Esther
Good morning and welcome to the Monday morning marketing podcast, I'm Esther.
Melanie
And I'm Melanie.
Esther
And today we're talking about going live in your business, the fears and the benefits.
Melanie
And it is quite frightful, isn't it?
Esther
It is Melanie, right? So I have to let our audience know, our listeners know that right now we are actually recording this on video as well, so you can go and find it on our social media platforms as well. I look completely petrified because Melanie told me like three seconds ago that we were going to be going live, that she was going to be recording this, that we were going to be showing our faces. So, yeah. So if I say I'm petrified because of that, I don't like going live.
Melanie
Although we are recording live as we're doing the podcast is still a recording, just like our podcast, so if we wanted to Esther we could actually edit this.
Esther
And you could chop me off the video?
Melanie
Well, I could.
Esther
Will you?
Melanie
No, come on.
Esther
I don't have any makeup on. I don't like pushing the button without being 100 per cent ready, which is never well.
Melanie
And unfortunately, that is the problem that everybody is feeling at the moment. Entirely, entirely true. Its feeling exposed is feeling afraid of saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing, being remembered for it permanently. Because let's face it, once it's out there, it tends to be out there for a very long time.
Esther
Yeah, like BBC dad, you don't know this one?
Melanie
BBC dad.
Esther
Yeah, there was a dad that was being interviewed on BBC News. Oh, sorry, you're in the Republic of Ireland, you don't get BBC News. Right. So this guy was he's over in South Korea and he was being interviewed on BBC News about some things a few months ago, and his kid came running into the room quickly, followed by his baby.
Melanie
I saw that. I saw that. Yeah.
Esther
So he's now remembered as being BBC dad.
Melanie
And then that's what he's called.
Esther
Yeah, that's what he's called, so if you Google him, BBC das. But they brought him on during the coronavirus crisis now, to see with the family and the whole family were in, and the thing is now working at home, one hundred per cent with his kids and his family because that night that that guy was just petrified. There was a mad rush. Go watch the video. It's very funny. Poor guy forgot, but that's one of my phobias, is that I work in an office, you can see the door back here, it'll open at any moment, at any time somebody will walk in through this door.
Melanie
Well, it could potentially open at any time, and I normally work from this office here, and at the moment, because of the coronavirus, I'm only coming in one day or one afternoon, actually a week, and I'm this time I'm actually entirely alone, even the office staff aren't here this week, so it's essentially closed, and, you know, it's impacting every business, and we all have to think of clever and adaptive ways to reach our audience whilst this is happening, and this is why I think going live personally is essential and being seen and being authentic, and I mean, you're right, neither of us has got makeup on, I'm wearing this hat purely because I haven't coloured my hair, and you know what? I'm not going to, not until I can get to the hairdressers when they're open. So that's my personal choice.
Esther
So if people see you live from now on or see a recording of you from now on, if you're wearing a hat, it's because you still haven't got to see your hairdresser.
Melanie
And yeah, good decent promotion for these guys.
Esther
For those that aren't watching the video, those guys are.
Melanie
Martialartsplanet.Com.
Esther
Not sponsors of.
Melanie
No, no, no, no. Right.
Esther
So what would you say to the people who are like, well, only whenever it's one hundred per cent perfect, only when I get my hair done, only when I have my full face of makeup or only when I have my hair gelled because guys can also have a fear of I think the majority of those have a fear of going live are women because we do tend to feel that we need to do that bit of extra.
Melanie
Well, we buy our appearance more in fairness.
Esther
Yeah, yeah. OK, so what would you say to those that are like, no, no, I'll wait until I don't have the bags under my eyes and I'll wait until I get my hair done or I know for one hundred per cent sure that nobody's going to walk in through the door. What would you say to them?
Melanie
At the moment, there's no time like right now, and it's been true for a long time, that authenticity pays the bills and it's even more important now. Everybody needs to know that there is a true beating heart behind the business and that, you know, you're not just paying a CEO or founder, you're paying for staff, for pensions, for holidays for their kids. Everybody has been impacted hugely so and I'm trying to help the local businesses around here where I am by giving them some work when I need it, and that's the important thing, guys, everybody's got to start thinking, what can we do to help each other locally? Because it's going to be the small businesses, it's going to be the sole traders, they're the ones the independents, they're the ones that are going to go out of business first long before the change.
Esther
Yeah, yeah, that's very true.
Melanie
And we need to really, really hunker down and we need to encourage every business to go live to show people. I mean, we can't go to the shops like we normally can and look around the garden centre or go to a hardware store, you can go and show your wares and everything you've got right now going live, you can use Periscope, you can use YouTube, you can use Facebook, you can use all of them, and you can show people around exactly what you've got with special offers, you've got you can offer we can leave it outside for you to collect, we can deliver. This is the best time to go live, absolutely.
Esther
And what do you say to those who say, well, I only have a phone?
Melanie
Yeah, there's so much you can do on your phone, even the lesser quality phones and the pixels may not be great, the quality of the visuals may not be great, but the important part is the sound, as long as it sounds good, then people can hear what you're putting across, people always switch off when they can't hear properly, but they won't necessarily switch off when they can't see properly.
Esther
Yeah, so that's it. We're both wearing earphones at the minute and you've got your Reilich lapel mic there. Is that something that people can pick up quickly, easily.
Melanie
Easily enough. Yes. You can pick them up from your local shops, of course, a lot of hardware stores or your local independents or even your local Tesco or Dunns, they should have these small mics available, but truthfully, as long as it's not too windy outside or too windy where your location is or too much background noise and you keep it relatively close to you, you can do it. But, you know, people worry, oh, I don't want to look like I'm too much prepared, paperwork doesn't matter is the first time, it doesn't matter, have a sheet of paper, write down everything you need to say and refer to it because it's much better to look like you're trying, and trying to get it right, which is important, than not doing it at all.
Esther
Yeah, a lot of people look OK, so I'm looking right at you, but my camera is up there, so I'm probably looking right up to people right now. Should people, like, look at themselves on the screen or look up at the get-go?
Melanie
That's a tough one. I mean, what I would recommend to people, if you really are so against looking at yourself, you can turn the camera around so that you're looking at your stock or looking at your product or even your service banners, now, I'm a service, you're a service, we don't actually have physical products per se, you can show them fliers, business cards, roll up banners and you can say this is the kind of stuff that we do for you, this is how you can find us, this is how you can support us, and you can talk about your product, you can be like a voice-over if you like. And that's another way of avoiding directly being seen.
Esther
Yeah, but there's also those that have a hatred, let's just put it that way, of their own voice. OK, so those that you know, they can't stand the sound of their own voice. So would you recommend somebody else doing the video for them?
Melanie
If you can win the authenticity garrison, but if it's if there's a team of you, then pick one of the more confident staff, absolutely, but at the end of the day, guys, you are your business, if you're a sole trader or a small business owner, you are your business, and if we were in normal times, we would be going to networking events, we would be going out shaking people's hands with makeup on, but we're not and, you know, this is guerrilla marketing guys. This is as guerrilla as is going to get for us.
Esther
Well, there you have it, guys. Go step outside your comfort zone. Take a punt on it. Whatever can go wrong, like if you don't want to go live, record it, rerecord it again, just try. That's all we can ask you to do. OK, have a good one, guys. Enjoy the rest of your week and we'll be back next week for more, bye.
Melanie
Bye.