yourself, how many clients can they all have in a relatively small populated country like the UAE?
We had the chance to speak to a couple of them and the people behind it, but one person was significantly different than the others. Mario Radosavljevic, the founder of GPP® – Global Partners Portal LLC.
It was challenging talking to him because this guy is a workaholic like nothing we have seen before. He owns 22 brands, 25 companies and is also the business advisor of the Private Royal Office in Dubai! How can a person finish all these things without getting in trouble?
In our one-hour meeting with him, we counted 72 business calls, and his face told us on each one this was important.
This guy is a problem-solver as far as we can say but what was really impressive to us was that the problems presented to him were solved within minutes. It is astonishing how effectively he is handling things where others are stuck. Furthermore, the solution proposed was clear, easily understandable, and on point. Sometimes as we were watching him at work, he explained through examples why the problem occurred, where the problem started and why the solution he offers is the way of least resistance.
The Emirate Times: We asked him how he developed such skills to not only present the solution straight away but also make it easily understandable and motivating at the same time?
Mario Radosavljevic answered us in the following way:
Regarding problems and solution-seeking, I am a bit like the mathematicians, who can solve complicated tasks without having the second and third steps. It is effortless for me to come from step one to step four or five as my mind somehow projects the end solution as a picture in my head.
However, I saw that most of the employees or business partners had a hard time following me as they didn’t understand the process of how I went there. It was also not enough to explain steps two and three, as this often caused discussions going in a direction that brought no clarity on the problem. So I started visualizations.
I explained in a story or in creating a picture, if you want, how it came to this problem and what it causes. You can’t solve problems by managing the effects. You need to go back to the cause.
I understood that people must understand the problem and its causes; otherwise, you will never click with them.
The Emirate Times: That makes sense to us and so asking him, how come other Internet Marketing Agencies in Dubai or, in general, other companies do not work this way?
Mario Radosavljevic said: This is an excellent and common question people ask me. In fact, it is the best compliment you can give me as it looks like I answered your problem with a solution that looks effortless and lets you think, why didn’t I see this, or why didn’t others have the same idea?
What looks effortless and easy is based on two things. One, I have tons of experience in many different businesses that I own and which are not connected to each other. So I was forced to think out of the box and to learn to take a step back to see the whole picture. Sounds easy, but believe me, it is not.
Secondly, people who know me privately often joke that I was born with a kind of autism as my business solutions skills are freaky. For many years I was not very pleased with this conclusion, but today I am taking it at what it is: nobody is perfect.
The Emirate Times: What interested us was, how do you manage your daily tasks and still get things done? Don’t you have a private life?
Mario Radosavljevic: You ask me this because you think the way you would run your company the traditional way. If I did this, I wouldn’t finish most of my things either. Like in Iron Man, where Tony Stark uses AI to help him achieve his daily goals, I am using it the same way. Of course, not like in the MovieMovie, as this will be possible with 6G or probably with 7G, but AI is a daily helper that gives me the freedom to take care of other things.
In fact, Tony Stark and the character he plays in the Movie were one of my main motivations for digging deeper into the AI sector. The main problem people or companies have with AI development is that they want to make too big steps forward. AI is a baby that should help you solve easy daily tasks. You can’t put a baby into a car and let it drive on Sheikh Zahid Road just because it’s talented, isn’t it?
The Emirate Times: Yes, but you are using it for AI Marketing which looks pretty complicated to us. How does that work with your statement?
Mario Radosavljevic: It looks complicated to you because human brains tend to overcomplicate things when they don’t understand specific topics. It is easy when you understand how AI works.
Most companies and startups are trying to make the next Unicorn and create a billion-dollar company, creating things people don’t understand. Just because an investor made his money and is looking for investments does not mean he understands a single word you’re saying.
Again, AI should help us get more time to focus on business strategies, not to make the whole work for you while you sit on the Beach and count the money coming in. That’s not how it works.
My AI Marketing Agency in Dubai is, as other people say, the fastest growing Marketing Agency in the Middle East, and the reason for this is that I make it understandable. You have too many people out there selling hair-growth-water like in the wild west with promises that are technically not achievable. At least not now.
The Emirate Times: So what is your AI Marketing Agency doing?
Mario Radosavljevic: The problem is that social media distracted young entrepreneurs and the “old dogs,” as I call them, from what is essential. Visibility.
The Emirate Times: But you can’t have more visibility than on social media, isn’t it?
Mario Radosavljevic: That was true 10 years ago. Nowadays not. See, the algorithm of the big players like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter is built to suppress your post while offering you the possibility to create a professional account. They do this so you are “qualified” to advertise your post or profile. Then you get visibility.
If you don’t do this, you don’t get any impressions and, therefore, no visibility. This causes stress in people and frustration because they are spending more and more time on social media trying to make their accounts seen. But that’s not how it works.
Those big accounts you see are a “bait” to give you the feeling; you can get this big too, but you can’t. If you don’t believe me, here is the equation:
An algorithm is programmed to push your post or video as soon as other users interact with your post. No matter if they vote for it positively or negatively. That doesn’t matter to an algorithm, OK? If that happens, then you get more impressions. And there you already have the answer.
The same view people are always interacting with your post, so nobody else sees it. How can you get noticed when the same amount of people likes or comment on your post? It is impossible. The interesting question is, why do people still continue doing it? And the answer is straightforward: humans are habit-driven animals. And this is how those companies are making billions each year.
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The Emirate Times: It makes sense, but what is the solution?
Mario Radosavljevic: Great question. Visibility on platforms where people are participating with a “search intent.” The intent is to find an answer to a specific problem they have.
Google is and stays the most essential platform for private and Business users. Those who ignored that because they had a dream to become a social icon now suffer big time.
The Emirate Times: But if you want to become an Influencer on Instagram, for example, Google is the wrong platform, isn’t it?
Mario Radosavljevic: I think it’s vice versa.
Let me give you an example, and you tell me if I am wrong. Let’s assume that you want to be an influencer on fitness foods. The usual way is to go to Instagram and start posting and advertising there for crazy money.
While you are now disrupting people in their private time interested in Fitness products and the nice bodies they see there, you are fighting for attention. And even if someone is following you, the will to buy from you whatever you offer is below 1%. That’s what marketers call a “cold audience.” So you need to warm them up with email opt-ins, landing pages, and many other marketing tools to bring them to a point where they become potential customers, right?
While on Google searching for specific Fitness topics and looking for answers, you could easily be found there, explain your expertise and pitch to people with the search intent to solve the problem they have without paying a single cent. There you present your Instagram profile and ask them to follow you. Now they will follow you much easier and be a much more loyal audience because you have authority and you are not just one of million dead pictures on Instagram. Now you tell me what makes more sense.
The Emirate Times: WOW, we never thought about this way of social media! And your company is doing that?
Mario Radosavljevic: That is one of many ways we use AI to push your rankings forward and get seen by people looking for you, not vice versa.
It simply does not make sense to me to search for clients while clients are searching for solutions you already offer.
The Emirate Times: And AI is helping you do this?
Mario Radosavljevic: Yes. Again, for algorithms, it does not make any difference if you push a social profile, a blog post, or your website. That’s why we do it all at once and have gained over 20,000 clients within the first 10 months.
The Emirate Times: One of the articles in Dubai already stated that your company GPP is likely to become the next Billion Dollar company in Dubai.
Mario Radosavljevic: That would be great, but that is not the reason why we do this. I love to help entrepreneurs and change their business behavior, and selfish as I am, if there is a company that I can invest in, I will do so.
The Emirate Times: We know that you already invested in over 400 Startups during your time in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Mario Radosavljevic: Yes, that’s true, and in many of those companies I am still part of, I have a very good and close relationship with all of them, even those that repurchased the shares from me.
The Emirate Times: Mario Radosavljevic, thank you for your time.
