Benjamin Ard00:30 — Welcome back to another episode of Content Amplified. Today I'm joined by Richard. Richard, welcome to the show.
Richard Hutton00:41 — Thanks Ben, thanks for having me on. Looking forward to it.
Benjamin Ard00:44 — Yeah, Richard, I'm excited. This is going to be a ton of fun. This is a subject I'm really looking forward to because I do think a lot of marketers are figuring out really how to do this in a professional and authentic way. I think this will be cool. But before we dive in, Richard, let's get to know you so the audience knows who you are, work history, all that kind of fun stuff.
Richard Hutton01:06 — Okay, all right, how do I do this in part? Because I'm old, see, so this could take a while. Okay, former psychiatric nurse slash music promoter slash needed money got into IT distribution. From IT distribution, various roles, purchasing, sales, marketing, really enjoyed the marketing bit. The last, that was the last piece I did for that company. Got hired by Samsung to run their channel marketing at the time. Spent a long time with those folks, moved with them cross country and then got hired by NEC 10 years ago. And then Sharp purchased NEC through a joint venture that ended last year. So now I work for Sharp, running their demand generation team. So we're very channel orientated. So a lot of it is through and to partner marketing. But we also message and market to the end client as well and the various industries that apply to us. So is that a parted history? Okay, I still love music. Right, right.
Benjamin Ard02:15 — Love it. That is awesome. That is a great industry. Love. I love that. Passions never die. And I think that's a lot of fun. So Richard, what we talked about today and what we're going to dive into is this idea of shifting content away from polished product content to more human, authentic driven content. So my first question here is what made you first start to question this approach to say, hey, maybe not leading with the product first is like, you know, the right way of doing things. Maybe people want human led content. What, what was kind of that moment that told you maybe we should shift this around.
Richard Hutton02:58 — I think, I don't know if it's a moment. So first off, back up a little bit. It's not zero sum game, right? So I think there are places for both. I think it depends on how you look at your audience. And there are certain parts of our audience in the audio visual industry that definitely want to get excited about product. They want the latest features. They want to know about the latest features. So we have to make sure that that's delivered to them in the way they want it, consume it, learn about it and all that good stuff. But really, more so in the B2B space, people are buying from people and they're working with people and yeah, it's a corporation selling through a corporation through another corporation. Yeah, but there's still people who hold in that entire chain, right? And we just started to see more engagement when it was more of a personal story. And you could argue, you know, case studies do that to a degree, but then we kind of shifted a little bit as to how we present the kind of case studies doing more of the outcome from the human side of it. How did this make your job easier versus doesn't it look great? Hopefully it looks great too, right? That's still very important in audio visual, but, more, more taking that human approach. and then we also, you know, we sell through people was we're a channel orientated company. listening to that feedback and a few things kind of started to hit home. And sometimes it takes, you know, somebody new into the organization to come in and say, here's what I'm hearing about you from a competitive standpoint. And as I'm going out and meet new customers, so our new VP GM Mark Keros came in from a competitor and that was sort of what he came in thinking and as he was talking to more people, getting in front of key partners, customers, the thing that kept resonating was that whole, it's your people that makes a difference. So that kind of caused us to kind of really lean into, we were already kind of going there, but that kind of accelerated that sense of we need to tell a human story. And then how that relates to.
Richard Hutton05:24 — content is Well, then you can do slick glossy human story things, right? But What what resonates with us as people when we're you know watching YouTube or listening to shorts or reels or whatever? format we're listening to It's again, it's that I hate to use the word authentic, but that's what it is, right? It's that person talking about an experience or talking about an upcoming thing that they're into camera and is it polished, is makeup ready, is the lighting all great and all that? Sometimes, you know, there's limits, right? You go back, hear the words and see the thing, but that started resonating more. We just did a, we do a couple of things, obviously industry trade show and we're involved in some trade associations within the audio visual space and one of them is the National System Contracts Association and they do a business leadership conference every year. It's in Dallas. It's one of my favorite things to do because there is no trade show. I'm not standing by a six foot table or in a booth. I'm not the most technical people anyway. There's people in our organization do that far better than I do and ever will do. but it's a great opportunity to listen to what the partners are thinking about how they're running their businesses and the things that are impacting their business. that always informs our messaging and marketing, by going to that. And we get a video slot because we sponsor it, right? So it's like, okay, here's where you show your video. And I see, you know, a lot of manufacturers such as ourselves and I do the big corporate thing and it's flowing through a galaxy and you know, in a world where if it's ironic, it's funny, but sometimes most of the time it's not ironic and you know, it's extremely highly produced and what we did this year was we went to our sales team because we have a territory channel sales team, most of the folks that go to this NSCA business leadership conference are
Richard Hutton07:42 — AV dealers, right? They're selling our product with other solutions into the end client. So we went to, we managed them across the country and we went to a seller and said, just send us one minute. This is what we teed it up saying, this is going to get shown in this room with, you know, 300 dealers in there and you know, better gratitude would be great, but, but say what you want to say. So we did, and then we kind of collected, shot it on their phones, and you get to see, you're the grandstander. You set it up on a tripod, you got lighting right, you did the golden hour thing, because your house faced west, you're waiting for the sun to go down. And then there's other people that did it like walking to the car in the parking lot kind of thing, and it was still great, right? And then we kind of hatched that together, and that became the video.
Richard Hutton08:38 — that we showed to this group and we got so much kudos going, yeah, I haven't seen Katie for a long time, I haven't seen Jim for a long time. It's great to see him on there, glad to see they're doing well. Again, our industry is kind of a village, right? So a lot of us kind of go back a long time. So it was just a great way to kind of share. And that again was another sort of verification that this is the right way to do it because... As long as we do the other things right because people still do care about the features and the buttons and the sizes and the specs and all that good stuff. so that really resonated. So yeah, that's, then don't get me going about service too, because most people don't want to talk about service because you're implying well things then go wrong with your product. That's like, well stuff happens, man. So then deal with that. Right. And what's that interaction like? Are you going through a
Richard Hutton09:32 — A call center where you have to go through several steps so you get to somebody that realizes, you know about this stuff because you're in that technical space too, rather than the, here's the four questions I've got to ask you because this is me picking up the phone. And we deal with that in a very personal way too. And we have tremendous tenure on our service team, the folks that are actually picking the phone up, know about the products and know about the different applications that not just our partners but the end clients are using it. So we bring that to bear. So we have to tell those stories as well.
Benjamin Ard10:11 — Well, you're doing such a cool job of telling stories. I like that you're picking those up. You know, you're using them at trade shows. You're using the different teams. How are you getting the other teams involved? I mean, obviously if I'm in sales or success or support or wherever I'm at, you know, I'm thinking, well, I'm not, marketing is not my job. I need to do something else. How are you getting them to actually engage and produce content?
Richard Hutton10:35 — man, there's the, you just said those words, marketing's not my job. Holy cow. I get a little twitchy when I hear that. So I'll turn that around, right? And say, we're all trying to make revenue. We're trying to make profit. This is not a charity organization. We're trying to make money for the organization. Isn't everybody in sales? Are we all trying to do our part?
Richard Hutton11:02 — And one of my jobs is to try to help my team understand, yeah, the stuff you do every day, you don't think you're selling everything, but you're making the selling process easier, quicker. You're delivering good customer service. So yeah, when we see the growth numbers and the, you know, the GP dollars and the, you know, good news, bad news stuff, we impact that. So to say if you're in sales, that you're That's marketing's job or I'm not in marketing. I that makes me. Hello funky. Get a little funky.
Benjamin Ard11:42 — So when you hear that, do you hear that response ever? How do you overcome that objection? How do you educate people? Hey, this is the goal. We're trying to make money. And honestly, people want to respond to this type of content. We need you to be involved. How do you kind of pitch that?
Richard Hutton11:57 — Yeah, I think you break it down, right? I mean, it's, you know, we, we, we do a lot of events. We do a lot of events from, you know, boot kind of normal trade show, Infocom and ISC are two global shows that we do. And we collaborate with our subsidiaries overseas and we, we have nice booth spaces and we have a lot of product there and we're doing applications. We're showing here's what it looks like in higher end is what it looks like in a transport home. We're showing our wares kind of thing. But we also do and from an instance do more of the six foot tabletop 50 cells reps are going to walk through in the next two hours. And we've got a bowl full of candy and some pizza slices. So if, and if the sales rep can't understand that that's marketing, I don't know, maybe some people you can't help, man. Some people you can't help, but it becomes an easier, like they get it, they get it. And then, but then we, we start talking about, cause we've gone through some, some brand changes, right? know, any C sharp, any C display solutions to shop. So everybody's got several tablecloths and polo shirts with the different brands on. just trying to get everybody like, they get it. That's kind of common sense stuff, but you do have to pay attention, right? We definitely, you know, we're about to do some training at one of our, at our big sales kickoff in New Jersey coming up. And some of that is going to feel a little basic, a little table like stuff on the branding that we do at trade shows and events and the type of events that our sales reps do more often than not. Because to be honest with you, big industry trade shows, a whole conversation we had about big industry trade shows, but they're morphing and some of them are getting smaller and the impetus is, and again, this kind of relates to exactly what we're talking about. It's like more regional, smaller, more meaningful conversations with the right people. then it's not about
Richard Hutton14:16 — Oh, I scanned, you know, 3000 scans in the last 72 hours. It's like, I had 20 really great conversations today. And three of those, I know I've got opportunities behind them. So that's my follow up. That's my direction. That's so much more valuable. Don't get me wrong. We like, you know, we like to do marketing to the masses, but it's that one on one kind of stuff that really is more valuable at the end of the day.
Benjamin Ard14:41 — Yeah.
Benjamin Ard14:45 — I love that. So when you're working on this human led authentic content, a couple of questions come to mind. You you talked about the sales rep using the video, they're walking out to their car versus the I got the tripod golden hour, perfect setup and all of that. Where do you like, where do you draw the line of This is needs to be brand and more polished versus more, you know, human like, is there a level of like excellence you have to hold them to? How do you kind of know what fits and what doesn't when you're working with that kind of content?
Richard Hutton15:26 — Okay, so we got branding guidelines, obvious stuff, right? How we display the logo, where we can put the logo. We have value prop statements around the brand. But when it comes to things like that, you're gonna know it when you see it. And I'd rather
Benjamin Ard15:31 — Mm-hmm.
Richard Hutton15:53 — See somebody make a small mistake, an unintentional mistake and have to follow up and say, yeah, we can't do it that way. I know what you're trying to do, but we can't do it that way because it could potentially impact the brand. I don't find that a lot people. It's kind of common sense, right? You know, things like, you know, industries can get a little boozy, right? but we don't go filming content videos in bars when people are doing shots. I'm kind of getting way too old for shots these days, thankfully, you know, it's that kind of stuff. make, it's, I always reminded of Frances McDermott in Almost Famous, if you know that movie. And she's waving the kid off as he's going to interview the rock band and he's like 15 years old or something. And she just screams out the window, make good choices. And I'm kind of reminded of that a little bit. I think a lot of it is common sense. We've not had to deal with anything too wayward. I don't think. I am.
Benjamin Ard17:00 — I love that. Well, and I love the attitude towards it because if you were overly strict and overly prescriptive, you take the authenticity out of the content right then and there. Like people need to be themselves to shine.
Richard Hutton17:14 — Yeah. Right. yeah, and then you're not going to get, you know, we want people posting on the social sites regularly, and we want people building an audience. And if you come in with his 16 pages of things not to do, they're just not going to do it because then they then it's like, I'm gonna I'm gonna violate clause six C or something, you know, and it's just not going to happen. And again, hopefully, you know, we, we're coaching and we've got sales leadership and we've got, um, know, training that goes on, but it's not too heavy handed. Um, we, we've given them suggestions on, you know, the kind of words to use and why those are important, but then you not, you you can't go too far down that road or cause we want people to, um, be themselves ultimately, and that to come across and that's what their customers expect to see because you know, right, if you know, if you've got relationship in a territory, and some of our reps have had been in these territories for a long time, right, sometimes working for different many facts, so they're very well know. And all of a sudden they turn up in a you know, in a bow tie and a tuxedo and they're speaking it's like, okay, dude, that's not you. We know that's not you. And I think the same for us right from even some of our corporate marketing. Sometimes it can go the other way where, you're trying to be too loosey goosey and you're kind of forcing it. Just be yourself, you know.
Benjamin Ard18:48 — Yeah, I love that. And it takes time for people to get comfortable with that and also recognize, hey, I'm not going to get in trouble for this. This is what they're looking for. This will work well. I really like that. So one final question, because Richard, we're almost out of time. These podcasts go by so quick. How do you recommend anyone listening to this episode if they want to go further down this pathway, encourage the entire team to participate in content creation, to be comfortable with it, to be excited about it. How can they start taking those steps in the right direction?
Richard Hutton18:55 — Right. Yep. Yep.
Richard Hutton19:27 — First thing, I think, listen to your customers, try and get that sense of what makes us different. And I know you're going to find that it's that human relationship that helps. Yeah, the product is great, but it's that human relationship. So listening to get to that essence, I think, is key. And then to be honest with you, look, know, face made for radio. and a weird accent and a bit nasally. You've got to get past like feeling uncomfortable a little bit seeing yourself. That's just, yeah, you got to get past that. Just do it, just do it. Try it. You do it yourself, you know, in your family July 4th barbecue stuff, you might goof off a little bit and you're taking funny photographs. Not to say that you take that to the nth extreme with your corporate branding, but comfortable there. Why can't you be comfortable at work talking about the things that you do well and the people that you work with and that that should be comfortable, right?
Benjamin Ard20:39 — Yeah, I love that. That's so cool. Well, I love not only...
Richard Hutton20:42 — Or as the Marines would say, get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Benjamin Ard20:47 — That's fair. And there's only one way to do it. And that is trying it out and getting in front of a camera or writing that content. There's no other way to build up the comfort level until you've put yourself out there.
Richard Hutton20:52 — Yeah!
Richard Hutton20:59 — Yeah, 100%.
Benjamin Ard21:02 — Well, Richard, this has been incredible. Thank you so much for anyone listening who wants to reach out and connect with you online. How and where can they find you?
Richard Hutton21:09 — easiest thing is LinkedIn. I'm not like, try and do one a week. But I'm out there on LinkedIn land. Yeah, that's the best way to reach me.
Benjamin Ard21:23 — Love it. For everyone listening to the episode, scroll down to the show notes. We will have Richard's LinkedIn profile listed right there. Click on the link connect with Richard say hello say you came from the podcast. That'd be awesome. Richard, thank you so much for the time and insights today really do appreciate it.
Richard Hutton21:40 — Thanks Ben, thanks for making this super comfortable. Really enjoyed it.
