Passion, Commitment and an iPhone 6 Plus [Behind the Scenes] – Segment #21

Today we are going behind the scenes to talk about why this channel exists, how I make it happen, and the results and business outcomes I’m expecting.

1. What We Focus On

We focus on how to build an audience to connect with your customers and prospects at a deeper level. The audience for this channel is – YOU! You’re the audience! And you are either a marketing-minded sales leader or a sales-minded marketing leader. I apply this filter to the front of every video to ensure the right people are watching because we all share a passion for content marketing and social selling. We all believe that technology has dramatically transformed the way in which we connect with and communicate with our prospects and customers. This has created a tremendous opportunity to elevate the sales profession. The goal is to support you in evolving from a sales leader to a thought leader.

Sales leaders really need to make that paradigm shift these days because we live in such a noisy, competitive market. Many things have been commoditized. According to my friend Robert Rose at the Content Marketing Institute, the only thing we have left is our voice, our opinions and they way we express ourselves. This is the way you can stand out, differentiate and break through all the internet-related noise.

If you go back to Segment 3 on this channel, called “The Hell with Blogging Part 1,” you will hear the story of how I’ve tried to express myself for years via blogging and the written word. I figured out that I’m a better speaker and communicator via video than a writer. Writing was incredibly frustrating for me; it really dragged me down trying to communicate that way. Go watch Segment 3 to get more insight on my viewpoint on video versus writing.

2. How Do We Do It

Anyone with passion,  commitment and an iPhone can make YouTube videos. I’m shooting this on my iPhone 6 Plus. You can see in the video the equipment I have is pretty low cost. I started with lights from Home Depot (HDX 150 Watt Incandescent Clamp Lights). I built this DIY video stand and used a clamp to connect this to a clothing rack for stability. I got a selfie stick at a Dreamforce conference and so now I have a selfie stick I mount to a tripod and I turn the view around. Recently I bought a lighting kit from Amazon for $50; it’s an umbrella style lighting kit that you’ve probably seen at photography studios. This set up seems to be working and I think the umbrella lighting kit has added to the quality of the videos.

Our schedule is to publish every Monday morning to kick off the week. We do a lot of interspersed videos based on a content calendar and a schedule. I also have spur-of-the-moment thoughts and ideas that I want to express and share with this audience. My goal for this channel is to build a track record of my thoughts, perspectives where the information is evidence-based and designed to build trust and credibility rapidly.

I’m hoping you can use PublishorPerish.FM as a model for setting up your own thought leadership track to help you build trust and credibility more rapidly with your customers and prospects. Channels like this one help your customers get a deeper view of who you are as well as increase your reach. This gives you the opportunity to connect with people you don’t have a deep relationship with yet because they can go onto your channel and start to build a relationship with you before you even get started working with them.

I also have a whiteboard where I sketch out my script in outline format. In this case, I’ve done a couple of takes and I need to get moving on my day. My goal is to release a new video every Monday morning; I shoot it whenever I have time. Most of the time that’s at 10:00 pm at night. So if you hear me whispering it’s because my kids and wife are upstairs sleeping and I’m down here in my basement studio shooting videos.

3. What’s the Point?

One of the questions you might be asking is “What’s the point? Why does this guy, who works for full-service, digital agency with awesome video production and interactive content production capabilities, shoot videos in his basement studio using his iPhone, creating this guerrilla-style channel?”

There are several answers to that question.

a. To Prove Anyone Can Do It

This channel proves the point that anyone with passion, commitment and an iPhone can do it.

b. To Talk About Related Products.

I work for a full-service digital agency called Fathom. On this channel I’m talking about things related to the products and services we sell, not directly about the products and services we sell. That is a key to authentic content marketing and to my authentic experience in both sales and marketing.

c. To Bridge the Gap Between Sales and Marketing

I deal with Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs), marketers and Vice President’s of Marketing that I work with every day. For them, I am hoping this channel will  help to bridge the gap between sales and marketing, to help sales leaders become thought leaders and lean into their marketing teams. This is an important contribution I can make. This channel is my way of sharing content that is helpful and useful to the sales community and the marketing community that’s related to the product and services but isn’t directly about the products and services we sell at Fathom.

4. What are the Results?

What are the results we are looking for?

a. Volumetric results. Volumetric results are not that critical but socially speaking, I’ve tripled my Twitter following, I’ve built a degree of engagement on LinkedIn, and I’m connecting with lots of old colleagues and customers from the past.

b. Business opportunities. Postings that are shared on a regular, disciplined scheduled that the audience can depend on has lead to lots of nice notes and communications from people from my past has lead to pretty significant business opportunities. Even though we just got started a couple of months ago there’s a really nice flow coming in around our core business.

 c. Speaking Engagement. This channel has lead to speaking engagements. In fact, I’m going to LinkedIn’s Sales Connect conference. Having this published record of my point of view on social selling and content marketing that validates that I have a unique opinion about this topic helped me land a speaking gig at LinkedIn’s Sales Connect. I hope to see you there!

Hopefully, this was a helpful look at why we built this channel, exactly how I do it with my funky equipment, and the purpose and outcome I’m looking for. The outcome is deeper relationships and to drive more business, and, ultimately, to build trust and credibility.

If you need any help to build your audience and connect with them on a deeper level and elevate yourself above the competition, and evolve from a sales leader to a thought leader, I’d love to help you.

Please comment on this blog or the video and subscribe to our channels.

As always, think like a marketer and sell like an animal. It is Q4 – let’s go!

© 2024 MADISON, MICHIGAN & MARKET