Manufacturing eCommerce Success – with Jeff Long

Damon Pistulka  00:02

All right, everyone, welcome once again, it is Friday and you know what that means? It is time for manufacturing eCommerce success. I am one of your co host today Damon Pistulka. And that pretty man right over there is Curt Anderson, my co host brother from another mother, we’re going to be talking today about videos valuable video strategies for manufacturers with none other than Jeff Long. Take it away Curt

Curt Anderson  00:34

Hey, Damon dude, is this is? Is this our first episode? Is it like I’m meals like it? I’m a little confused right now because I’m I feel like, you know, we should show a clip of our first episode just for you know, I should have had that prepared.

Damon Pistulka  00:50

We should have.

Curt Anderson  00:51

I should have had a clip of our very first episode. So guys, happy Friday. What an honor. What a privilege we, Damon Murni 11th month already of the hour and what happened to 2023 my goodness was just January like yesterday. So here we are kicking off November and we are with none other than the one. The only Jeff Long Dayton, Ohio. True Focus Media. Jeff, how are you my friend?

Jeff Long  01:19

I’m doing good. Especially after the after that introduction? Well, yeah, it’s it’s always, you know, fun to chat with both of you, whether it’s, you know, just personally or here on the live stream. So yeah, excited to be here talking video and, and how manufacturers can can leverage videos in different ways. Right, you know, and so, yeah, we’ll get into a bunch of stuff.

Curt Anderson  01:38

Well, a lot of good things to cover. And so Jeff, I just want to give. So guys drop us a note, let us know that you’re out there. Give Jeff Long a big warm welcome. Give him a hello, connect with Jeff on LinkedIn. And so what an honor privilege to have you here today. Now you are a repeat offender. Not only are you a repeat offender on the program, dude, you were our first batter of all time, and you will always have that legacy, no matter what happens. So you can share that with your kids. Put that on your fridge tell mom and dad that you are the first guest. And dude, we’ve Damon we’ve stuck with it for like a few years now. So yeah.

Jeff Long  02:15

They haven’t cut you off yet. Believe it or not? Yeah. Well,

Curt Anderson  02:17

what thank you for being the first guest. You’ve been on multiple times. We appreciate your friendship, your support, and just what an honor. This is just really a really special moment. So let’s dig in. Please share with everybody who and what is true focused media. How do you make the world a better place?

Jeff Long  02:35

Yeah. So true focus media. I started it in 2003, like 20 years ago, which is crazy, like that teenager, right? Apparently, yeah, I was wearing even diapers probably back then. No. It was my first kind of real, real job a couple years out of college or whatever. And so that kind of kind of puts dates me a little bit. But anyway, yeah, I started the company with with two friends, business partners, and, and back then we were just a video production company, and honestly, more of a general production company. So a couple things happen there. I’ll try to summarize 20 years into like, 20 seconds, but we try to listen for common problems and find solutions, right? So while we started out, being, you know, go to experts on the video front, and that was before YouTube, that was back when DVDs were actually kind of like a big deal, right? This is kind of funny to even say that out loud. Now you’ll find them, you know, the $2 rack at Walmart or whatever. So, companies would ask us about, you know, modifying your website, improving their website, and all things related to that. So, so we did that. And that’s always been our one two punch is video marketing and web design development. But I’ve kind of, for better for worse kind of people know me most, most of all, on the you know, the video side of things, which is obviously what we’ll talk about here today. But yeah, like I said, we, you know, I try to I try to listen to problems and when you know, a person has a Hey, Jeff, do you guys do this? It’s either yes, we’ll figure it out. Or yes, we’ve done it before. Right. And granted, there are plenty of of projects and scenarios that aren’t a good fit. So I’m I don’t mind saying no and referring that out. But I also liked the challenge of trying something innovative or something a little different or twist on something, something we’ve already done. So, you know, we’ve done projects in 3d where, you know, we bring our special camera that shoots in three D and 360 degrees. So once it’s edited, you put on these virtual reality goggles and like you feel like you’re in the facility, feel like you’re on the plant foot floor, but it’s mind blowing. So all that to say, I’ve just been really blessed over these years to come worked with some really good people to network with folks like you guys and so many more. And probably five, six years ago, I wasn’t specialized in manufacturing, like I am now, it was like, we had a fair amount of manufacturing clients. But I took a step back and was like, you know, what, manufacturers are good people. They’re making awesome stuff. And as a visual person, like it’s easy to show, you know, something being built and created and welded and all that good stuff versus, you know, some other industries it and others it’s, it’s kind of hard to show like what’s in a computer, you know, what’s, what’s going in the server rack? Where’s manufacturing? It’s, it’s visual, it’s great, good people making good stuff.

Curt Anderson  05:45

Well, you can have good people, I want to get the Damon’s give a little background on our buddy, Jeff Long. So hey,

Damon Pistulka  05:52

today, we’ve got Harry, great guy here today, if you’re listening and want to drop a comment, we’ll we’ll get you up here. Let us know where you’re listening from. And if you got a question for Jeff, as you go through, make sure to ask them Kurt, let’s hear about Jeff from Well,

Curt Anderson  06:06

I had the honor, like you know, when you when you know somebody pre COVID That’s like, you know, like, like dog years. We connected on a on a on talking about community, right? The value and power of LinkedIn. We connected here on LinkedIn, join the community, Chris Lu keys, manufacturing happy hour. And just you know, there’s a lot of people and you just kind of gravitate towards that one guy were like, Man, I just really, that guy is smart. Guys have integrity. This guy is just awesome. We became fast and some friends. In one thing, Jeff, your your parents are college professors if I have that, right. And so you are just a fierce educator. And right off the bat, you and I started working with MEPs manufacturing, ascension partnerships. You know, if you’re not familiar with that, boy, reach out to me, and I’d love to connect you with your local MEP. But you started doing webinars and we started doing those together. And we did them in Alaska, we did them Illinois, we did it at Purdue, we did it here in New York, we did it for different SBDCs Temple University, different ones throughout here in New York. And so we did a lot of programming together of this really educating manufacturers on different tips, strategies, how to grow their businesses. So again, kind of it’s in your DNA, but just share a little bit with the folks about like that passion that you have for educating manufacturers how to grow their businesses.

Jeff Long  07:24

Totally. And I’m glad you brought that up. Because let’s be honest, sometimes marketers get a bad rap, right? It kind of we may overhype things, we may do this. But like, I look at marketing is more of an education play, right? How can we teach somebody, our ideal buyer, or end user distributor, whatever that is? How can we teach them so that they’re more educated? It builds trust, and they feel more confident in their buying decision, hopefully with us, right. And so I always help companies with that, I find that a lot of companies, they’re really good at what they do what they make. And, and they talk about that. But they don’t think about what their ideal customer wants to know. Right? And so that’s almost like the foundation of what we do is like, Alright, tell me about who’s going to be who you’re selling to? And who are the influencers in there? And how can we appeal to them? How can we show them something new? or answer a question or column A fear? So there’s all these different ways we go about it, it’s not just bragging about, you know, it’s not just a company bragging, hey, we’ve been around for X amount of years, we have great people and products, doesn’t that mean, you want to buy from us? Not anymore, right? So it’s all about educating your ideal customer. And, and trying to, you know, show that you’re the expert, show that those fears are going to be answered in the solutions, or in the problems you’re solving.

Curt Anderson  08:50

Right. All right, perfect. Let’s dive into let’s get into the weeds on a couple of things here first, okay, maybe I don’t know, maybe even dispel some myths. Okay. Yeah. Does a video marketing strategy have to be super expensive? Or can I get by just pulling out my iPhone or whatever phone somebody is using? Do you want to take us there?

Jeff Long  09:10

Yeah, so that I mean, to me, that is like a million dollar question. You know, because it’s so important. And there’s several ways to look at it. Right. So, to me at the foundation, I love the quote, and I should know who said it by now because it’s in all my webinars. It says marketing is everything. And everything is marketing. Right? So down to the business cards. I even tell people hey, when you’re on a zoom call, especially like a sales call, and your camera looks bad, your lighting is bad. Your audio is bad, like that reflects that’s marketing of your company, your yourself to that prospect. So yes, a couple things. Yes, you absolutely can and should use your phone in many situations. However, I think there are some situations where it probably doesn’t put your company in the best light or You or your product. So it’s just trying to figure out where that line is. You know, I think I think now especially millennials and younger, they view authenticity, and in realism, more than professionalism and perfection, right. So it also kind of depends on your target demographic and some of those things. So, you know, obviously, it’s not a one size fits all question that you’re asking, you know, a lot of times when we’re doing a, a company promo video or a new product launch, or, you know, we’re promoting a product or whatever, I think, yeah, high, high quality is necessary. I think when we’re doing more, when we’re showcasing our expertise, you know, through live streams, and podcasts and video clips and video value bombs and stuff like that. I think the the, the value is in the content, more than the quality of the video. That’s kind of where I fall like to me, it’s two sides of the coin. It’s both and yeah, it’s just depends on when you use each, each strategy.

Curt Anderson  11:08

Excellent tips and points there, Damon, hey, we’ve got Dan is in the house here today dropping a couple of comments and a few.

Damon Pistulka  11:14

He’s got, you know, he’s got an ERP consulting business, and he’s talking about his video strategies, looking forward to hear some of the strategies he can use.

Curt Anderson  11:23

Yeah, Dan’s an awesome guy, Jeff, you and Dan should definitely connect. He’s got a couple of questions here. It’s a great point about educating your customer. How do you use LinkedIn to do that? Should you build a thought leadership platform? Jeff, long? Do you want to tackle that question for our dear friend, Dan?

Jeff Long  11:40

So the short answer is yes. Right. You should build a thought leadership platform, no matter the size of the company, and I’m seeing more companies do this. It’s all about exposure. And who knows you right? So if you’re a small machine shop for a multimillion dollar company, you still got to get people to know like, and trust you. Well, how do you do that? Well, you can showcase your expertise, you can answer common questions, you can talk about problems and solutions, case studies. I mean, you know, the list goes on, obviously. So I think, you know, almost everybody in a company, especially salespeople, and some of the executives and and company, you know, external facing people should be creating content. And again, that is where you can use your webcam or smartphone and get started there. Because the more people that know that you’re the expert, they’re going to go to you. I mean, I was just at a manufacturing network networking event last night, and a couple people came up to me Hey, Jeff, loving your video value bombs, you know, thanks for those tips are so good. Awesome. You know, and, and let’s face it, most people don’t love being on camera, including me. I don’t love it. I’ve, I’ve gotten to a place where I’m pretty good at it, you know, obviously, with my job and all that. But I love teaching people like we mentioned before, and helping people. Yeah. And when that’s in my brain, I get less scared, nervous, anxious, thinking, Oh, what are people gonna think of me what you know, I’m gonna maybe give the wrong answer. It’s like, I’ve been doing this for 20 years, like, I’m the expert in my field, just like, you know, you the viewer, or the expert, you know, stuff that I don’t. So just give me a tip. Right? And so yes, again, short answer is you should build up a thought leadership platform where your ideal customers, clients, etc are LinkedIn, you know, for me, primarily YouTube and some other platforms. So, hey,

Curt Anderson  13:39

we got Sara Murray in the house. Happy Friday. And, man, Jeff, there’s an entertainer should absolutely Connect. Eric came on the show, sir. I’m gonna give you a shout out my friend. You gave me some tips. I went to a trade show. And I went to Jeff I was at the MVP conference. I use some of Sara’s tips and strategies. And man, thanks to you, Sarah. They went over phenomenal. So connect with Sarah now, but I also want to come back to you, Jeff. So two points that I’d love to make. Okay, number one, you know, like that uncomfort of being on camera, right? Everybody’s a little bit uncomfortable. Damon if I had Jeff loans hair, if I had that hair, I dude, I’d be like, I’d be everywhere. I mean, GQ magazine somewhere. So Jeff Long. It’s really hard to be on stage with with a guy like Jeff, but

Jeff Long  14:28

it’s just, you know, yeah, see, you know

Curt Anderson  14:31

what, same here. This is a bald cap that yeah, like a big full head of hair. So let’s go here. Let’s go here. I’m gonna Alright, so dude, I’m raving. You know that your wife and kids mom and dad. I’m probably like, I’m right there, like vice president of the Jeff Long fan club. So not only I’ve hired your services, and you make it so Dude, your patience for putting up with a guy like me. I don’t know if you remember Daymond. So we were Jeff and I were at a trade show conference in Cleveland. And, and, you know, he was so gracious and just so kind and just so generous with your time and you’re just you’re you wait, you know, I’m like, Jeff, I messed that up. Let me do it again. I messed that one up, you know? And you know, talk about like, how how do you nurture your clients, you just have such a calming presence, just talking about how you work with your clients to like, really put them at ease to come on camera.

Jeff Long  15:23

Yeah, wow. Um, so let me think about that. So a couple of things, you know, how is it different parts of your career or tasks you’re doing? You feel like you’re in the zone, you know, where it’s effortless. It’s fun. It’s like, that’s how I feel like on a video shoot, a lot of times, we’re, we’re doing interviews, or we’re doing some of this, like, I love that I love because it’s hard. It’s hard being on camera, my word, whether, you know, we do, like teleprompter reads, or we do more just interview type stuff where it’s just, yeah, so a lot of it is, like you mentioned her just putting people at ease, you know, we’ve got plenty of tape or whatever the new terminology is for, you know, SD cards, I should update that phrase, because it’s only been like, you know, 30 years ago, since we use tape. But um, yeah, it’s just kind of letting the person know that, who cares if they make a mistake, you know, we can we can redo it, of the X amount of, you know, minutes or whatever we film, we’re gonna, you know, cut it way down. So we’re in essence, we’re taking the highlight reels, the highlights of their longer conversation. So who cares if they mess up? 20 times as long as we have that, you know, little highlight reel. We’re good to go? Yep. Now, there have been a few people in my career that were a disaster. But honestly, most people know Kurt, I promise you. Yeah. So out of the I don’t know how many people

Damon Pistulka  16:48

in the room? Of course, yeah. Right. Yeah, we’re

Curt Anderson  16:50

not talking anybody.

Jeff Long  16:52

name rhymes with Bert. See. There’s been only you know, those guys, probably I could count on one, maybe two hands, you know, we all have hundreds or whatever interviews I’ve done. Because we’re able to kind of, I don’t know, get them get their, their, their anxiety kind of lowered and things like that. Yeah. So it’s really it’s about telling your story, right? Educating the audience, and really showcasing your expertise. And when you kind of focus on that, again, the anxiety does diminish a lot doesn’t go away. 100%, but it diminishes. I’d say,

Curt Anderson  17:27

like, I was just signing a call with a new lead yesterday, and just kind of like looking at his product is, you know, everything and just, you know, just sitting there and just listening, listening. I’m like, Dude, I would do one thing, one thing only, I’d like, I’d go all in on video. And like, you know, when he was like, it, just Jeff, just I know, like, you know, we’re both very biased. Just if somebody’s going to do one thing, it’s hard. Like, it’s hard to argue like, you know, I don’t care what your product what your solution what your services, it’s really hard to not say like, you need to go all in on video. I mean, right? I mean, well,

Jeff Long  18:01

and that’s where, like, with this video value bombs service I have, right? It’s what’s a content marketing service. So every month, we help you with a content roadmap, what do you talk about each month, and then we record it, make it visually engaging. But yeah, so once we do that, then we can write articles, we have quotes, there’s graphics that can come out of it helps your SEO, it’s a social media marketing play. So a lot of times when I’m talking with companies, they’re like, Oh, we’re trying to do SEO and write more articles. But then their hair’s on fire, because they’re, they’re kind of doing separate pieces for all that, and I’m like, let’s kind of bring it into one theme, you know, per video, and then from the video, that’s the foundation, then we can branch off and do these, these other, you know, types of multimedia articles and whatnot from that. So it’s kind of the foundation is what we typically do.

Damon Pistulka  18:54

Yeah, and the thing that I think that video gives you that just really, other than in person does, is it allows someone to get to know you to see or to see your quirks to see the way you talk to see the way you feel. And that may turn people off. Or it may be that somebody I think I’d like to be around. Right. And, and that’s the cool part about it. Because if you’re, if you’re that manufacturer out there, and you’re talking about, you know, custom sheet metal fabricated assemblies or whatever, or some wicked CNC thing or your product, you’re making a complete product here and OEM. The don’t I think people a lot of times under estimate, the personal touch that’s in that with that video. Yes, we’re talking about a product. Yes, we’re talking about your skills, then yes, we’re talking about that. But they’re also looking at, I shouldn’t say not looking at you. They’re trying to meet somebody that they want to work with. And if you can do that in together That’s the that’s the, the pinnacle, that’s where you want to be. And and then you talked about this highly produced not highly produced. I think one of the things that a lot of manufacturers that I’ve seen are just businesses in general, they think they need some highly produced thing like that for that kind of content. And I think there’s a point in there when just being real, being on video, little bit rough around the edges is so good for people to get to know you. But

Jeff Long  20:30

absolutely, yeah, and it takes, at least for me, it takes some like, ramping up to or, you know, I kinda have to get in the zone to like, make my videos, right. And I love them. I love doing them. And they’re fun, but yet, I heard a speaker a couple years ago, say he recommends talking, you know, depending on the person, like 20% faster, because a lot of times, no video kind of sucks our energy out, right? They say, you know, video ads, for many pounds, I think it sucks away x percent of your energy, I think, even if you’re like, wow, I’m really energetic today. And I’m going to talk about my product. And, you know, you think you’re being energetic, right, but you’re just kind of flat. Right? So, you know, something I recommend to people, you know, increase your energy a little bit, use your hands, try to get a little movement. And that just adds a little bit of excitement to it. So there’s, you know, tons of these little tricks that I don’t want you to be fake, of course, you know, don’t be somebody else. And probably with Kurt, I’d say, can you like dial it down a notch? Curt? Maybe? Yeah, 50%. You know, but no. But yeah, it’s like you mentioned Damon, it’s it’s people, seeing who you are, how you interact. And then if you’re not a good fit, maybe somehow you’re you’re kind of turning them off to your product service company, whatever. Well, that’s good. You made one video and you attracted a bunch and you repelled a few. I mean, that’s, that’s living the dream, right? Like, because you didn’t then have to talk with all those people. They kind of self selected. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  22:02

I agree. 110%. And I had a note I wanted to I wanted to bring that back up, Damon. And Jeff, I’m glad you confirmed that. Let’s let’s talk about that for one second. You’re weeding out the bad dates. Yep. Great. Your wheat like if like, hey, if I’m you know, though, my mom thinks I’m for everybody. Damon, I’m just not, you know, I’m just not for everybody, you know, and sort of thing is, let’s just like, let’s not go on the first date. If like, you know, my jam, my thing, whatever your you know, whatever. If it’s not a good fit, like, let’s not pursue this. But it just if it is a great fit. It’s a video just really, it’s just such a great affirmation. Jeff, you and I had the honor privilege. I moderated. You did an amazing Webinar Jam Session that we did at Purdue University, just several months ago. And you were talking about your seven points. And I feel like you were hitting some of them real quick. You ran through like SEO trust, you know, some of these factors. touching those, if you don’t mind, let’s let’s go into this real quick. Again, just said like if anybody just joined us, or just let’s run into that one more time, I don’t want to put you on the spot to let list off all seven. But just talk about if somebody’s not doing video, on top of some of the other things that we’ve talked about. Seo, what do you mean by that keywords? Headlines? Let’s go there for a minute.

Jeff Long  23:18

Yeah, so what we’ll start with the SEO thing, obviously, SEO search engine optimization, or like I tell people, hey, it’s just where you are in the Google search. Right? Right, right. Or these days, this series search or Alexa, or we’ve got to start, or we’ve got to be thinking about not just Google, even though Google’s, you know, at the top, right, yeah. But then because it’s video, we got to be thinking from a Google ranking perspective about YouTube as well, Google bought YouTube, you know, dozen years ago. And so that should come into play also. So if your company has certain products, I was, you know, look at the 8020 rule, like what are the 20% of your products or services that give you 80% of the results, revenue, et cetera? Let’s focus on the 20%. So we create videos about you know, your key 20% of your products or services. And then from there, yeah, you know, we can write SEO articles. And those could be more simple, but, I mean, you could, at the very least take the transcript and that’s right. Or, you know, write it into something that’s a little more readable and article familiar, you know, looks more like an article. And then Kurt, like you said, you know, there’s, there’s keywords in there. Make sure your title is attractive, you know, to your ideal reader and buyer. So that’s just one, I don’t know, off shoot or benefit a video is it kind of has this SEO thing baked in. Oh, and one other thing, especially for companies that are more location specific, which a lot of manufacturers aren’t, but hey, there’s some that are more location specific. If your video content and written articles have those location, key words. that can actually like propel you even further and faster than, you know a company that’s like multinational and trying to hit every you know, every continent or whatever versus if you’re more regional or state specific. You could you could really crush it by talking about, hey, we did business in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and here’s what happened and blah, blah, blah. And so, just a little secret tip there.

Curt Anderson  25:22

Hey, I got some comments here. James. We grabbed some of these.

Damon Pistulka  25:26

Dan’s got he said, that’s how you found Curtin. David. Well, I’m sorry, Dan. Dad’s a good guy. We appreciate it. Appreciate it. And I love. Thanks so much for the kind comments there. We really enjoy being able to talk with people like Jeff today and just share so many good people. But Jason talks about being a little rough around the edges. Yeah, that’s just I think we I think we epitomize that

Curt Anderson  25:56

a little bit, just a little bit, Robin. Hey, let’s go here real quick and step up, I want to I want to tag line what one thing you just said. And then I want to pull up a comment that Sarah just dropped, because I feel like that ties in perfectly with a little thing that you have going on. But we Daymond you and I love making that comment, how can you help your ideal customer make that buying decision on a Friday night at midnight, without having to wait for you to open up your doors on Monday morning? And Jeff, what I’ve learned a ton from you is like you’ve really mastered it, like, how can you know, I have a massive machine shop? And I have a customer in Milwaukee? They can’t come to me? How can I bring my facility to them? And so that’s what I feel like you’ve mastered? I know, we’re going to dig into some examples. But do you want to just hit on that? And then I want to pull up a comment from Sarah in a second here.

Jeff Long  26:43

Yeah, totally. I mean, we can we can tell somebody about our company, product services, people all we’re blue in the face, but like showing them, I mean, that’s, that takes the cake, right? So if we can’t be in person, obviously, showing them through video is like the natural conclusion. So they can see the size and the scope of your machinery and the type of outputs you can do and maybe some of your personnel and things like that. So yeah, it’s it’s, I mean, obviously, I’d love video, you know, I could go on for days, but it does. Yeah, there’s so much. There’s

Damon Pistulka  27:18

so much you can share as a manufacturer, like you’ve said, that you can just go out and say, Hey, we got this cool piece of new equipment that’s doing this for us, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I still remember the first video I saw yours, you’re in some kind of grain processing plant or food plant or something. On the go, I was like, Man, I’m hooked. This is the coolest stuff ever. Right? You know, there’s so much that manufacturers can share just so much. Absolutely. And

Curt Anderson  27:43

thing is it doesn’t need to be like super exciting, sexy, and all that stuff. It could be like, you know, if you’re an engineer at Boeing, you know, like that circuit board machine that’s just like, you know, picking and placing parts, you know, might be like the best thing you’ve ever seen a year seeing dollar signs and use it to solve the problem. So we’re gonna go here so again, guys, thank you for the comments. Thank you, Jason. Dan, Sara, everybody out there dropped notes any questions you have Jeff Long is a video he’s got Jeff Long today to true focus media video marketing guru expert. And just on top of that, just one amazing human being just you just iron sharpens iron. He just makes everybody around him better. And I have the honor and privilege of calling him friend Sara Murray. Man, I encourage you guys connect with each other man. This is just such a wonderful, great group of people. And we appreciate you guys Sarah jobs getting knowledge bombs already Sarah and I don’t know if you already knew this man. That was just a great line return she also says I appreciate comment about prospects self selecting based on your video. Yes. Who would I love to share is you’ve mentioned the phrase video value bombs a couple times now Jeff long can you please enlighten curious minds would like to know what on earth are video value bombs? And I think like do you have like a thing for like things blowing up or what?

Jeff Long  29:00

Yeah, so we were talking a little bit before the show about we’ll talk about video value bombs. And then if there’s time trade show T and T and I was show to a team earlier watch too much Roadrunner growing up as a kid with things blowing up and exploding. You know, I’m not necessarily a violent guy, but apparently in my subconscious, the rotors still in there. Yeah, so one of my strengths is that I’m an entrepreneurial creative person, right. And so even though we use it in a marketing way with video and other things that we do, I’m always thinking of like, what, what will help more companies what’s different, unique what’s working in one industry, but not ours, et cetera? And so, you know, like we’re talking about today, high end, high quality video, great. There’s a time and a place, but it’s not the only option. Obviously, you know, content marketing is huge, right? I always say, you know, content marketing is key, and video content is king. And so it got me thinking like, okay, What could I create that would, that would be beneficial. And so somehow the name came to me, I don’t even know. But video value bombs is like, you know, every company has so many experts in their company that maybe they’re on a sales call or a presentation, and they’re dropping these value bombs, right? But the whole world doesn’t get to see that. So what if we put some of these value bombs in videos, hence the name. And so I created this kind of three part structure. So the first part is, I mentioned this a couple minutes ago is okay, what should a company talk about? Right? So I’m Elena last year, answer your question here about, you know, with a tax service, so it doesn’t matter tax service, manufacturer, whatever. Think of a content roadmap, what are frequently asked questions that you get, or maybe that you see on forums or social media or wherever, right? You can even kind of pluck out common questions that that other experts get asked, and then you answer them, you’re gonna answer them in a slightly different way than the other person. Right? And that’s fine. So step number one is a content roadmap, what do you talk about? Frequently Asked Questions, what problems? Are there any industry? What opportunities do you see? Did you just go to a trade show or, or whatever, and you want to kind of share the news. You know, there’s so many different things you could talk about. I think if you really spent 1015, whatever minutes, I think most people could come up with 50 plus different topics, you know? Yeah. So anyway, that’s that’s kind of phase one of the three part process. I don’t know if you want to talk about anything within that content. roadmap section.

Curt Anderson  31:42

Well, I love and Alan Great question, guys. And again, you know, Hey, John bug Leno’s in a house today. Today. Mr. Jersey, how are you? Oh, my. Yeah. And

Damon Pistulka  31:51

I like what Sarah did to talk about to this is something that that people, you know, really, I think that if you’re in nice areas, if you’re doing that, that sales slash business development work. FaceTime is such a great way. I mean, videos to me, I feel I feel almost weird if I don’t see people when I’m talking to him anymore. I mean, I bought an iPhone, for goodness sakes, just because my mother couldn’t do any do couldn’t figure out video without it, you know. And it’s so now we get so used to seeing video when we’re talking to people that in the sales process, I think it’s a huge thing. And it’s just an extension of the recorded videos and the shared videos that you have into that to be able to really build those relationships. Until you’re in person.

Jeff Long  32:38

Yeah,

Curt Anderson  32:39

I have. So love that. So again, all right. I want to go here, Jeff, if you want did you do we have a little show and tell today? Yeah. Good. Yeah. Good. So as Jeff has pointed out, again, if you just joined us, we’re here with Jeff Long true focus media. And Jeff’s one of these guys that you know, you know, a lot of times your marketers were there the cobblers kids with no shoes. If you go to True Focus Media, check out his website. Yes, tons of resources. Also, testimonials. He walks you through how to great video marketing strategies, tips. And again, please, please, please do yourself a favor. follow Jeff on LinkedIn connect with them. He’s just an amazing human being number one. Number two, he puts out just consistent great content. Yeah, he practices what he preaches. He puts out all sorts of videos of tips of how you for you to do exactly what you know, best tips, best strategies. And Ellen again, like whether you guys are in a service sector, you know, tax services. Hey, guys, its fourth quarter. Did you know end of year you should be doing this? Hey, did you know for 2024 This Hey, did you know that there’s a new tax thing that came out? Hey, your 401 K is Baba Baba, you know? Yes. So many things that people that a lot of times, I find they take for granted, especially manufacturers like oh, they know that. They don’t know it. You’re the expert at your product, your solution, your service, you eat, sleep and drink and breathe your solutions. But man, they just don’t know it. And I encourage you, boy, and I tried to do it for myself. Don’t take it for granted. So Jeff, if you want to pull if you want to share and if you’re hitting present, I heard if you I encourage you hit I think the first tab if you pull up your if you pull up tab that seems to work best.

Jeff Long  34:16

You said it’s tab.

Curt Anderson  34:19

Yep, hit present, hit present and then hit tab.

Damon Pistulka  34:22

The audio job we want audio on it. Alright, let

Jeff Long  34:25

me Okay, cool. So, this is Stober drives. And they’re a gearbox manufacturer in Kentucky amazing company because they have amazing people. I know a lot of companies say that and it’s true. They’re they’re innovators. They’re they’re always reading cool business books and stuff. Some of the same books I like to read. So I always like, you know, working with them. We’ve done dozens and dozens of videos over the years both high end and these video value bombs. So this This, we started right before COVID hit. And so we I think we filmed the first batch the first like five or six videos that we had on the can. And then COVID hit and all their salespeople, of course, were grounded. But thankfully, you know, small silver lining is we have these video value bombs rolling out. So over the course of COVID I mean, we did a series of 24 of these videos, and again, and they’re very customer centric, out of the 24 they did one video that was pretty much a self promotional video about Stober. I mean most companies are like, hey, we need 23 videos about us in one about our customer, right but, but you know, Spielberg gets it. So this is a you know, two and a half minute video. yell at me if you can’t hear it, but let me just play it. I’ll make a full screen here in a second.

35:48

Have you ever had difficulty mountain gear? Don’t worry you’re not alone. Mountain can be a hassle creates numerous issues for customers. Improper mounting and incorrect specification of the mounting position are some of the leading causes of premature failure. Let’s discuss how to minimize mounting failures in this episode of Stowers power tips. When installing a motor make sure the coupling is the specified distance from the motor face. Failure to correctly locate the coupling on the motor shaft may cause axial thrust loads, which can result in premature failure of either the motor bearings or the adapter bearings. Specifying the correct mounting position is often difficult for users that may not know how the gearbox will be mounted yet, or may not understand how the manufacturer labels the positions. However, knowing the mounting position is vital. It determines the gearboxes, oil quantity, which ensures all gears and bearings are properly lubricated.

Jeff Long  36:48

So I’ll stop there. I mean, I can plan it if you want. But you know, so for me, I see that and I read that I’m like, Okay, that’s great. But obviously, it’s not geared towards me, you know. So

Damon Pistulka  37:02

go ahead, Damon. But in such practical information for somebody, I’m a design engineer, I’ve got this project, I don’t want to screw up what I’m doing. I could watch this for two and a half minutes. And I might have saved our company millions of dollars in field problems down the road, because he covered a couple of things, you know that the bearing thing about the motors, the oiling of the gearboxes, that doesn’t happen right away, that happens down the road, which is way worse, because it would slide through and get out into the field. It’s just cool, cool when you can do that. And, and

Jeff Long  37:35

I didn’t show you this, at the end of the video, at the end of all of these 24 videos, each and each person, excuse me, let me back up. Different people are on different videos. So there’s probably 1015 Different people over the course of these videos, which is great, right? We want to showcase the experts of the company. And not just one, but many. So at the end of each video, each person says something like, you know, if you if this information was valuable, check out or download below. And we have right on the video, we have this email pop up that somebody can put their name and email, get emailed or get put into their CRM, and then get an automated you know, email response with the PDF download and some other goodies. So now this video, you know, it used to be Hey, we know you know, 1000 people watch this video, or they are our target audience. I don’t know. Now we know Okay, we have this many signups or engagements. And most manufacturers don’t need, you know, hundreds and 1000s You know, crazy amounts of of leads. They just need good ones. Right. And so, you know, some of the videos that we’re producing, are geared towards good leads through these video content.

Curt Anderson  38:49

You know, I couldn’t love that more. We have a dear mutual friend, Wesleyan Greer, and when she she’s great at doing the buyer persona workshop. And when she does that, man, I learned so much every time I’m with him. In fact, I’m doing a LinkedIn workshop with her in two weeks at Purdue University. And she says speak to one person, just speak to one person you know, unless like, you know, your direct to consumer retail and like you know, you need masses and you know, you’re playing a numbers game and I totally get that. But Jeff, I love what you’re saying about just really digging deep into like that quality relationship. And again, look what you’re doing. Like if I’m the engineer or I’m in purchasing or whatever and like that little tool that Stober hasn’t like you know that process, man that is like music to my ears of like what they just showed interest thing is if they’re getting asked that same question over and over again, just think of the time saving like hey Damon Guess what? Let me send you a little video for your help to make your life more efficient. Yep.

Jeff Long  39:47

And and there’s a really strange phenomenon with being on video and I maybe there’s been studies done for some reason I find that if you’re on a stage speaking, you know on a stage or on video people just think you’re more of an expert. You know, it’s like, it’s this magical thing where, well, you’ve been on a stage or you’re on a video, you must really know what you’re talking about. Yeah, yeah. Which I hope you do. But so yeah, so it’s kind of an amplifier. That’s really fascinating,

Curt Anderson  40:17

right? And when that customer or that engineer from Boeing does call in now, the gentleman that was just speaking, they’re like, oh, like, like you said, like, you know, if they put them up a little bit, oh, like, you’re actually like, Oh, you’re hearing like, you’re actually helping me, the video guy is actually talking to me. So that is awesome. Jeff, do you have anything else that you wanted to pull up any other?

Jeff Long  40:37

Yeah, let me let me. So on the higher end, I want to flick back to the higher end thing, right. So this was a project we did with Cargill, last several years, because it was such a big project. And in some of it happened to be during COVID. So they have this, I think it’s a 600,000 square foot facility that they purchased from a different company, they were retrofitting it to their needs. And so so we did a bunch of things. We scanned it with some 3d cameras and did some virtual tours. We created this mini documentary. But what I want to show you is this digital magazine. So they wanted something that was unique, like not just a website, but something that felt kinda like a magazine, kind of like this interactive thing. So it has these different panels. So if you go to Lewisburg west.com, you can find this but so as I kind of, you know, go through each panel, I can read about, you know what, this, this production facility is geared towards obviously, specific types of buyers. But let me kind of show you just a short video here. And I think these higher end videos are good for, again, a product launch or when you’re promoting your company from a high level brand perspective. And so let me again, share my screen here. Do I think that’s it? Yeah. There we go. All right. So here it Yep.

42:23

This plant is a game changer. We think the whole industry is going to look at us as an example how to make products safe and effectively.

42:32

So the equipment of the facility can be broken up into effectively four sections. The first section being the bulk is how we handle our carrier materials, they typically come in on bulk trucks and come in in large quantities, the automated weighing and dosing system, or the AWS is the real new star of the show. That system was specifically chosen and designed around some of the vitamins and minerals that we have here. Those materials can be typically hard to handle depending on viscosity seasonality, temperature changes. So we went with a really robust system that has do away and capabilities. So we can do large quantities or smaller quantities with the one system rather than having to use two bins with two different scaling roads. That system by itself has really allowed us to take a lot of the material that weighed by hand today, which could be up to a million bags a year, and take that off of an operator and automate, which then leaves only 5% of the mass of what this plant is predicted to produce on the handles. So

43:29

from a human safety and health standpoint, we’re letting the machines do the work instead of the people do the work. So as you go through the system, then we have the dosing silos that give the extreme amount of accuracy. And then the way we’re moving materials in this power is another unique feature is we’re using moving containers, they’re containers on a track essentially and they move back and forth under the AW D S system to pick up the lighter ingredients. And then once those degrees are all put together in a batch, there’s another set of moving containers that picks up the next level and ultimately at the bottom then you have one major container that takes the materials and dumps it into the packaging systems whether it’s totes or whether it’s bags. So the unique thing about this tower and one of the most unique things about this plant is we use no mechanical conveying systems inside the premix tower to move low inclusion remember, that’s really important because it reduces cross contamination reduces carryover that might get into other products. So we have very clean design here. We also assure our customers or the integrity of that product that is exactly what they want. Nothing more nothing less.

Curt Anderson  44:44

absolute love it. Yeah, that’s a that’s an Oscar winner right there. Jeff Long That was fantastic.

Jeff Long  44:49

Super proud of that project. And the people there were just phenomenal. Just so it got me thinking you know, Damon, a little bit ago you asked, you know, with our phones and you know, when do we You, ourselves versus professionally. I mean, like for that project, I don’t think any of those guys wanted to take out their phone and try to assemble, do interviews or show different things. I mean, you can do little clips, of course, but like to put something together, that’s professional. They don’t want to do that, right? It’s kind of like, I’m a CPA, I don’t want to do my taxes. I’m gonna mess it up royally. I’ve got better things to do. So I think that’s kind of again, one of those trade offs.

Curt Anderson  45:27

Yeah. Hey, we’ve got a couple of comments here. Hey, my buddy Alan, in Indianapolis. Alan, how are you? My friend? Coming back to us again, he was asking about the tax services. Yeah, our videos don’t have anyone in them. Can that hurt our impact? I have an opinion. Jeff, I’d love to hear yours first, though.

Jeff Long  45:43

I think it can for sure. I think people want to see people. And granted there’s like stock photos and photography and all that. But like, we know that that’s like a stage seeing we want to see the real person. But I get it, you know, there’s, there’s animated video, there’s other ways to kind of not have a real person or whatever, there’s, we’re doing a video right now with a professional spokesperson in front of a green screen. You know, so there’s a time and a place for that. I think for the most part, people want to know that there’s like real people that can kind of like reach out and either wring their neck if something goes wrong. Or, or, you know, ask him if I’m

Damon Pistulka  46:20

wrong, it goes right.

Jeff Long  46:21

Exactly. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  46:22

Damon, what’s your what’s your opinion for Alan’s question there?

Damon Pistulka  46:25

I think the I think it depends, it depends, right? I think that if you’re selling a product, you know, you’re selling a 999 something, but you’re trying to tell somebody that you should spend a million dollars with me or put a lot of money in our hands. That’s a big decision. And they want to know who they’re doing business with. And some of these things and that’s, that’s I really think that’s the separator for me. Not that I’m even close to an expert but I feel that way so it’s important what about you though, Kurt?

Curt Anderson  46:56

You know what, regardless of what I’m going to be a little bit biased regardless of like, what you’re proud of what you’re solving service, what have you, you know, like, we’re it I don’t care if it’s a restaurant occupants, Tax Service manufacturer, what is it? We’re selling one thing you know, DanceOn is ERP expertise. We’re selling one thing we’re selling one thing only trust that’s a we are selling trust, it doesn’t matter. You know, my ecommerce consulting services, Jeff’s video marketing services, Damon helps you as your business, whatever it might be, whatever you whatever your God given talent is. It’s about trust. And boy, what? And again, Jeff Damon, I thought you guys nailed it right on the head. Though, my mom thinks I’m for everybody. I’m just not so like, you know, it’s weeding out some folks that might not be a great fit, doing yourself a huge favor there. But really bringing on and nurturing those people. I was on a call right before here, Damon, this is true story. Just met this gentleman not too long ago. I live in So Alan is actually from near where I live. He’s from Sedona in New York. I live in Lakewood, New York. Know what happens here in like December, January. It snows it snows a lot like like when you hear like the horror, little storms in Buffalo, New York like you. Typically like I’m caught either part of that, right? A German watch our live show two weeks ago, I was on site at a manufacturer. We’re trying to do this thing. He loved the live show. He’s flying up here to visit me because he wants to take things to the next level. So because he saw a live stream really enjoyed. And so we’re looking to do this project together. He’s going and he goes, I’m going to come up here in December. I’m like, dude, have you ever been in a bubble? Do you really want to do that? I’m like, Are you sure so anyway, I’ll let you know how that goes. But no, and I’m sorry, that was a long winded answer. I boy. Get the people out there. Get your face out there. Talk Show your expertise, FAQs, as Jeff said, Harry, great comment here.

Damon Pistulka  48:49

Yeah, you know, the emotion part of it. And I think that ties back to what Alan’s asking you know, how can you really see and feel emotion if it’s, if it’s something that’s not a person or you know, a puppy, that’s vegan for me, but you know, something that’s in a video really, and it’s hard to get that and people Don Williams says this a lot. He’s the sales person that I known for many years, people buy on emotion, whether it’s a $5 item or a $5 million item, that emotion is how you connect with those people to get to get their attention.

Curt Anderson  49:27

Gosh, I lost track dude, like whatever. Jeff Long’s in a room like we lose. Gal is in the house. So Dave, Jeff, what do you think about this one? Great insights. I’ve worked with Jeff Long he knows his stuff dropped the mic. Of course, he was a seamless process. Very happy with the results as a PR strategist. I value collaboration with people like Jeff Long. I concur. Gail on Gail, it’s been way too long. We need to get you back on the show. I miss you. Hey, Alan Jeptha thank you guys. Makes perfect sense. Jeff, let’s start I want Be mindful of everybody’s time. We could be I could keep you here all day. Let’s start winding it down, brother. I want to make sure that we covered everything. Is there any other parting thoughts, words of wisdom that you want to share? Damon, what do you have?

Damon Pistulka  50:12

I’ve got a nerd question.

Curt Anderson  50:14

Oh, you got nerd question? Yes, let’s do it. What

Damon Pistulka  50:16

is the coolest piece of video equipment that you work with? We wouldn’t know.

Curt Anderson  50:24

How about that question? Yeah.

Jeff Long  50:25

The coolest Pete I have so many cool. I’m just looking around my desk,

Damon Pistulka  50:30

because I love going down the road. He’s got like one of those panel vans full of video equipment. And yeah, it’s insane. I got this right now and you’re like, well,

Curt Anderson  50:40

that’s just not fun. I’ve traveled with Jeff we’ve done live streams together. We’ve done a video work together. And he’s he is a pro. So

Jeff Long  50:49

I have an equipment cart with like, boxes and bins and things of gear and equipment and backups. And it’s it’s so pretty hilarious.

Curt Anderson  50:59

Jeff, let’s go here real quick. So like for our friends, like say Allen’s getting started out or like, you know, guys like Damon and myself. Like how about any tips advice that you would give they’re

Jeff Long  51:08

totally so you know, if you’re doing something like a video value bomb, right where you’re doing, you know, thought leadership pieces. So the camera I recommend, it’s called a Logitech BRIO B R I O. It’s about 100 bucks, give or take is what you have Damon? Yeah,

Curt Anderson  51:25

I bought one you sent me the link on Amazon. And, guys, when Jeff Long speaks, man, you listen and so I’m using a Brio. I have the microphone that Jeff Leung recommended. And I know I probably have a long, long way to go. But me I encourage you guys connect with Jeff. After he has a really nice list of things that can help you you can see what a professional he is. Jeff, any anything else? You got the Brio microphone, any particular microphone that you recommend? Oh,

Jeff Long  51:51

yeah, the one I recommend is called this Audio Technica ATR 2100 I think they have a slightly newer model anyway, again, I think it’s around 100. Give or take. Yeah. And also we’re not breaking the bank here. Yep. And then, you know, as long as your lights are good, which, you know, you can use something from Amazon or Costco. It doesn’t have to be, you know, just a nice solid light. Right? So I was gonna get your question, Damon, probably one of the, it’s such a silly thing. I have this big LED light panels, it’s waterproof, you can change the colors on it. And I use that just to like highlight and, and throw some light on, you know, product if we’re doing a product demo or something. And along with that, I have this turntable. So you put the thing on it. And it just turns it, you know, 360 degrees. It’s pretty awesome. So yeah, I’m a nerd as

Curt Anderson  52:40

well. This is Jeff as always you exceed expectations. And again, guys, if you just joined us, you know, Dana and I we’ve been doing this for we just had our three year anniversary together, Damon and man, I have loved every single one of them. And hopefully we just do this forever. And Jeff Leung was our absolute first guest. Jeff, I’ll never forget when I called you up and I was like, Hey, dude, we’re thinking about doing this thing. LinkedIn came up with this new thing called LinkedIn live. And Damon and I were too old dudes. We’re just gonna wing it and do it. Would you be our first guest and you accepted the offer, and we appreciate you, we applaud you. I’ve had the honor and privilege. I’m working with clients with you with MEPs. And just you’re just a guy of integrity, just worship you. I send in the most manly way possible, send love to you, your family and you’re just such a great guy. I encourage you guys welcome you invite you connect with Jeff on LinkedIn. And hey, if you’ve been hanging out with us for a while, it’s a great time to stand up, give a little stretch. And give a big round of applause for our dear friend, our good buddy Jeff Long. So Jeff, and hay about late to the party, but with that group of people here, David Ray, my friend. So Jeff, thank you for everything. Appreciate you. Thank you for joining us today, Damon. I think we’re gonna wind down. Man, I just don’t even want this one to end. So this is so good. I can’t wait, what what numbers? We’d have Jeff back on. Right. I’d like to have him here every week. But what numbers we have? We’ll figure that out. We’ll figure that out. And he was just on the bus tour with us recently. Right? It was a blast.

Jeff Long  54:14

Hey, can I get ask you guys a real quick question. So we talked about video and I think video helps. Like I’ve said before, showcase your expertise that brings exposure eyeballs, live streams, of course are a huge part of that. Whether it’s a simpler long answer, how has this livestream you’ve been doing for three years, expanded your reach your community, your your pocketbook? All of those things?

Damon Pistulka  54:39

I just can’t even it you can’t imagine it. You can’t imagine it. And it’s yeah, all the you know, pocketbook all that stuff is Yeah, does that but the community and the friends that you meet I mean, Kurt I I mean, it’s just it’s crazy Kurt and I know it’s crazy, but But you meet so many great people. So many opportunities, so many things to learn. You know, we talk about this a lot people just getting to talk with people like you, every week, a couple times every week, you just you’re exposed to so many different things. It’s like a continuous firehose of learning, which is, which is just so cool. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  55:19

Right. And, and I’m not sure how we pull it off. But we just have amazing, incredible people that come on every day. And it’s like, they’re and I, it’s like, I feel guilty. It’s like free coaching sessions with just incredible, amazing people and the community that we’ve built. And Jeff, you know, like, you know, you and I, we do it. And Damon, we do a lot of work with the MEPs. And, you know, I was at the MEP annual conference last whenever it was September, and I walked in, and like, I literally, I know that person I knew there were 600 people in the room. I’m not exaggerating, I probably knew nearly 100 of them. Wow. You know, it’s just like friendships and relationships that we’ve built. Thanks to and because of the show, and because of wonderful people like you, and amazing people that come here, Alan gow, Harry, Dan, Dave Chrysler everybody that joins us so just what a what a blessing and Daymond at you don’t know this yet. We’re going to be doing a jam session in December about live streams. And so we will take that conversation further, but today was all about Jeff long video value bomb guy, TNT. Just he’s he’s just he’s exploding. And building sales for manufacturers. Yeah, we’ll connect with Jeff on true focus media. Jeff, hang out with us for one second. Guys. Thank you for being here today. I encourage you, I invite you I welcome you. Just be someone’s inspiration. Just like our dear buddy, Jeff Long is today for all of us, Damon, take it away, my friend.

Damon Pistulka  56:46

All right. Well, thanks so much for being here today. Everyone. I love the comments. I always like those comments. It’s great. We have people coming back every week new people seeing us old people coming back. So so great. And like Curt and I said, we’re just blessed to be able to have awesome jet guests like Jeff here today. Dropping so many nuggets throughout this. Gotta go back and listen. Tell your friends about it. Haven’t Come on. Listen to us next week. We’ll be back again. Have a great weekend, everyone.

Curt Anderson  57:17

We’re live from Chicago.