Do marketing you can't automate or scale

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Nervous about promoting your msp? You're not alone. This show gives you the mindset, message and marketing to do it all with confidence, right? [00:00:13] Speaker B: You're here, I'm here. We are ready to go, so let's get started. Here's what's coming up in today's show. Why Sometimes it's good to do marketing that you can't automate or scale. Imagine losing 17,000 connections on LinkedIn overnight, and my special guest reveals the simple video every MSP needs to increase sales. Welcome to episode 309 powered by MSP. [00:00:38] Speaker A: Marketingedge.Com Paul Green's MSP Marketing Podcast In. [00:00:43] Speaker B: A world where you can automate almost anything, so it can be done at any scale, here's the strangest advice you're going to hear from me. I believe sometimes you should deliberately do marketing that will never scale up and that you can't automate. It's Even if that means that you personally have to sit and do a whole chunk of work, why would I recommend this? Surely one of my jobs is to make your marketing easier. Well, yes, that's true once you've figured out what marketing works. But doing marketing experiments yourself is an important part of figuring out the specific tactics that'll work for your msp. As business owners, you and I love things that are scalable and repeatable, right? We like processes, automation, efficiency, and yes, that's where you want to end up with your marketing. But in the early days of trying out a new marketing channel, you can't always jump straight to automation. And here's why. Not all marketing works for all businesses. What works brilliantly for the MSP down the road from you might flop. For you, the only way to find out what actually works for your business is to test it manually in a way that doesn't scale. For example, let's say you want to try LinkedIn outreach. And sure, there are tools out there that'll blast out hundreds of automated messages every week. But if you don't yet know what message resonates with your ideal prospects, then blasting out hundreds of messages just means you'll annoy more people faster. Instead, you're better off writing a handful of personal connection requests every day. Try different approaches, test out different messages, and see what kind of response you get. Once you know what works, then you can look at scaling or systemizing it. Here's another example. Follow up emails. You might want to eventually build an automated nurture sequence inside your CRM, but before you do that, it's worth sending a batch of personal follow ups to Prospects 1 by one to see which subject lines get opened, which wording gets replies, that kind of stuff. Once you know, you can then plug those learnings into automation and let software do the heavy lifting. And here's my key point. Marketing is not a one size fits all game. Every market, every town, every vertical is slightly different. So in the early days of trying something new, you've got to be willing to roll up your sleeves and do the kind of marketing that just isn't scalable. Let me give you three more practical examples. Number one Handwritten letters to prospects Everybody has too much email, but nobody gets lots of nice stuff in the post anymore through the mail. So a short handwritten note to a dream prospect stands out a mile. You can even include your business card or a printed case study. And sure, yeah, it takes time, but that personal effort is exactly what makes it memorable. Number two Personally following up after events. Instead of dumping business cards into a CRM and firing off a generic email, pick 5 to 10 people you met at an event and send each of them a tailored follow up. Mention what you talked about when you met and link to something useful or suggest a quick call. It's way more effort than an email blast, but those connections tend to stick. And number three LinkedIn voice notes instead of typing another thanks for connecting message, send them a 20 to 30 second LinkedIn voice note. It's personal, it's surprising, and it shows there's a real human behind the profile. [00:04:00] Speaker C: Of course you can't outsource this. [00:04:02] Speaker B: You can't really automate it. And that's exactly why it works. I guess the way to think about this is it's R and D. It's research and development for your marketing. Once you've tested and proven what works for your specific msp, then you can start building processes, automations and systems around it. So don't be afraid of doing scrappy, unscalable marketing in the short term. That's where the insights come from. It's how you figure out what works. And once you know what works, then and only only then do you scale it up and automate it. [00:04:35] Speaker A: Paul Green's MSP Marketing Podcast still to. [00:04:38] Speaker B: Come Tell me, do you have an explainer video on your website? We've seen them all over the web, haven't we? And yet explainer videos for MSP always end up kind of boring because actually explaining managed services to an ordinary business owner or manager, well, it's really difficult without diving down a technology road hole. My special guest today is an expert at explainer videos, and he's going to tell you how you can do one for your prospects in a way that's never boring. He'll be here in the next few minutes. [00:05:09] Speaker C: Right? [00:05:10] Speaker B: MSPs. Imagine if you logged onto your LinkedIn one day and instead of those thousands of connections that you've slowly built the hard way, instead you see an error message because you'd broken some rule on LinkedIn that you didn't even know about and some algorithm somewhere decided to shut down your accounts. No warning, no opportunity to put it right. You're just locked out. Now, this might sound like fantasy, but it's real. And it's happened to people that you probably know. Let me tell you about borrowed audiences on platforms like LinkedIn and why owned audiences are always a safer bet. If you're old enough to have gone. [00:05:47] Speaker C: To the movies back in the 1990s, do you remember what the trailers were like? [00:05:51] Speaker B: All movie trailers back then were kind of the same. [00:05:53] Speaker C: There was a voiceover guy with a. [00:05:55] Speaker B: Really deep voice and he'd talk about the main character, usually Bruce Willis, being the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time. [00:06:04] Speaker C: Excuse me. Well, that was my friend and channel legend, Matt Solomon. [00:06:09] Speaker B: On Christmas eve last year, 2024, I was flicking through Facebook eating a mince pie actually, when I spotted this post. It said, and this is Matt talking, It said, I'm reaching out with an important request. Remember, he put this on Facebook. He said, My LinkedIn account has been restricted for a post viol despite exhausting all standard protocols. 15 emails back and forth. I've only encountered copy paste responses that lead nowhere. [00:06:37] Speaker C: Now, as the voiceover guy would say, hang on a second. [00:06:40] Speaker B: Matt was an innocent man locked in a prison for a crime he did not commit. I mean, actually, really, what a nightmare. At the time, Matt had 17,000 plus connections on LinkedIn, and it looks like something that he'd posted had inadvertently tripped a safety algorithm somewhere. His account was automatically suspended. And what's scary is this could happen to any of us. It could happen to you, it could happen to me at any time. LinkedIn is an amazing platform. I use it every day and I recommend it as the number one place that MSPs go fishing for business. But its greatest limitation is that it is a borrowed audience. You don't own your connections, your content, or your interactions on LinkedIn. They belong to LinkedIn. You just get to borrow them because that benefits you and the platform at the same time. Other borrowed audiences include all other social media platforms, YouTube, online communities that you contribute to, you appearing in someone else's podcast or in the media or anything like that. The alternative to borrowed audiences is owned audiences. These are safer as you have direct 100% control over what happens with them. Examples include your email list, visitors to your website, subscribers to your podcast, the list of people who visited your trade show booth. The downside of owned audiences is that it takes a lot more work and cash to build them and get something from them. LinkedIn can make a post go viral with kind of no work needed from you, but your podcast won't go viral unless you push it and push it and push it for years. I believe you need a blend of both kinds of audiences and in fact, Matt Solomon does this. He has a lot of followers across social media, but also has a huge email subscriber list. In the unlikely event his CRM declined to send his emails tomorrow, well, that data is his and he can take it to an alternative CRM. I recommend to my MSP Marketing Edge members that they turn LinkedIn connections into data in their CRM and we give them a checklist to do this and some specific messages to send out. This allows them to reach the same people through two different channels, but also gives them a safety barrier. So tell me, what's the situation in your msp? If you lost your borrowed audiences tomorrow, could you still reach your leads and prospects? Oh, and P.S. just like a 1990 Bruce Willis movie, Matt's story does have a happy ending because he posted a few days later on Facebook that it had all been resolved and he was no longer in LinkedIn jail. [00:09:08] Speaker A: Paul Green's MSP Marketing podcast. [00:09:12] Speaker B: Still to come, exciting news. We have a new bit for the show right at the very end, we're introducing something called the Marketing Minute. I've been asking all of my friends and experts around the channel to send me a vlog voice note with ideas of marketing activities that you can do in a minute, but will make a big difference. Our first one's from Carl Palaceuk and it's an idea for sharing videos. I'm going to play his voice note for you in the next few minutes. We are years into the video revolution and you probably already have some on your website and your social platforms. There's one specific kind of video that you must have because it opens the door to prospects in a way no other video can. My special guest today will explain what this video is exactly, how to create one, and how to make sure it's something the hottest prospects are desperate to watch. [00:10:03] Speaker D: Hi, I'M Will Seabrook. I am the CEO and founder of LightTouch Media Group. [00:10:07] Speaker C: And thanks for joining us on the podcast, Will, because we are talking today about explainer videos. We've all seen explainer videos. [00:10:14] Speaker B: They've been around for years and years and years, and maybe they've got a bit of a bad rep as well. [00:10:19] Speaker C: And maybe we can change that in today's video or in today's podcast. I think explainer videos are great. Well, maybe I should be asking this for you as a question, but I think explain the videos are great for explaining something complicated that people are buying that they don't really understand, which is managed services. It's something complicated that people buy and they have to buy it and they want to buy it, and yet they don't understand it. So let's delve into explain the videos. [00:10:45] Speaker B: How you would use them, how you keep them modern, what makes them right. [00:10:49] Speaker C: In, you know, as we sort of. [00:10:50] Speaker B: On the edge of 2026. Before we do all of that, let's learn a little bit about you. So what's your background, Will, how you. [00:10:56] Speaker C: Get into making videos in the first place? [00:10:58] Speaker B: And how many videos do you reckon. [00:10:59] Speaker C: You'Ve made in your career? [00:11:01] Speaker D: Sure. So about 17 years of work. Now, I've owned two agencies north of 8,000 projects to date. So everything from mom and pop shops to the Fortune 50, you know, household name companies. And I've been fortunate to make a lot of different kinds of videos for different audiences and use cases, everything from national TV commercials to trade show videos to online explainer videos. And so it helps you get very good at asking the right questions questions when you're dealing with so many different audiences and outcomes. We've gotten very good at just understanding the needs. You know, a video is always just a means to an end, and that's very important to keep in mind. And so, you know, a trade show video that's up playing in a booth in this crowded, you know, loud space with a million people walking around and talking is very different than something you're watching on your phone. And a video that's on LinkedIn is very different than a video that's on Instagram, for instance. So really understanding the audience, the use case, where is it going to be seen? And then what is the outcome that you're trying to facilitate? Those are really the three key questions you have to ask. [00:12:07] Speaker C: Great. There's a great, great questions to get started with. And we should say, by the way, that in those 8,000 videos, I know you've done hundreds and hundreds for MSPs, which is obviously why you're on the show. [00:12:17] Speaker B: So when we talk about an explainer. [00:12:19] Speaker C: Video, and is it as I said just, just a couple of seconds ago, that it's some way of explaining something difficult to people who don't know how to buy that thing, or are there other purposes you would use and explain a video? [00:12:32] Speaker D: Yeah. So I mean, if you look at the sort of course of video, the answer to your earlier question is, I completely Forrest Gumped my way into video production back in the day, probably around 2009. I owned, I co owned my first agency and we were trying to find ways to explain things to people that didn't want to read a long white paper or technical brochure or whatever it might be. And believe it or not, online video was a new concept at that time. Seems hard to believe, hard to think back all those years, but we started making very simple but very conversational, engaging videos. And the thing I think that we did really, really well is that from the day one, we made it all about the audience. So a lot of people sort of fall into the trap of trying to explain something in very technical terms. They think about it from their point of view as a professional, I've been doing this for 20 years and I know everything about it. And I'm going to hit you with a bunch of jargon and industry terms and technological mumbo jumbo for the audience because they don't understand what it is that you do typically. [00:13:34] Speaker E: Right. [00:13:34] Speaker D: But if you reverse that and you sort of obsessively put yourself in the shoes of someone who needs your services, they just don't know it yet. Solve their problem, speak to their needs. So typically you start off by saying, are you dealing with, are you in this professional role, your owner, operator or the person in charge of technology, etc. And are you dealing with these challenges and the person's immediately nodding their head and saying, yeah, I am. That is my problem. [00:14:03] Speaker E: Great. [00:14:04] Speaker D: So let me just explain just enough about what we do in very simple, basic terms for you to begin to think, okay, you got me, you hooked me. You've created an itch that I can't help but scratch and I want more information. That is sort of the ideal explainer video and it can be done. Now again, an explainer concept on Instagram or TikTok is completely different than LinkedIn or in an email newsletter, things like that. There are sort of, when in Rome, ways of going about it in terms of the format and how long it takes et CETERA but fundamentally you have to speak to the needs of your ideal audience and you just put yourself in their shoes. When because people are self interested in terms of self preservation, we're all drinking from the same fire hose of information every minute of every day now. And so we have our guard up and if something doesn't apply to us or it isn't interesting to us, we just immediately tune it out. [00:15:05] Speaker E: Right. [00:15:06] Speaker D: But if you immediately start with, hey, if you have this job and you're probably dealing with these challenges, listen up and you'll see that if you start scrolling through sites like Instagram, the advertising, we're all getting hit with this all the time. Right. So. So you see something that says are, are you dealing with this issue? Well, this is for you. And you start paying attention. Oh yes, I am. Oh, tell me about that. Right, so that's, that's really the core fundamental that's so important is just speak to the needs of your audience. [00:15:36] Speaker C: Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And actually I can see that when you are selling to an audience that wants the thing you sell, which is better technology, managed services, but doesn't understand it, the person who educates them is most likely to have a sales conversation because that you become an authority in their, in their heart, you in their head and in their heart just by doing that. So how have you seen the explainer video change over the years? Because you mentioned Instagram and TikTok and obviously we've got, you know, YouTube. YouTube only came out in 2005, which as a, as a 51 year old I find that very hard to deal with because YouTube is where I spend most of my time watching videos these days. I watch more YouTube than I do Netflix, which is, which has only really happened in the last few years. Yeah, you're the same. And you, I think the vast majority of us are very similar and it's. That just kind of blows me away when you think how much video there is. And YouTube is the world's greatest place to find things that you're interested in. Whatever those things are, someone somewhere is producing that. Anyway, I digress. [00:16:34] Speaker B: So as, as the landscape of video. [00:16:36] Speaker C: Has changed as consumption has gone up. [00:16:38] Speaker B: There are more platforms, there are different. [00:16:40] Speaker C: Ways of having it. Our kids. I've got a 15 year old video is everything. It's absolutely, it's on all the time. I know she's awake when I can hear videos are playing. Right. So. And I'm sure if you've got kids, you know, will, it's exactly the same in your House. [00:16:53] Speaker B: So how has the explainer video changed? [00:16:56] Speaker C: So you talked about the core fundamentals of what it's trying to do. [00:17:00] Speaker B: Are the changes cosmetic or have you. [00:17:02] Speaker C: Seen quite a shift in what you need to do with an explainer video? [00:17:05] Speaker D: Yeah, I think the opportunities are more varied than they've ever been. But it's also more important to really understand who your ideal client is, where they're spending their time. And typically, I would imagine for most MSPs, based on our experience, typically you're not targeting somebody who's 23 years old. [00:17:25] Speaker E: Right. [00:17:26] Speaker D: It tends to be guys and ladies our age, maybe a little bit younger, a little bit older. And so for us, all of this is sort of a second language that we're now pretty fluent in. But we remember the days when none of this was around and this wasn't happening. And I was here at the dawn of online video. Right. And so there's even almost a nostalgia for some of that, for some of us. [00:17:46] Speaker E: Right. [00:17:47] Speaker D: And so, you know, again, what sort of work for TikTok? I don't think most MSPs need to worry about TikTok very much, just sort of period at a fundamental level, at the end of the day they're probably dealing with people one on one. They're doing email newsletters, they're following up on sales meetings. So a great example is if you're a provider and you have just a great meeting with somebody who's totally bought in and excited and you're like, man, I can close this, I know I can make this happen. Almost inevitably they're going to have other decision makers involved in the process who've never met you, don't even know your name, don't know your value. You should be chosen out of 500 other providers, right. That are banging down their door. If you have a 60 or 90 second follow up video where you can email that person like, hey, hey Joe, look. Really enjoyed our conversation. I think we're both in alignment on these points. Here are the ways that we can help you in a way that nobody else can. I know you probably need to get internal buy in on this. That's typically the way that it works. We've put together a 90 second video that really reinforces what makes us different. That and all the other guys banging down your door. I'm really excited about this potential partnership. I know we can do great work together. Here's that link. I'm going to just call you in a couple days, make sure you got it, make sure it didn't go to spam. Hope you're having a great week. Looking forward to our next conversation. [00:19:05] Speaker E: Right. [00:19:06] Speaker D: Just things like that that you can communicate rather than just sort of having that initial great conversation. Then the person goes on vacation or gets distracted or whatever and it's sort of that it cools off and you're back to zero, essentially. [00:19:19] Speaker E: Right. [00:19:19] Speaker D: And you're back to competing with everybody else who's banging down their door. Anything like that that can differentiate you is just really key. But knowing the needs of your audience is going to answer a lot of those questions. You don't need to be doing a TikTok dance. [00:19:36] Speaker C: Not for 15 years. Because of course the, the kids that are 15 today, in 15 years time, they're the decision makers. Right, but let's worry about that one, shall we in 2040, which all the. [00:19:45] Speaker D: Trends will be completely different at that point. [00:19:47] Speaker E: Right. [00:19:47] Speaker D: Because definitely there's no question that things work in cycles and the trends on one platform aren't the same as the other, so. [00:19:54] Speaker B: Correct. [00:19:54] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. And can you imagine what the kids are going to be watching in 15 years time? I have, I'm horrified just to think about it. I'm going to be that grumpy old man hologram something. I don't know, it'd be awful. [00:20:07] Speaker B: Let's, let's, let's finish wrap this up. [00:20:08] Speaker C: With just a practical look. So if you were to, if you're an MSP and you were going to. [00:20:14] Speaker B: Put, let's say you owned an msp. [00:20:16] Speaker C: Will, and you were like, right, I'm, I'm a video guy so I'm going to use video to communicate everything and I've got this really complex service. What would you, where would you start with that? Because I mean you gave, you've given. [00:20:27] Speaker B: A couple of two or three really good examples. [00:20:29] Speaker C: I love that follow up video idea. And as we all know, video can be used so quickly and so easily. It can be done on your phone. You could use Vidyard, you can use Bonjoro. It doesn't, you know, you don't need studios like you and I have got. [00:20:40] Speaker B: Nice studios and setups. You don't need all of that. [00:20:42] Speaker C: You can, you can do it very simply and very quickly, certainly to get started. But if you, if you bought an. [00:20:47] Speaker B: MSP tomorrow, which wasn't doing any videos in its marketing, where would you get. [00:20:51] Speaker C: Started in terms of, and I think. Do you mean primarily in terms of explaining what managed services is and how to pick an msp? [00:20:58] Speaker D: There's a couple of ways you can Think about it. You can look at low. So low hanging fruit is the short answer that can be your most lucrative and or profitable service. It can be your best intro entry level service that gets you a foot in the door, that, that starts the relationship, whatever makes sense for you as a way to begin the conversation and gives you an edge to, to, to get that foot in the door. That's where I would start. And differentiation is everything for MSPs because that at the surface, on a surface level it is complex. You're doing something that most of these business owners just don't want to look at. They just want it to work right. And the way to take advantage of that in my experience is really explain to them why you're the best partner. Do you have the magic want? Because that's what they really care about. They want someone who's not going to take advantage of them, who's going to shoot them straight, who's not going to recommend a bunch of things they don't need or things that are more expensive. That's really going to be a genuine strategic partner for them to just solve this problem right away and forever. And if you can really establish that level of trust and commitment then they're not going to go make a change and then you'll have that years long customer relationship that everybody's looking for. [00:22:15] Speaker C: I love it. I love it. Will just finally tell us a little bit more about the kinds of videos that you can make to help MSPs and how can we get in touch with you? [00:22:24] Speaker D: Yeah, I'd love to help and in fact I even have an online course. If you talk to me and you don't like my prices, I'll let you go. I show you how to do every single step of it yourself, which is actually really helpful for msps. But for people who like to work with us, there's literally not a type of video that we can't make. So like I said, I've done everything for every sort of outcome, every use case, etc. And I love to help people. And so for me it's also low hanging fruit and I'll help you determine that. What is the thing that's going to be most helpful to you? We've got all different tiers and price points, things like that. So if you go to expertcreativehelp.com that's our website and we're easy to find and easy to talk to and there's no obligation. Like I said, I love helping people. If I feel like I can't be super helpful to you. I'll let you know right away, but I'm always happy to give friendly advice as well. [00:23:17] Speaker A: Paul Green's MSP Marketing Podcast the Marketing. [00:23:21] Speaker F: Minute hi, this is Carl Polachuk from Small Biz Thoughts and I have a super quick tip about how to share your videos effectively. If you post your videos on YouTube, there's a great disadvantage sometimes because as soon as your video is done and your message has been received, it wants to put play another video that is probably completely unrelated to whatever your message was. Here's the tip. Put your video into a playlist with other related videos. Then share the link to the video inside the playlist and when it's complete, YouTube will serve up the next video in your playlist and you get to keep that audience at least for the first 30 seconds. Give it a try and let me. [00:24:13] Speaker D: Know how it works. [00:24:15] Speaker A: Coming up Coming up Next week Next. [00:24:17] Speaker B: Week, I've got a very simple upsell to suggest to you. It's something that's not only potentially an entirely new monthly recurring revenue stream, but every client who chooses to buy it will be happier and therefore will stay longer with your msp. I wonder, is the world's most perfect upsell? Tune into the podcast next week and you'll find out for MSPs around the. [00:24:40] Speaker A: World around the World the MSP Marketing Podcast with Paul Green.