Episode 14: Why Leaders Use the Power of Video to Grow their Personal Influence | With Kerry Barrett

Full transcript

David Bain  00:00

Why Fortune 500 leaders use the power of video to grow their personal influence and how you can do the same, with Kerry Barrett.

David Bain  00:14

The Strategic Marketing Show is brought to you by Insights For Professionals: providing access to the latest industry insights from trusted brands, all on a customized, tailored experience. Find out more over at InsightsForProfessionals.com.

Hey, it’s David. Why is it, when you look at bios and profiles of Fortune 500 leaders, you often see a video?

Today, we're going to be taking a look at what they're doing differently and how you can grow your own personal influence by doing the same, with an award-winning anchor, who turned a paralyzing fear of public speaking into a multi-decade career in broadcast journalism for internationally renowned media institutions like NBC, ABC and Fox TV.

Now, she helps course creators, coaches, companies, and individuals break through mindset issues and cultivate their video X Factor, or what she calls “Video IQ”. A warm welcome to the Strategic Marketing Show, Kerry Barrett.

Kerry Barrett  01:17

Thank you for having me! The second time that we've chatted, David, it's a pleasure to see you again.

David Bain  01:22

Absolutely. We make a habit of this once every two years, I look forward to the next time.

Kerry Barrett  01:27

Me too.

David Bain  01:28

Well, you can find Kerry over at kerrybarrett.com. So Kerry, why is being a compelling, effective on-camera communicator, so important for senior marketers?

Kerry Barrett  01:38

You know, it's important for everybody, but I would say especially for senior marketers because of the era that we're in - which was exacerbated, of course, over the past three years due to the pandemic and all of us working remotely. But, creating an online brand is the way that you grow your authority - the most effective way to grow your authority, I should say - and it is a way to grow visibility and credibility as well.

Video has a much greater ROI than text and static images, which is not to say that those elements are not important when you're putting yourself out there, especially on social. However, the ability to grow a personal brand is much more effectively done when people can put a personality, and a face, and a name, and a voice with your message as well. It's a way to stay top-of-mind.

David Bain  02:28

So, you talk about building a personal brand. Many people in this audience would be maybe a senior marketer or within a large enterprise and perhaps think, “I have no need of growing my own personal brand because I work for a big brand. It’s the big brand that I need to market.”

What's your reaction to that?

Kerry Barrett  02:45

They would be wrong, and here's why. I hate to say it, and I'm not an “always waiting for the other shoe to drop” kind of gal. However, I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

You should constantly be networking and growing your own authority and visibility. Certainly, you're advocating on behalf of your larger corporation if you're working within one but, if you are silencing yourself because you have a larger brand that you're advocating for, you're effectively cutting yourself off at the knees. There's always a need to network. The fact is, most people – there are a few exceptions. If I'm going to buy running shoes, I'm buying Nike running shoes, I'm not necessarily buying the salesperson who sells them to me at the Nike Store - however, for most marketers, coaches, consultants, and even C-level executives, the people that they're coming in contact with, are buying them.

They're the ones that are selling the credibility, through their own personal brand, of the company or business for whom they work, or for which they work. So, you're being short-sighted if you don't see the value in growing your own personal brand - again, online and through all the different stages of your customer’s buying journey. There's video, not just for social but for all of those different areas, to network and nurture, sort of on autopilot.

David Bain  04:11

Okay, so you say, “video, not just for social”. I was gonna ask you what type of video you are most referring to? What are the most important types of video?

Obviously, you can do things like incorporate video as part of your LinkedIn profile now. Many people are appearing on webinars now. Are those key videos that you're thinking of? Is there something that I've forgotten there?

Kerry Barrett  04:30

This is such a good question. I think a lot of people look at, certainly LinkedIn but other social media platforms as well, as sort of the beginning and end of their video marketing strategy or their personal brand marketing strategy, or even perhaps their client’s marketing strategy.

In fact, I was on a networking call this morning with the owner of a digital marketing company who said, “I need to be doing video but, as a marketer, I don't know how to do it and I don't really know how to tell my clients to do it as well.” Video for social is how you open the door to the party that is your business. Then, the videos that you use in other parts of your sales funnel, or in other parts of your customer's buying journey, are the videos that invite them to walk through the door, and then walk back to the food table, and the bar, and the networking group, and then maybe take a stop at the dance floor as well.

Video is certainly, yes, social, but it's also about using video for vlogs (not blogs), and video podcasts, and live streams, and webinars, and landing pages, and video sales letters (which have an outrageous ROI if they're done correctly), video ads, etc. There are a whole bunch of ways that you can create an effective brand through video that goes far beyond social.

David Bain  05:55

Wow, so many wonderful analogies there, and your phrase, “Video for social that leads to the party that is your business.” or something like that?

Kerry Barrett  06:06

It opens the doors to the party that is your business. It's where you're inviting people in. I think one of the mistakes that some make - and this applies not just to businesses, but also to personal brands or individuals as well - is that they're creating video that's designed to perhaps educate or continue to stay top-of-mind to the people that are already in their sphere or in their network.

But, done correctly, video should be organically drawing people who are beyond your geographical region, or outside of your available work hours, to your platform. And that's where they're checking you out. They're sort of doing the sniff test, and then they're going to your website. Is there a video there? And then they're, maybe, checking out your tutorials or your vlogs on YouTube, and then they're looking at your video podcast. It's a whole series of different steps that people take.

If you're, again, stopping and starting at social media, you're cutting yourself off at the knees, but it should be: “Hey, welcome to Kerry Barrett Incorporated! Now, come on in and check things out, and see if there's anything here that you like, and maybe let's talk a little bit.”

David Bain  07:20

You mentioned a mistake there, I think it would be good to actually just cover two or three mistakes, and then perhaps move over to a few things that people need to improve on, or a few positives that they need to follow.

So, maybe just going back to the mistakes initially, are there any other mistakes that you see on a regular basis that you'd like to call out?

Kerry Barrett  07:41

Yeah, when people are putting business video out, we have a tendency (many of us, anyway) to get stuck in our own heads and think about, “Do we need to look a certain way or sound a certain way?” And I know that we've heard this word thrown around ad nauseam for the past three years, truly “authenticity” – and, caveat, authenticity doesn't mean winging it. It doesn't mean making egregious errors and letting them go. Authenticity means that you're not putting on airs, or you're not trying to be somebody that you're not.

There really is something to the idea that, if you are establishing your personal brand, the word “personal” is in there for a reason. It's because you want to attract the people that, not only will enjoy working with you, but that you will enjoy working with. Don't be somebody that you're not. Don't be stodgy. Don't do glasses, tie, the whole nine yards, if that's not who you are. And, you need to meet your audience where they are as well. So, I guess my first mistake is not being authentic.

David Bain  08:46

It's certainly sensible, and understandable, to use more of your personal brand but, if you're working for a rather dry (if you can call it that) enterprise, that doesn't want you to show too much personality: where do you draw the line in terms of how much personality to show to demonstrate that you're a real, genuine person versus a little bit too much for a brand?

Kerry Barrett  09:15

Yeah, it's such a good question. It's relevant and it varies, depending on which industry you're in. You could be in PR and marketing, working for larger organizations, but still have a little bit more leeway - not only in just the way that you talk about things, but even perhaps in the way that you dress and carry yourself. If you are working for an organization within the finance or insurance or investment industry, the way that you speak is different. The regulations are different. There are some very stringent requirements in terms of messaging that you have to abide by.

There's no one-size-fits-all. Like I mentioned before, this is an art to some degree, not necessarily a science. Where you can bring in some small moments of personality are by incorporating humor. One of the biggest mistakes that brands make - that people make - on social platforms, specifically LinkedIn (I see this mistake more often there) is that they create business videos that are often designed with the right intentions, but they're more about stroking the ego of the person who made the product or the service.

I always suggest looking a little bit to entertainers, because their videos are somewhat professional (they can be professional) but they're also engaging. Your video needs to create an experience for your viewer or for your audience.

Again, there's no one-size-fits-all approach. Understand your company's marketing, and your messaging, maybe even have a conversation with the director of your marketing department and say, “How much of myself can I show?” and then piece it together and see what works. It'll take a little bit of testing - you'll make some mistakes, I guarantee that – but, as long as you're not directly pointing people in the wrong direction, you're gonna be okay.

David Bain  11:12

Okay, so look for entertainers in your organization. That's a great tip there. Now, in terms of content quality, there are still quite a few poor-quality videos being produced by big companies that should have big budgets, certainly.

I’m old enough to remember 20 years ago, the first stage of the web, and there were a lot of big brands getting on board and really, in my opinion, actually carrying out an exercise in negative publicity by the shockingly poor quality of website that they were producing. And, to a certain degree, there doing the same thing with video now - by not thinking about audio quality, not thinking about lighting quality, and recording quality.

Is that a fair comment? Or is that too much of a personal opinion and not necessarily a fact?

Kerry Barrett  12:03

No, 100%. Again, I do think there is a balance. If you're creating video that's a talking head video, for example - what you may see me doing now, or what you're doing now, David, face-to-camera - there is some rawness, a little bit of scrappiness that can be associated with that type of video, even if it's a thought leadership piece.

One of the things that I am loathe to see is an individual with a virtual background that has a big logo of their company behind them. Number one, they're on a virtual background, and they're almost always sloppy. Number two, it's a clear indicator that you are trying to sell something, right? And we've all had enough of that over the past three years. You don't need to shove it down our throats, we get it, at the end of the day. That's why you're there - you're selling something, whether it's yourself or a product or service, but skip all of that. Just have the basics of solid video production down.

Again, you don't need anything fancy. Truly, all you need is a face, a phone, and a voice. This old Samsung can shoot 8K video, this is broadcast-style video. But, if you watch a video that’s shot on a cell phone that doesn't look broadcast quality, it's because the other supporting systems around it are not functioning properly - i.e. the audio is thin or tinny, and the lighting is subpar, meaning that you can't see the speaker's face, their facial expressions are obscured, etc. Lighting is about, certainly making the shot pretty, but it's pretty with a purpose. It's so that your audience can see your face and look into your eyes, and all that other good stuff that creates connection.

David Bain  13:43

Absolutely. I completely understand your thoughts re. green screening and virtual backgrounds as well, because there's always that little either green tinge around someone's ears, or perhaps just half of their face actually being obscured because the AI can't make the distinction between them and the background.

Kerry Barrett  14:03

Exactly. Or, they move their hand and half of it’s chopped off, and it takes a second for the background to fill in, so you actually do see the disaster that's going on behind them - even if only for a split second.

If you have pristine lighting, and your corporation insists that you sit in front of a logo, then go for it. But, your lighting has to be pristine in order for it to not appear sloppy. Really, at the end of the day, it's about looking at your audience - the lens is your audience's eye, the microphone is your audience's ear - making sure that they can see your face and smile. It's really that simple.

David Bain  14:42

And there's no better case study than yourself. We were talking about this beforehand, and you've just signed a significant annual contract with a corporation that found you through LinkedIn content. So what, specifically, did they find you through and what made the decision for them to go with you?

Kerry Barrett  15:03

Yeah. So, I'll give you a little bit of background about this company without naming them. They're based here in the United States (where I am), they're an enormous company ($3 billion in annual revenue), and their CDO (their Chief Distribution Officer) found me on LinkedIn because of a post I did about my dog dying.

It sort of harkens back to what I said about, “people are not always coming to you because you're talking business, business, business.” He saw a post I did about my dog dying, and my kids were with me, and we were all sort of sitting around her. And then he followed, and then he saw the rest of my content - he happens to be a dog lover. And that follow turned into a DM on LinkedIn that says, “We're interested in working with you. Our team needs some virtual training, would you be interested in setting up a call?”

And that one call turned into one-on-one training with him, and then nine hours of training with his direct reports, and then a keynote for their sales kickoff, and breakout sessions, and content creation, and podcast hosting, and additional training, and digital programs. All told, it's a multi-seven-figure deal over the course of one year, and I have that for multiple years. And he found me because of a post I made about my dog.

David Bain  16:23

Wow. I mean, congratulations, first and foremost, on the deal. Obviously, that's incredible personal content there as well - I guess, the kind of content that some people would be wondering whether or not to share but, if that's of significant importance to you, and something that you're personally passionate about, then you've demonstrated, why not?

You’re showing who you are and what your values are.

Kerry Barrett  16:48

I think that is the power of the personal brand, and I'll give you a little bit of why I believe that - not just from this particular case study and, obviously, if I did post every day on LinkedIn about my dog, it probably wouldn't go over so well, But, if you look back a year, two years, three years ago, you'll see that, in a lot of my videos on LinkedIn, my dog used to sleep right on this couch behind me. I would do live streams on LinkedIn, and she would be there, and people would ask about her, and I’d bring her up to the camera, and we’d talk a little bit, and she's an old girl so I’d snuggle her a little bit. And so, she sort of became part of who I was. I think that that is what created that – it’s certainly what created the connection with him, and it allowed me to show a little bit of myself without being unprofessional or wild and crazy.

I think people get a little bit too in their heads when it comes to putting themselves out there. There are going to be times when you create content or video that is going to feel raw or vulnerable, or maybe even a little bit bare and exposed. If that doesn't feel okay to you, don't do it, but most people can go further than they're going right now. It's just finding out where that comfort level is and what works, specifically with your audience - because even if you're comfortable with it and your audience is not, it doesn't really matter. It's meeting your audience where they are and letting them know just enough about you that they feel like they like, know, and trust you.

I used to have a coach who would say, “Nobody is going to buy from you unless they know at least as much about you as you know about your neighbor.” What does she like to do? What are her hobbies? How many kids does she have? Those sorts of things, while they're not a foundation of your content, they're things that are woven throughout as you create your stories and as you talk about your expertise. Those are the things that help build a personal brand. A personal brand is not built on business statistics or data or quotas, or even accomplishments or responsibilities.

David Bain  19:05

Beautifully explained. Just before we move on to the final question, I'd like to give someone else a shout-out, actually, and that's Larry Kim.

Larry Kim founded a company called WordStream, and sold it a few years ago, but one of the strategies that he came up with (and that you reminded me of), he calls the Inverted Unicorn Ad Targeting Strategy.

That's where, for instance, if someone was interested in improving their communication skills, he would also target people that had what appeared to be an entirely different interest - nothing to do with the core interest. So he would target, for instance, people who are interested in improving their video skills but are also interested in dogs. And then he'd create an ad that actually had a dog in it, talking about these video skills, and that would be hyper-relevant and interesting to that type of audience.

Kerry Barrett  20:02

Absolutely. Video is: we're drawn immediately by the eye. Before we hear anything, before we read anything, we're drawn to the eye and the visuals. And so, putting a dog in an ad that is targeting someone who loves dogs - most of them are going to stop and at least hit play.

They may move on, but you've gotten them to stop, which is nine-tenths of the game.

David Bain  20:27

Let's move on from what works now to planning for the future. In your opinion, what's the biggest marketing trend or challenge for marketers over the coming year?

Kerry Barrett  20:36

Listen, it's going to be video. Video has an enormous ROI. A lot of people have not quite fully embraced what video can do for them. I will tell you, I don't consider myself a marketer. We had this conversation earlier, David. I consider myself a coach and a trainer and an on-camera expert.

But, the way that I marketed my business is solely through video. Everything that I have achieved in terms of clients - I won’t say everything, I do run some ads – but about 95% of it was organic inbound from social media.

If you are not at least beginning to figure out how you can use video to establish credibility, visibility, authority, and bring people to you, it's not too long before you're gonna get well behind the curve. The space is getting more and more crowded, and more and more people are filling it who are comfortable with video, and, as we all know, the younger generation is searching for services (even finance and insurance services) on YouTube. They're looking for people that can create infotainment: informative, entertaining content that teaches them something and creates a top-of-mind presence for that particular person or brand.

It will be the biggest challenge - creating it effectively and efficiently and making it compelling - but it will also have the biggest ROI, and we’ll see it across all platforms more and more.

David Bain  22:08

I've been your host David Bain, you can find Kerry Barrett over at kerrybarrett.com. Kerry, thanks so much for being on the Strategic Marketing Show.

Kerry Barrett  22:15

Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure.

David Bain  22:18

And thank you for listening. Here at IFP, our goal is simple: to connect you with the most relevant information, to help solve your business problems, all in one place. InsightsForProfessionals.com