Building Trust with Videos | Michael Poh | Ep 194

Michael Poh  00:00

What marketing is, is just clearing a murkiness, right? The more that that murkiness is cleared, the easier someone is to make the decision to buy or not. Someone that that sounds super relaxed, chilled and easy-going, that's so much easier and it's better content for social media as well. If you want to go viral, that's easier content.

Debra Chantry-Taylor 00:30

Welcome to another episode of Better Business, Better Life. I'm your host, Debra Chantry Taylor, and I'm passionate about helping entrepreneurs lead their ideal lives by creating better businesses.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  00:48

I’m a certified EOS implementer, an FBA accredited family business advisor and a business owner myself with several business interests. I work with established business owners and their leadership teams to help them live their ideal entrepreneurial lives using EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System. My guests come on to the show to authentically share the highs and lows of actually running a business, but also I bring on experts as well, and in this case, our guest is actually both of those, both a successful business owner and also an expert in his field. So today's guest has actually been dancing professionally for 15 years in west coast swing and other partner dancing. He is both a teacher and a competitive dancer. He's a committee. He's on the committee, not the committee. He's on the committee of the Marketing Club, which is New Zealand's leading kind of marketing club. He is a father of two kids, which is a reason why he started his business. And he's got Charlie, who's a beautiful little girl, and Jaden, who reminds me of a young Steve. He's like a maths genius. I suspect we've gone actually in the making there. So today we are going to learn about the value of video outside of social media, because we often talk about using video in social media, but it's so much more powerful than that. So I'd like to introduce you to Michael poem, who's the founder of Vouch Video Testimonials. Welcome to the show, Michael.

Michael Poh  02:05

Thank you very much. Debra, what an honour. Thank you very much for having me on here.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  02:09

My absolute pleasure. So we obviously know each other from outside of this studio and chatting with Michael Reese, I'll let you out on the show and share with me the stuff that you actually know. So we met in an unusual kind of situation in that, I think I met you first, and then I started working with your wife, who actually runs her, your partner, who runs her own, her own business, so she's got a dance studio with a number of team members as well. And then, of course, we made the connection, and we realized that actually I knew you both, but you were together.

Michael Poh  02:38

And I just remember the first time I really got to chat to you. I just happened to be on my, like, one of some of my worst days, because I was sick, and we were overseas together on a retreat, and I just remember sharing a boat with you. I'm like, I want to make a good impression with you, but I just, I'm just trying to drum up this energy to be really, like, engaging with you.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  02:59

To be honest, I knew that you were unwell. I don't know how difficult it could be when you especially when you're unwell at overseas traveling. So I got it, and to be fair, we'd met before that anyway, so I'd actually already got a bit of a sense where you're going on. But anyway, you have an interesting kind of background, because you have not always been a business owner. And in fact, when did you start this business?

Michael Poh  03:16

So this business is only a year old. I've been in the video game professionally for four years. I've run, I run businesses so Airbnb’s and whatnot, since just before covid. But before that, I was, I was in recruitment for about 12 years. Oh, wow. Okay, recruitment, yeah, I was in recruitment for 12 years. And I guess what I've kind of done now is kind of brought all that recruitment science, all that interview technique, no, because I've recruited from no bulk recruitment, no filling up a whole restaurant, through to shoulder tapping people, going on LinkedIn, finding people, and then just really making relationships.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  03:59

So Michael, I'd love to hear a little bit about your story, because you've not always been a business owner. Always been a business owner, but you chose to go into business ownership after having a career elsewhere. So tell us, what about how you got to where you are now? How long's vouch been going for? What were you doing beforehand?

Michael Poh  04:11

So vouch has only been going for about a year. Before that, I was doing professionally videos for about four years. And then before that, I was doing Airbnb. But really the reason why I kind of got into this, the space of video testimonials, was that my career was 12 years in the making in recruitment. So when I brought in all the recruitment science, the interview techniques, the relationship building. Because when you're in recruitment, you're not just kind of scanning through or especially on the high end anyway, you're really building a relationship. Even if they don't fit this job, you want them to fit in another job. So as much as I'm trying to siphon out what really makes them tick, I'm also trying to build a relationship with them. And. So when I kind of got into the whole video world and said, You know what, I love, I love using technology. I love using the cameras. I love using all the lighting equipment and whatnot, but what really made me tick, and really made me fall in love with the whole interview process was that you can really connect with someone on camera. And then those stories that gets told with those with that emotion, it gets told so much better so and I just remember this one time I was asked I was working with a client, and I didn't know them from a bar, so 15 minutes in, and they were crying. They were crying with, you know, because the they were just so blessed with the work that the client was working, nobles was doing my client and they were like, wow. So it was at that point as of my career, I was like, I can, I can do video testimonials full time, because I feel like I've got the ability to ask great questions, really connect with someone, and I've got the technical knowledge to make something look amazing on video as well. So that's really how vouch came about, was that that one particular client said, no, no, just showed emotion. Showed so much emotion. And I, like I said, I know them from a bar, so 15 minutes beforehand, and with 15 minutes, I was able to tap into some emotions.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  06:27

That’s obviously a skill. You're up there. It's really interesting, isn't it, because you now have a guarantee. And this is part of my EOS stuff number this is another because part of Eos is, we always say, a proven process, you should have a guarantee. And your guarantee always makes me smile whenever I see it. So what is your guarantee?

Michael Poh  06:43

It's the hug back guarantee. Is the vouch hug back guarantee. And you're allowed to High five me as well, if you're if you don't like hugs. That came about because over the last year, no. So while I've been doing vouch, I've asked a lot of people to do video testimonials from, for me, for vouch. And that happened, I didn't do anything with the videos. It's just kind of sat in the background while I was working for my own all my clients, creating my clients content. One day I was like, no, no, my I need to start creating content for myself. And I just put all my content all together, and it just happened that I was always capturing the end of the videos where I was hugging all my clients. It was amazing. So I've done 20 over the last year. I've done 22 video testimonials for myself, and it wasn't until I was like, I started adding them up. I was like, wow, I've hugged everyone or have had a very emotional like relationship with all my clients that has vouched for me 22 times.

So I was like, Well, you know what? This is more than just so when I created the guarantee that's more than just the workmanship, that's the way I build the relationship. That's the way you can expect to work with me. That's also in the future, when I am hiring people for the team, and I'm also looking at franchising, no in the future, I want to, I want to be able to pass that on. It's, you know, as a value. You know, you're not just coming on board at vouch to create, to create videos and No, the only thing that I'm looking at is just the quality of video. No, that's not the thing. It's actually the whole full relationship that's from start to finish, that if they're not willing to hug you at the end or give you a high five, a very emotional high five. Now we'll give you your money. You know where we'd we're not just dedicated to the creation of content of the video, but also the relationship. Now, yeah, the one video doesn't count to us. That's, that's the full relationship. That's, that's what we can get in the second, the third, the fourth. We want to be your partner.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  09:03

You're speaking my language in terms of values and then process and everything else. Obviously, I was just seeping into you through your wife in terms of osmosis. So we're here to talk more about video as a whole, though. So video everybody sort of knows they should be doing some kind of video content. The most obvious scene, as you see people on LinkedIn doing video content, and I've seen that really increase that site in the last few years, like, I think when I was doing video three or four years ago, hardly anybody was doing it. And now you've got the every man in his dog just about feels like they are. So we know the value in that, and we know there's Tiktok. And I've always been quite blown away. I never wanted to be on Tiktok. I couldn't see the point in it. I'm a professional business person while I go on Tiktok, until I actually posted a video about how to run an EOS level 10 meeting, and that's now been seen by over 126,000 people and a whole bunch of likes. You kind of go, okay, Tiktok is obviously more than just funny dances, as I wasn't doing any kind of funny dance. So we know there's value in Nvidia, but why is it? Why do people use video? Why do people like video?

Michael Poh  10:04

Well, people like video because it's engaging. You know, you can cut through a lot of them. I guess the medium of video is that you can show rather than tell. So the boring videos, or the videos that tend to get skipped quite a bit, is when people sit on, sit in front of a camera and just tell people what, what it is, rather than showing the whole experience. I've created plenty of videos where someone's talking about their values. Oh, our value is friendship. Our value openness, not whatever their values are. But as a video editor as a videographer, show them. You know, what does that mean? You know, when your company's inclusive, what does that mean? Show what inclusive is, rather than just talking about, oh, we celebrate rainbow day or whatever it is like. Give me some footage of how you how you celebrate that, right? And I just think, you know, there's a stat out there that, what is it? 85% of all consumer traffic, internet traffic is video. Yeah. So we're not talking about big data transfers. We're just talking about normal person, me, you and I kind of search. What do we kind of consume online? 85% of that, or even more, I think there's, there's this video.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  11:23

I saw some stuff that about how big YouTube has become, like, it's just phenomenal, and it's watched not just on our laptops anymore, but on our TVs as well. So we're all, we're all actually watching stuff that we used to perhaps watch on our laptop or our computer screen, actually on our TVs at home now as well. Whenever I go home in the evening, Jaden would love this. Steve's always sitting there watching some kind of muscle physics video on YouTube. He spends every, every afternoon doing that. So it's quite cool. But what is the secret to video then? So you're saying we shouldn't just sit there and kind of talk at that. We have to show but there's a certain skill in that isn't like storytelling. What are you What are you saying people have to do to get the show with it across?

Michael Poh  12:00

I think, I think our priorities are wrong, sometimes a lot. So I find, I find a lot of people that I talk to, they talk about, they want views. They want people. They're looking for viralness. Everyone's looking for viralness and what I'm saying is that the amount of views or it's important, of course, because that's how you count how good a piece. Yeah, that's right. But really, who's viewing it? Are the right people viewing it? Are you talking to the millions of No, the billions of people on this world, or are you talking to your client? So here's an example, if you were doing open heart surgery, and you've never done open heart surgery before, and the only resource that you had is a video, a one hour video of how to do open heart surgery. Guess what? You're going to be watching that one particular video over and over and over again until you have it absolutely right. So the whole idea.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  13:06

By the way, we do not recommend envy does open heart surgery from YouTube videos, just saying it, disclaimer, disclaimer. But yeah, I hear you, so you're gonna watch it over and over again to make sure you get it right.

Michael Poh  13:15

Yeah, the how successful a piece of video is. It's not like the amount of views it is. It's, How well does it connect with your client or your audience? You know the people that really matter to you. So if you're creating content for your for your business, really have your business clients in mind of what what you're creating. So even if it doesn't create no viralness, it's still a good piece of content. So what I'm wanting to say is that a lot of people are thinking about the top of the funnel marketing. That's your social media, your YouTube, your Facebook, your Instagram, your TikTok’s, all those you know it's great to invite people into your world, but if you want them to sit down and really understand how your business works, and know for your clients to go, oh, okay, cool. I That makes a lot of sense. I'm going to buy that. Oh, I'm going to I'm going to bring up to find out that all requires a lot of communication, a lot of what boring information, no to the mass but no, it's not boring if I'm buying something that's worth $200,000 it's not boring if I'm committing no three months worth of salary on something before I buy a jet ski. No, I'm gonna go on find out reviews. I'm gonna find out how that not this versus that. So it's I just find that a lot of companies get fixated on virality.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  14:45

And I've heard that a lot too, and I think it's actually it's really important to note very, very few things actually go viral as well, and often it's not for the right reasons. So you can go viral and it's not necessarily a positive thing, but most of the posts is writing a book at the moment, are working with a book, book coach and a book i. Machine Company, yeah. And one of the things that they said to me straight away was, you know, who is your target audience? And part of me sort of went, you know, I was really clear about who my target audience was on who I wanted to talk to, and what I wanted to share with them in terms of value. But then another part of my human brain kind of goes, but if I just do that, I'm going to miss out on all this other stuff over here. And fortunately, I had the realization that it's okay, you can write that book, and then you can write another book for another audience, another book for another audience, but it as it actually is really important that you know who you're talking to. Would that be in a book? Would that be on video? Because you have to add real value, not this.

Michael Poh  15:34

There’s a good book. Could they ask you answer? Have you ever?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  15:38

Yes, I have, actually, I, well, I've, I've got it. Yes, it's on my bedside table, so I'm hoping, by osmosis, it will come in. But it's on my it's on my reading list because it got recommended by a friend to actually read that yet.

Michael Poh  15:48

Yeah, so, so if you're looking at doing some content creation, and it's not about video in particular, but it's really about what does your client, what information do they need, and answering that in as latent and straightforward way as possible, that's the main gist of it. They suggest a few different things. But you know, like, talk about pricing. You know, like, how does pricing get? Gets created? Talk about why things take so long. Talk about, you know, that just people, the more, the more what marketing is is just clearing the murkiness. Right? The more that that murkiness is cleared, the easier someone is to make that make the decision to buy or not. Yeah. So the idea of, like, answering their questions is just clearing the murkiness.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  16:40

So in terms of video testimonies, particularly, you know, so it's really clear, really important that we're very clear, that we clear away the murkiness that we answer the questions that our clients are like your customers are likely to want to hear. What is the real skill to producing a great video testimonial? Do you think? Well, what do you do that? Because, I mean, it's great that you can get the emotion of people. What? Why is that important? And how do you do that?

Michael Poh  17:07

I think, kind of taking a step back, you have to do good work, like the work that you do has to be absolutely amazing. You know, I've had a few people that have probably wouldn't have gone five stars or whatnot, and they're trying to ask where you just can't hide it. You can't hide it, right? So first of all, you have to do amazing work. But second of all, for me, I don't need someone that's eccentric. I don't need someone that that that loves being on camera all walks of life, deserves to be heard, right? That person I was talking about, she was dyslexic. Yeah, she was dyslexic. And the whole idea behind it is because she was dyslexic.

And I kept asking her a particular question. I was like, Oh, how did how did these guys help you? How did these guys help you? And she just kept asking me, answering me, oh, they helped me with my paperwork. I didn't realize she was dyslexic, and it wasn't until I asked her in a different way, and then she just broke down. Okay, I'm dyslexic. Okay. I'm Um, no, they really helped me with XYZ, ABC. And I looked over to my camera, and so I was like, Oh yes, yes, yes. And I knew that she was kind of quivering already. It didn't make the cut of the end video, but I just remember asking her, just looking directly into her eyes and said, Yeah, how did that make you feel? And I just, I just remember it so fondly, just because it's such an honour when someone does open up and talk about that and that's not always going to happen with everyone, right? That's but to have those truthful conversations and not just be a marketing activity. Now, so many times it's just a clipboard, a whole lot of questions that pre, pre, pre created. I just don't think those questions or the way you know that those words create for great communication.

Michael Poh  19:05

Communication is so much more than the words that you use. It's the way that you interact with those words. And I think interacting and the emotions behind it, you can capture all that you can. Capture all that you can and you know when someone's sincere. Know when or someone's reading out of a teleprompter or something like that, you can truly tell. And I guess my job is to use, use the technology to capture that, that that honour that I get of asking questions. I was interviewing a principal last week, and I was talking to her about a music program, and I just and she just came out and said, This music program has helped change the life of some of my students. And I just sit and I just remember. Swelling in my eyes, just swelling in my eyes, and just letting, letting that sit and grow. I mean, so to me, that's what video testimonials are. It's, it's, it's understanding, it's understanding people and really communicating and just capturing on camera.

Why is that important? Well, the reason why that is important is because, you know, especially for my target audience, my target audience is professional service providers. They don't have a product for a physical product for you to touch, to see, to feel, to sniff, whatever it is. What they do have is the goodwill on the previous jobs, their service is only as good as the last job. That's right. So that goodwill you can't touch. No one. So what I do, and if I can get that those emotions out, is to show what how you would feel, or what it might feel like, or know what services we get based off, based off those testimonial The thing is that how I see it is that you can any service that you buy, let's say a builder. You can pay anyone to build your house. What you're really buying when you go to a builder is the experience working with that builder. So what you want to capture on those video testimonials is the experience, not the end product. No, you fork enough money out of it. Any of your house can get built the way you want it exactly, but they're not going to take you through the same exact emotional process.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  21:42

It’s funny you chose that as an example of actually, I actually went with a builder over in Melbourne, and they do high end homes, and their guarantee, so they've also got an EOS guarantee as well, is that they'll still be friends with you at the end, or you'll still be friends with them at the end of the building process. And if you think about it, it's one of those fears for most people, right? Is that often you end up getting into fights with builders that the things that they quoted for don't quite end up being what you get at the end. And so that's their guarantee, and they actually do it by also providing a 12-month inspection of the home forever, just to always check and make sure it's all okay and everything's which is, which is really good marketing, because it means they are living by their guarantee. Either you definitely will be friends at the end of it, and then they're seeing their clients at least once every 12 months, even when they're no longer clients. So yeah, I hear I hear you. So what you're saying is, for those things, I mean, yes, let's face it, you would hope that any builder, being a master builder, is going to build the house at the end of the day. It's how that relationship actually went. And that's what people they really buy into, because at the end of the day, it's about more than just the money there.

Michael Poh  22:39

Yeah, that's right, and yeah, it's the it's your systems, it's your it's the way you treat them. It's the answering on the phone. It's the when things don't go right happens during that time. You know when, when the budget gets blown out, because sometimes you can't handle but the budget is blown because you can't the builder isn't in control of of the price, price spikes. So how do you communicate that? How do you, how do you lead that person through the journey, you know, and that's what needs to be captured. That's really the product you're selling, not the house. It's that journey.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  23:17

Wonderful. Okay, so I, I've got used to being on camera now. It took in the beginning, I hated it, and in fact, to be fair, I never listened to my own podcast, never watched my own podcast, because I don't like seeing myself, but I'm quite happy to sit here and be on camera for other people's amusement. But in the beginning, I didn't enjoy it, but I think I have a natural affinity for it, so it became quite easy, quite quickly. What about people who feel nervous, who are like, Oh, but I don't want to be on camera, or they're worried about how they're going to look. Or how do you how do you work with those people? How do you relax them?

Michael Poh  23:48

How do I relax them is, I guess, in the short amount of time that I'm with them, the whole, the whole idea behind vouchers that i is as only as long as a coffee break. No, if your coffee break is 20 minutes, it's 20 minutes. If it's 60 minutes or 60 minutes, but so within that time, I can't make them feel comfortable in front of they. They can't be intrinsically comfortable, but I what I can do is that I can sit down and talk to you eye to eye and get you to forget about the cat. You know, I tell them I don't, don't look directly, straight into the camera. That's when you get scared, when I start talking to you and start talking just like a coffee date or whatever it is, it's just, you know, you forget about and when I'm really listening, when I'm really kind of trying to process what you've just said, you spend time to just really think about what you're trying to say.

And the moment that I'm not truly listening, and I'm just looking at the camera, looking through the camera, I just become, you know, I just become an object that they're speaking to. Yeah, you lost them. And that's when I'm overthinking, and that's when I'm going, I'm in the R. Are, and I'm worried about it, and I guess ums and ahs, because the thing is that what I do is this the 30 minute interview, and I'm all I'm doing is cutting it into a two to three minute video. I'm cutting out all the ums and ahs. It's up to me to tell that story in a concise way. It's not up to you, especially as the client's client, the guest there, they in their mind, they've done their job. They paid they're doing this as a little bit extra, because they've done just such a great job. But they're not there to sell your service. They're not here to kind of really promote you. They're here to just talk, yeah, cheer. They don't deserve to try and remember lines. Then that's not them. They're just there to share, and they've only got 20 to 20 minutes to an hour. So it's really up to the person, the interviewer, the editors, to get the right information and cut it into and tell that story for them as well. So yeah, that's kind of where I where I'm sitting now to answer your question, it's, it's not up to them to worry, to worry about being on camera. It's up to you to kind of get them to forget about that, make them feel comfortable.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  26:15

It's been like us talking here now. I mean, at the end of the day, yes, we've got cameras and lights and everything, but we're actually just having a conversation. Yeah, do you ever write anything down? Because one of the things I found within my own podcast is when I'm really intently listening to people, I like to better take some notes. And so you often see in the video is I'll be asking a question. I'm suddenly writing something down which looks like, apparently my editor says it looks like I'm paying zero attention to them. But in actual fact, I'm just capturing it because I am a writer, and I like writing things down. How do you do that in your interviews? Or is that no?

Michael Poh  26:45

I find that the more intently I listen and kind of let all the all the technology just do its own thing, the more I get a relaxed conversation out of it, and that relaxed conversation is so much more important to me than the content that's coming out of their mouth. Because, yeah, they might be saying word for word, what the company wants to hear. But if it's not, if it's said in a robotic way, it just, I don't even know if I can use it if it sounds robotic, someone that that sounds super relaxed, chilled and easy-going. That's so much easier, and it's better, better content for social media as well, if you want to go viral, you know, that's easier content.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  27:32

Yeah, and I think you're right. I mean, it comes down to what the video is being used for. You're doing a company profile, of course, it's going to be professional and polished, and you need to say the key messages of the organisation, but in general terms, conversations is where the real stories come through and the emotions come through too.

Michael Poh  27:48

And I guess that's why, you know, actors are so are paid so much, it's like they can say the company line so much better and such a relaxed and easy tone. That's why they do get paid that amount. So you know that they're amazing.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  28:05

Okay, so other uses for so your customer testimonials. I'm assuming you put your customer testimonies on your website. Other uses for it. What else do you know?

Michael Poh  28:14

Well, like I said, I don't actually you know if I create a video and it's 1000s of dollars, there's only, there's only if they tell me, I'm going to put it on social media. The shelf life of that two, three months maximum, where you really find, yeah, where you really find the return on investment is on your proposals, on your RFPs, on your quotes, you know. So if you've got someone, let's say a young couple that you're working with, send them another young couple that was in their particular situation. They say a mortgage advisor. You're working with a young couple first house, first house that they're looking at buying. They don't know if they're choosing you or another mortgage advisor. Hey, look, I've worked with this young couple that, no, there's exactly someone, and look at what they've had. You can use that for 2-3-4 years,

Debra Chantry-Taylor  29:10

Yeah. So it becomes like a show reel, right? But you've got all these different videos for different scenarios that you can actually tailor it again, a bit like, right the book, right? Tailor for the person you're talking to. So if I'm talking to someone so I'm talking to a male business owner who's working in building engineering, probably not best that I show them a female virtual assistant company because they get or a or your wife starts to get right, because they're gonna go, yeah, doesn't really relate to me. So it's about having a book of all these different things that you can bring out at the right time.

Michael Poh  29:37

And on top just video, and I deal with video testimonials, obviously. But on top of that, I think we're we're companies. Websites aren't using videos well enough, really this, you know that they attract you with the big brand messaging. Video, you know the company slogan and what does the business do and about us? Video, those are the big ones. Those are the ones that companies always use. Yes. And like I said, let's go back to that stat. I was saying 85% of all traffic is video. How much of your website is video, you know, 5% 10% you know. So why does that not correlate, you know? And again, everyone's trying to tow the company in line with another the right words and whatnot. But again, with video and the convenience of video. Now, why is the why? Why is you know, when you go in and book a slot, a time slot was used for for a meeting, why? Why is there no video to explain what this time slot is and what, what are you expecting to hear? And what do you explain? How long is it going to be? This is a time lapse of what that video is, and this is the content that we're going to cover.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  30:44

Yeah, well, maybe not, a split-up version of me. They never understand it.

Michael Poh  30:49

No, with the voiceover, maybe. But then yeah, and then your pricing, you know, again, like I talk about the pricing how, you know, even if you can't give a solid pricing for that thing. How was it calculated? You know, if you're building a kitchen, okay, well, this is another square meterage, and depending on the type of the material that you're trying to use, that should or be a video or should be video content. Like I said, I don't think New Zealand companies and websites are using video to the best of their ability.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  31:22

I’m thinking, I don’t really use it online, which is interesting. Yeah, it's not the be all and end all though, right? Because I'm actually not a video watcher, so I'm terrible. I don't really watch videos. And so you've always got to have both options available, haven't you?

Michael Poh  31:32

You’re absolutely right. You're absolutely right. But what? Like I said? It's to show, not to tell. So if you, if I can tell you what the process about the five step process, but show me. Show me what those five steps looks like.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  31:45

And I think, also, I think that I remember I did my first videos many, many years ago, geographer. It was about telling, yeah, my story and how I work with people. And it was, it was showing them like me out with the dogs, you know, walking the dogs, and me and my portrait at the time, and just various things were really important to me. And what it actually did, I think, for me, is it, when people first met me for the first time, because they'd already watched that video, they felt like they already knew me, and so broke down that initial barrier of, oh, you're a complete stranger. I don't know who I'm talking to. I think when you show on the other side, when you show your clients, your customers talking, people always listen and kind of go, Yeah, that's me, and that's the more yeses you can get in somebody's head before they meet you, the more likelihood you've got of actually converting them.

Michael Poh  32:28

That's why personal branding is so important at the moment, right? People want to know people are dealing with a person, right? You're dealing with personality, and then you want to show who you are as a person, and how do you respond to stress? How do you respond to those celebrations? So I guess that's why personal branding and personal branding videos and people know what influences are such a big thing right now, because we want to know how people react and how people, how what you can what can you expect when dealing with a company or business? Yeah, okay,

Debra Chantry-Taylor  33:06

Yeah, okay. So for those people who are considering doing this on their own, I think what I'm hearing you say, and this is not a sales pitch for you at all, but Well, it's like, actually, the technical bit that putting the camera in front of somebody is a very, small amount of it. The biggest part is actually in the way that you actually bring the best out of that person.

Michael Poh  33:27

Yeah, choosing the right person. Firstly, they have to adore exactly what the what you do, that they love exactly what you do. But, yeah, absolutely, it's asking the right questions. And really asking deeper questions than just the surface level. Right me, out of five or something like that, it's like, what? What does easy mean? You know, what? They took care of, all the all the work mean, Debra took me into a workshop, and I just came out with clarity. What does clarity mean? You know, and, and that makes for the best content for me to be able to edit as well, you know, for anyone to be able to when you can really dive into what that means that, yeah, the dive five whys under and you know exactly what it is, but yeah, what motivates someone, right?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  34:16

Yeah, the Harvard five whys, for those of you who are listening, I don't, haven't heard of it is something we actually encourage in our IDs, in Eos, as well as, like, just keep asking, what curious child, so why is that? And then, why is that, and why is that, and why is that, and who does it affect, and when, and blah, blah. So, yeah, really important. Okay, cool. In terms of top tips for people listening on the podcast, what would you say your three kind of top tips are, if they're either haven't been using video and considering doing it, or haven't used client testimonials or considering doing it, what are the three top tips you would share?

Michael Poh  34:46

I think you know the they asked you answered Absolutely. Read it if you're wanting to get into content creation. That really gives you a good idea of what the. Your audience will want to see. So, yeah, that's always being client centric. Client being client centric, being audience centric, of what, what to create for them, you know, and stop worrying about going viral. Stop going about being I mean, yeah, going viral is just when that when what you're saying or what you're doing or what you're showing connects with them, right? And once you connect with them on a particular level, yeah, that will go viral.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  35:31

And I think, also, I think what's important, I always sort of liken social media and videos, particularly on social media, to being the TV adverts of the future in some respects. So it's actually, it's, I mean, obviously you want to be engaging. Yes, you want to get people involved. And sometimes you will, sometimes you won't. But if you're consistent, and you've got consistent marketing out there, then there are at least seeing you at some point, and at some point they'll see a piece of content they want to look more at. So you know that if you put one piece out and go, Oh, I didn't get very many likes, or didn't really perform very well, you're doing yourself a disservice by stopping that. Because I know I've now been putting out content for well, millions of years, and you know, sometimes you look at this stuff and nobody responds, and other times you have people who are like, Ah, that was really helpful. Thank you so much.    

Michael Poh  36:17

We’re just so into, yeah.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  36:21

The instant gratification, but that's not what's not what's important. It's like writing a book. You got to think about who you're trying to reach and give them real value.

Michael Poh  36:28

Yeah, being kind said trick is absolutely, yeah, that's the top tip I can give. It's just really thinking about who it is that you're talking to. So now, going back to that analogy of that open heart surgery. Talk to that open heart the open heart surgeon that only has your videos at all to learn how to do open heart surgery. Yeah.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  36:52

What about giving away too much content? You know, I'm very abundance minded, and I've always believed that I can give away everything that I know, because you can actually Google everything. I know anyways, I think I know is unique, but some people are really nervous, though, if I give them the How to or I show them what they can do, then they'll never come and use our service.

Michael Poh  37:09

Information is so cheap these days, you know, we're not back in the day where you need no only a select few families had an a set of encyclopedia, you know. So you had to go over to your friend's house to write down, oh, what does that mean? So it's so cheap. ChatGPT, you type in, oh, what does you know? It comes up. You go on Google, there's billions of pages out there. It's so cheap. So in saying that, what's the value of the actual information that you're holding? Is it as easy as doing a quick search. If it's as easy as doing a quick search, then I'd say, sell the implementation. Yeah, sell the implementation. Sell the execution. No. And even if you do give, give away. How I do my execution. How many people were actually going to execute that, that particular way? If they do, you, hey, guess what? You've got a you go, got a first mover's advantage?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  38:04

No, it's true. And it's I mean, you think of how many books we read, And you read the book, you think so good, and do we actually don't think with it. So a lot of people, especially when you're in the service industry, people want you to help them. So that's what you do. Okay, cool. Any other final tips before we wrap it up?

Michael Poh  38:18

Yeah, just use more video. Like I said, 85% of all traffic is video, and how much of that is in your on your website, how much, how much video is on your website, obviously, saying that we like to consume content and video format.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  38:36

So if you take nothing else from this podcast, I would definitely recommend you have a look at your website. I know I'm going to right now and see what, what video content there is there.

Michael Poh  38:43

Or you can, like, say, you know, come to come to our location show, give us a video of where to. You know, it's those small, mundane things like, Oh, how do I find parking? If parking is not here, where? Where else could I find parking?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  38:59

Done right now. Hey, Michael pleasure, as always, thank you for sharing your advice and your tips and things, and obviously we'll put your contact information in the bottom of the podcast. So want to contact Michael well, means do that. Yeah, lovely to have you on my video. Thank you.

Michael Poh  39:12

Thank you. Oh, this is fun. Cheers.