As the tech authority, your job is to reassure

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Woof. [00:00:03] Speaker B: MSP marketing. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Time to put some laps in. Hey there and thanks for joining me on the show. Here's what's coming up today. Why, as the tech Authority, a big part of your job is to reassure ordinary business owners and managers. I've got three more bootstrap marketing ideas for you, and my special guest is an expert at animated videos, also known as motion graphics. He'll explain how they make it so much easier to communicate complex things like managed services. Welcome to episode 271, powered by MSP marketingedge.com Paul Green's MSP Marketing Podcast have you ever seen someone wrestle with a Rubik's Cube? Well, that's how most business owners feel about technology. They're fascinated by what it can do, but frustrated by its complexity. So here's an exciting thought. If their mind is boggled, that creates a massive opportunity for your MSP to unboggle it. Let's explore how the smartest MSPs build trust to ease those fears and position themselves as the go to tech authority in their marketplace. And yes, you can do this too. Somewhere in one of the hundreds of business and marketing books that I've read over the years, it is one of my favorite phrases. And here it is. To influence what John Smith buys, you must look through John Smith's eyes. And in this instance, John Smith is the ordinary business owner or manager that you want to reach and influence to buy from you and not one of your competitors. So you have to really understand what it's like to be John Smith in order to persuade him that your MSP is the one he should choose. Let's do that right now. Let's imagine John lives in your town and he's the owner of, let's say a small cpa, a small accounting firm. Let's ignore that old joke that all accountants are dull. Although actually we do know this to be the truth, don't we? But anyway, don't worry about that. What is day to day life like for John running his business? Well, of course, technology is mission critical for an accountancy practice. And yet we can probably guess that John hasn't invested well over the years. So he and his team, maybe they're using older technology still. They're definitely still on Windows 10. Might even be a Windows 8 machine clunking away somewhere, maybe an XP machine that pushing it too far. But their Internet is okay at best, and cybersecurity is very much something that they just pay lip service to. John's Mindset is that he pays, I don't know, Microsoft, maybe an msp, perhaps a breakfast company somewhere. He pays them money every now and again or every month. So surely all of the security and everything should be all sorted out, right? That's his kind of accountant's attitude towards it. And this attitude towards technology probably means that John suffers from lots of downtime or at the very least, interruptions to his productivity. And I bet his staff complain a lot, too. The subtext of this approach to technology is that money is tight for John and people tend to assume that accountants are great business owners, but actually that that's not the experience that, well, I've certainly had from the accountants that I've met. Just like with MSPs, you get some that do very, very well, some that do very badly, and the bulk, they just sit in the middle doing okay. John may have lots of clients, but that also means lots of work. And the margins and accountancy are not what they used to be. And also, John doesn't really understand technology. And this is the core kind of heart of the matter that you need to understand, because he understands that the technology is mission critical and that at some point he's going to need to buy new hardware for his team, but he doesn't really understand even a fraction of the stuff that's every day for you. Could he explain the cloud in a sentence that makes sense? Does he actually know what ransomware actually is? Would he know that malware stands for malicious software and, and what that actually looks like when it's on the screen? Don't even get me started on phishing. We all know that phishing is gonna mean something completely different to him. The point here is that to win John's business and to have any possibility of changing his attitude towards his technology and getting him to invest in his business properly, you must understand all of these motivating factors, all of the stuff we've just talked about. Selling managed services to the average business manager or owner is rarely about the technology. It's about what they do with the technology and how it helps them win faster or holds them back. When someone doesn't understand the thing that's really, really important to them. Your job as the person influencing them is to position yourself as an authority in technology and then reassure that person that they can make brave decisions and they can make these decisions because it will all work out okay. How do you do that? Well, positioning yourself as an authority, that's an ongoing task. Just look at what authority figures do. They write, they Speak, they are published, they are interviewed, they are known for giving advice and answering questions. And there's no shortcut to being seen as an authority figure. You have to do the hard work when whether that means buying in pre written content and putting your name on it, or actually generating your own content, there's no other way around it. But side note, in my MSP Marketing Edge service, we do have a number of different tools that our members can brand as their own to help them with their positioning as a tech expert. A couple, just off the top of my head, We've got our 2025 IT Services Buyers Guide that's incredibly popular and there's a book all about email security. You can put your name on the front of that. Have a [email protected] for those. But if you want to be perceived as an authority, you certainly need to attend networking meetings, you need to go to events, you need to put on webinars, you need to run seminars, speak at events, get on the stage, all of the stuff like that. And if you do this consistently month after month after month for a number of years, you just assume the position of being an authority in technology. No one tells you you are, you, you just become one. And this happens a lot faster, of course, if you're in a very specific vertical. But of course you can always just do it in your general area as well. So build that up, keep going at that. It's a never ending thing. Unfortunately, there's no shortcut to it. But once you have an authority position, how then do you reassure people that they're doing the right thing? Well, this can only come from understanding where they are. And that can only be done by asking them open questions. Now, unlike closed questions, where the response is either yes or no, open questions can have any possible answer. And I believe that open questions are one of the biggest weapons of influence that you could possibly wield in your marketing and your sales. Because everyone loves answering questions about themselves and their business. And when these questions are coming from someone that they perceive to be an authority figure, they are doubly keen to take part. In fact, the more you ask them about their business and the less you talk about you and your msp, the easier it is to influence them, the easier it is to get the sale. Because not only will you start to really understand the world as they see it and as they perceive it, but you'll also win their trust without actually doing any hard work. And I know that this is insane. I know that influencing someone just by asking them simple open questions rather than telling them what you know is bizarre, that that's an easier way to influence people. But hey, us humans are wired in a very strange way and that's what we have to work with. What I'm talking about here is not a one off tactic, it's a strategy. No, actually it's more than that. It's a whole way of life. It's you deciding that you want to be perceived and recognized as an authority in technology and you want to influence people by being intensely interested in them and their business. You can start doing that today and I highly recommend that you do. Paul Green's MSP Marketing podcast still to come. Tell me, do you have an animated explainer video on your website or. Actually, a more up to date term for it is a motion graphic. I mean, these have been around for what, 25, 30 years or more. And some of the old ones look really, really cheesy now. But the beautiful thing about motion graphics is they can be a very smart way to expand, explain complex things to people who don't understand those complex things. People like John Smith. I was just talking about. My special guest today is an expert in motion graphics and he's going to tell you how you can use them on your MSP's website. He'll be here in a few minutes time. Did you know your MSP is sitting on a secret gold mine? Budgets can be tight at this time of year. So right now you don't need to spend a fortune to generate leads. You just need to dig into the resources you already have. Let's explore how to strike gold by turning your existing assets into lead generators, using simple tactics to attract new clients and unlocking hidden revenue opportunities, all without spending a penny. On last week's show, I gave you three bootstrap marketing ideas for your msp. And today I have three more. First one then is to get your local media talking about you. So I get it. No one actually reads the local paper anymore. But the local media still has massive credibility. And free publicity is much more valuable than advertising because it has higher levels of perceived credibility. When journalists talk about you, ordinary people think that they've sought out the best experts. And actually most journalists these days, they just want easy content that's put in front of them. Here's the easiest way to get some pr, some public relations. You send press releases to local newspapers, local radio, local bloggers, local TV stations if you have them. And they should be about things that are huge in your world. But the rest of the public hasn't really heard about yet. Now, the media coverage itself is unlikely to get you new clients, so instead you use it to enhance your credibility and your authority. You can put a link to it on your website. Don't just copy it onto your website as there are copyright agencies looking for this, but linking to it is absolutely fine. Share it across your social media, email it out to your prospect database, add it to your About Us page, and make sure you put the logo of the media outlet in the footer of your website. Kind of like a as seen in or as heard on. And this way you can make one piece of coverage influence your prospects for years to come. Clever stuff that. Let's do the second one. This is to create videos every week. The most influential way of communicating with and persuading people in 2025 is through videos. And yes, this includes B2B marketing. Few MSPs create enough videos, which is just crazy as they're so easy to make. I mean, you can make a video in the next five minutes, just grab your phone and film something. Perhaps it's you just giving a quick warning about the latest email hack, something which has been all over the tech media, but it's not widely known for the public. Do a quick video banging on LinkedIn, you're done. And the video really can be that easy because you've seen what's on LinkedIn, right? You've seen what's on YouTube. People don't expect Hollywood style production from you. They're very, very tolerant of 60 seconds of just quick shot video. Very tolerant. If you want to invest in Kit, then yeah, down the line, focus on lighting and sound and image stability and all of that stuff. But right now you have a perfectly good camera in your phone. Maybe you'd get some lights to make it well lit or, or just film yourself outside where you are just naturally well lit. And maybe you'd get a microphone just to go on your shirt or something just to make the sound spot on. And down the line again, yeah, you can get a tripod or a gimbal to steady the phone, but you don't need these things now. They make the videos look more professional down the line for a tiny investment. But honestly, trust me, just get started right now, holding your phone, talking to your phone. And here's the third one. The third of our bootstrapped, pretty much low cost or no cost marketing ideas for msp. And this third one is to obsessively collect social proof. Because most people are sheep, they prefer to do what most other people are doing. And this is a behavior that's hardwired into most humans brains. It's part of our survival instincts. So you need to show people that hundreds of other people just like them really trust your msp. This means asking for testimonials, it means soliciting reviews on Google or other platforms, and it means creating case studies for each service that you want to focus your marketing efforts on. Don't ever be scared to ask clients for reviews and testimonials or to take part in some filming. And sure, some of them will say no, but the law of reciprocity says many will happily say yes as a thank you for the great service that that they're getting from you. And yes, this still works despite the fact that they have paid for this service. And yes, humans are strange. The key thing here is to systemize this in the business so it becomes a regular monthly task and not just a once a year social proof topper Paul Green's MSP Marketing Podcast still to come all MSPs hate this. You sit down to write some marketing content because you've got a great idea in your head. But then you stare at the blank page and the flashing cursor for hours and hours and hours. If you have lots to say that ordinary business owners and managers will find interesting, but you hate the actual process of writing, let me give you three ways to write content without ever touching a keyboard. I'll tell you what they are in the next few minutes. Crampons and carabiners at the ready. Selling managed services can feel like climbing a mountain, right? It's steep, it's exhausting, and every step towards new cash feels like an uphill battle. But what if there was a shortcut? A way to smooth the path, get leads flowing in, and help your MSP make more money. My special guest today is going to tell you how a simple visual tool can attract prospects, turn your website into a lead generation machine, and make closing sales easier than ever before. [00:14:47] Speaker A: Hi, my name is Chris Walker and I run Joe Mule Creative and I'm an expert in animated video content. [00:14:53] Speaker B: And thank you so much for joining us on the show, Chris. We were introduced by Christina Hunt, who is an MSP marketer. So thank you Christina, because animated videos are something I've been meaning to It's a topic I've been meaning to talk about on the podcast for some time. And before we delve into your career, Chris, and the kind of videos you produce for MSPs right now, let's first of all define what you mean by an animated video? Because I'm going to be honest, and this maybe is the elephant in when you talk about animated videos. I see, and you will have seen this, that the hand holding the Sharpie that kind of moves across the screen and does. I think they're called whiteboard videos, aren't they? Where, where whatever it is that the voiceover is saying that the hand is writing it on the screen. And those to me feel really, really old, you know, old, old school. And that's not quite what you mean by animated videos, is it? [00:15:44] Speaker A: It isn't, no. Those things, those whiteboard videos, I'll be honest, a bit of the bane of my life for people who've ever paid. Number of reasons. That isn't really what I mean when I say animated videos, because I'll just delve into it very quickly. The trouble with those whiteboard videos are they're very, very generic for a start. And they're not great at helping you kind of spread brand awareness because of how generic they look. When I talk about animated videos, I suppose a better term, a broader term would be motion graphics. So that's anything that isn't kind of live shot footage. So that can include things like iconography and kind of shape and abstract movement and things like that that can help explain what might be somewhat a complex concept or product. And really those visuals are there to help guide a narrative so that people can kind of start and watch a video and get a better sense of what you're talking about in that video without you having to kind of come on camera and talk about it. [00:16:40] Speaker B: Okay, yeah, that makes perfect sense. And of course, what MSP sell is a very complicated service. Anyway, now in a second I'm going to ask you whether or not those animated videos are better than having a human on screen. Because as we know, people buy from people. Wouldn't it be better to see the people? But before we get on to that question, just tell us a bit about your background. So how do you get to the stage where you're running your own company doing these animated motion graphic videos? [00:17:05] Speaker A: So my background primarily as a designer and an animator. I used to work for a big agency and used to run their production department as their kind of senior creative. And I did that for about 10 years. I suppose I got a little bit disillusioned with middle management working for another agency and started kind of freelancing. And then essentially over the course of the last six or seven years of built a business around that and expanded the team out and decided pre pandemic to focus on things like MSPs, tech and software companies as my kind of target audience for producing videos. And it's, it's gone pretty well during that time. I feel all those industries, industries that can use help because they've all got complex products at the end of the day and they're all competing usually in quite a, quite a competitive market. So being able to stand out against the competition is also something that's usually pretty important for those businesses. [00:17:58] Speaker B: Yeah, I can imagine. And I guess half the challenge for you is taking this very complex thing that someone is selling, whoever you're working with and actually getting your head around it enough yourself that you can then break it down into a very simple, clear to communicate message. Do you have a process to do that? [00:18:15] Speaker A: Yeah, certainly. So that is one of the big challenges really is us being able to understand it. I suppose the advantage of using an outside agency like ourselves has always been that we feel like if we can understand what a client's product is, what their business model is and what their kind of service offering is, then there's a good chance that we'll be able to transfer that to their customers. Because quite often you're not selling into a particularly technical audience. So what we try and do is really look at the top and high level offer that you're trying to get across because those are usually the things that help you open doors and start those sales conversations rather than getting into the real detail. I always say our kind of mantra is the more complex a product is, the simpler the video needs to be really, because you need to be looking at what, what are the core things, what are the two or three things that you want a viewer to take away from watching that video. And the best way to do that is to really strip away all the detail, don't get stuck in the weeds and concentrate on those kind of the core benefits of what you try to get across in the video. [00:19:17] Speaker B: Yeah, 100, 100,000%. I think you and I are in completely agreement on that. You know, we're saying the same things, albeit we're coming at it from different angles. I think with any msp, and this is one of the things that makes marketing an MSP so hard is when you're inside and you're looking at all of the things that an MSP must do, all of the cyber security, all of the systems, the safety, you know, all of the work and the remote working, the flexibility, everything is enormous. And then trying to put all of that over, over to People who aren't technical and who are making decisions with their hearts. With their hearts and with their feelings, not with their brains. That's one of the hardest things for any MSB to do when they're working on their marketing. So let's come back to the thing I mentioned earlier about having a human on screen versus having a motion graphic video. So my perception is that you'd always be better having a human on screen because as I said earlier, people buy from people and it's easier for us to relate to seeing people on the screen. Do you find that it's easier not to have people on screen because you haven't got to get actors involved or you haven't got to try and persuade the client to go on screen? [00:20:23] Speaker A: Yeah. So that's a couple of really good points, actually. And I think, because I'm in agreement with you, I do. People do buy from people. I think the place for animated video really is probably earlier in that kind of sales and marketing funnel, though, because if people don't really understand your product offering and the service that you're offering, you may not get that opportunity to get in front of them in the first place. And really, the. The power of a kind of animated video is that the visuals are helping to guide and explain the narrative that's coming across, probably in a voiceover or something like that, because it's a lot easier for people to take that information in, because really what they're taking in is the voiceover and the kind of narrative and those visuals are there to help make that transition a little bit easier for them. I suppose the trouble with getting somebody on screen to do that is you still. You're only listening to the narrative and you're concentrating on that person as opposed to kind of being able to take that information in individual way. So the animated videos, I suppose, are hitting you from two directions. Visually, you're able to understand that information and you're also taking in the audio as well, as opposed to somebody talking on camera. The second side to that is actually the length of time it takes somebody to talk about a product or a service. If it's just somebody talking on camera, that might take you 2, 3, 4 minutes to explain the kind of intricacies of what a product is. By using an animated video, you're able to strip away a lot of that because the visuals are doing half the work for you. So you're not having to kind of dig into quite as much detail verbally because the visual elements are doing that for you. So that's I think, you know, I'm a big fan of including on screen kind of. Especially if it's, you know, the company owner, the founder, the CTO or something like that, I think it's important to be able to get a face behind that product. But I just think that usually comes a little bit further down the line in that kind of sales and marketing funnel. [00:22:18] Speaker B: Yeah, that makes perfect sense. So if we took an average managed service provider and we. And what I'm attempting to do with the question I'm about to ask you is to sort of break down what could go in a video. So for those MSPs listening to this or watching this on YouTube who think, oh, I'm going to go off and do my own video, which obviously some will, we're sort of giving them a steer, a direction with which to go. So if you took an average MSP and let's just say they're serving a local audience so they're looking after businesses locally. And it is all the standard offerings, cybersecurity, you know, the 365, all of, all of that. It's all of the standard stuff. Where would you start with putting together an explainer video for something like that? [00:22:57] Speaker A: So where we usually start is looking at the problems that that client is solving with those kind of products and service offerings and really digging into those. There's a basic structure for a video, what we call an explainer video, top of the funnel kind of video that's really going to be a door opener for them to be able to put in front of prospective clients so that they can watch a 60 second video and go, I understand what these guys are offering because those are problems that I'm currently having with my business. Really focus on a, you know, paint the picture of what your client is facing in terms of the world that they live in and the business that they operate. Some of the headaches that they're probably experiencing with either their existing services or services that they may not be aware of, introducing your company and your solution as a, you know, a way of solving some of those problems and then explaining, I think the important thing that a lot of people miss out in those kind of videos is what are the real benefits in terms of the impact that that could have on your business? Not just, oh, we can help you solve A, B and C, but what will that mean for your business in terms of, you know, the resources it might save you, the time it might save you, you know, is it going to help you, bottom line, by making you more efficient and those things. So there's a basic structure, that's how we always approach things. You know, problem, solution, impact. And then obviously, if you can back that up with things like social proof and kind of little clips from existing clients that have proven and back up the, the claims that you're supposed to be making, that's usually where we'd start with something like that. And that's applicable for a lot of businesses. But I think it's particularly pertinent to MSPs and technical companies because they will find, I'm sure, that as we do when we deal with them, a lot of the problems that their clients are facing are the same across a lot of businesses. So you can kind of get into a nice rhythm where you can produce a piece of video content that's speaking directly to your kind of audience and they can find it very relatable towards their business. [00:24:54] Speaker B: Yeah, I absolutely love that. Thank you for that framework. That's exactly what I was looking for. Because someone can obviously pick up that framework now and go away and create their own version of a video, which is absolutely spot on. I think you're right. The key thing here, and this all comes back to what we were saying right at the start about people buying from people. If you can use that video to, to someone will, even if they only watch it for 20, 30 seconds and they think this is it, these, these people understand, they understand the fear I've got, because we know that ordinary business owners and managers, they are picking MSPs with the heart, they're not doing it with their brain. So I think we're just using video here as a different medium to talk to their feelings and to almost give them a feeling of reassurance that, oh, these people get it, they understand what it's like and why I'm worried about that. And there's an assumption then that if, if you can communicate that fear to someone, the assumption is that you are a good provider, you're a provider of substance, which I think is absolutely wonderful. So, Chris, thank you so much for that. It's been absolutely fascinating. Tell us about your website and how we can connect to you on LinkedIn so we can go and see some of these amazing videos that you've been creating. [00:26:04] Speaker A: Oh, great. Yeah. So the website is jomuel creative.com, which is a bit of a mouthful. You can find me on LinkedIn. Chris Walker. I'm pretty active on there most days, talking about creating video content, best practices and kind of how to's and things like that so? Yeah, it'd be great to connect with anybody out in the MSP world who wants to know more about creating video. [00:26:23] Speaker B: Paul Green's MSP Marketing podcast, Paul's personal peer group. Please do keep sending in your questions and we'll keep answering them on this bit of the show. Producer James what have we got today? Well, Paul, today, Elliot and his MSP. [00:26:39] Speaker A: In Manchester in the UK are in. [00:26:41] Speaker B: Dire need of unblocking. Writer's block is the problem Elliot has. He writes, I have loads of ideas for new content for my website, but when I sit down to write it, it's too hard and I never get started. How can I force myself to write these articles? Well, forcing yourself is actually completely the wrong approach. If you're sitting in front of a blank document, watching that cursor flash and flash and you just can't be inspired to get started, then try one of these three things instead. The first is to dictate it, transcribe it and edit it. So grab your phone, just start audio recording and just talk. And don't worry too much about the structure of what you're talking about or how long it is. Just talk, get what's in your head out of your head and get it onto an audio recording. Then get it transcribed, which is so easy these days. You've got transcription built into 365, or you can use a service like Rev.com, which combines automated transcription with a human check, and that dramatically increases accuracy. I'm sure you have a transcription service somewhere that you love. And then the final part of that is to find an editor who can turn your transcript into a proper, structured article. The second technique I have is for you to get yourself interviewed, and this is an easier and ultimately quicker way to get the content out of your head. You get a writer to interview you, so you tell them what the article should be about, and then you get them to interview you over the phone or a video call and make sure they record it so they don't miss any details. I mean, you could be interviewed about several subjects in one call, which is very efficient. And a writer with journalism experience will deliver the best results. It strikes me that you could also use chat, GPT or your other AI tool of choice to interview you in exactly the same manner. Just don't forget to get a human to look at whatever it is that gets spat out, because I always think humans should just do the final edit and the final check on any content that's produced by AI. And then the final thing I have to suggest for you is to record yourself talking to clients. So the next time you're chatting with a client whether it's remotely or in person, just record the call. And of course that's easy on remote but for an in person visit you could just leave an audio recorder running on your phone and you don't need their permission to do this as you're only interested in what it is that you have to say. Sometimes you explain concepts to clients in a way that's really easy for everyone to understand and you can get that part of your recording transcribed and edited and boom, you've got another article for your website coming up. Coming up next week. Thank you so much for listening this week. Next week how to make your marketing so relevant to someone that the second they see it they stop what they're doing just to listen to you. For MSPS around the world. Around the world the MSP Marketing Podcast with Paul Green.