This week's episode of Automation Unplugged our guest today on this Marketing Experts episode is Ellie O’Hara, Client Experience Manager here at One Firefly.

About this episode:

Ellie brings nearly five years of experience supporting AV dealers through smart, strategic marketing solutions. She leads both the onboarding and account management teams, helping ensure that every One Firefly client receives a standout experience from day one.

This conversation is hosted by Kat Wheeler, and together they explore:

• Why so many AV dealers struggle to develop a clear marketing strategy.
• Common mistakes like copying competitors or rushing ROI expectations.
• And How to build a balanced, long-term marketing plan that actually drives results.

SEE ALSO: #320: Behind the Gates of Beverly Hills Smart Homes with Jay Dobensky

Transcript

Kat:

Hi everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Automation Unplugged Marketing Experts. I'm your host, Katharine Wheeler, and today we're touching a topic that should be near and dear to every AV dealer's heart. Marketing specifically, we're gonna talk about how to cut through the noise and confusion by developing a clear and effective marketing strategy. Joining me today is Ellie O'Hara, a true marketing expert who's helped countless AV dealers turn their marketing chaos into clarity. So Ellie, I'm gonna bring you on now, and thanks so much for joining us. Hey Kat, thanks for

Ellie:

having me. I'm really excited

Kat:

to be here. Me too. Can you introduce yourself to everybody? Tell 'em a little bit about yourself?

Ellie:

Yeah, I'd be happy to. So I've been a firefly for almost five years now, which is crazy. It's gone so fast. But in the best of ways. Um, I'm the client experience manager here at One Firefly. So what that means is I oversee our onboarding team and our account management team, and basically my goal is to support both of those teams to help them deliver the best client experience. So when our clients work with us, they can essentially give us two thumbs up. And where are you coming to us today from? Yeah, so I am in Lynchburg, Virginia. Been here for about five years and, um, live here with my husband and I'm a new mom of a five month old baby girl named Piper. So that's been a really fun new journey to go on. Uh, but when I'm not momming, uh, you can find me anywhere where there's water. So I love to water, skin, I love to scuba dive. Those are some of my favorite hobbies.

Kat:

That's so fun and um, congratulations again on the new baby, uh, Piper is is very cute. We've seen pics. Got hair. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, okay, so starting pretty high level today with the topic. First question for you to kind of set the stage is why do you think, and not just AV dealers, but people in general struggle to develop like a solid marketing strategy.

Ellie:

Ooh. Yeah, that's a great question. So I would say the best marketing strategies work when you have an all encompassing strategy. And what I mean by that is you're utilizing a lot of different platforms to show up digitally, no matter where your clients are. So think like. Facebook or any sort of social media platform. You've got a website, you can do newsletters, there's print. So there's a lot of different avenues that you can go down to create what I like to call like the ecosystem of a marketing strategy. And each of those platforms, there's a lot of intricacies. So it takes a while to learn how to use them well and effectively. Um, and we all know our integrators are really busy guys and gals, and they're working to service their clients well and to build their business so they don't always have the time to sit down and learn these. Platforms. And so unless you do have that time, it's hard to deploy a really solid marketing strategy. So I think that's where people get tripped up a lot is honestly just the time to learn how to do it Well,

Kat:

I think that's really, that's a great point. And I think, you know, I take, I take that to mean as like, don't put all your eggs in one basket, so don't go all in on one thing, but create a holistic strategy that can hit you on multiple avenues. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Well that, you know, kind of tees us up for what I think will be the most fun part of today's call. Maybe not, uh, but it's our, it's our game, you know? I like a game. Yes. Let's do it. Today's game is gonna be called strategy or Tragedy, and we're gonna go through some just basic marketing scenarios. Okay. And you'll tell us quickly if it is a strategy or a tragedy, and why. Okay. Love it. Let's do it. All right. First one, choosing your marketing tactics based only on your end of year goals and revenue.

Ellie:

Ooh, that is a great question. So, you know, when it comes to marketing, it's really important to have goals in mind that kind of gives you the route or the trajectory of how your marketing is gonna go. And I do think it is. Smart. Um, when you're, when you consider your revenue or your end of your goals in mind, 'cause then you can align your marketing with that. But there's a lot of different avenues you can go down to utilize marketing in a way that's beneficial for you and your business. So while I do think end of your goals and revenue is a great thing to have in mind, don't silo yourself. To that because I think there's a lot of different ways that you can utilize marketing to benefit your business. So basically just be open to having maybe a couple different goals, um, and aligning your marketing with each of one of those.

Kat:

Okay. What about running Facebook ads? Just because a competitor does.

Ellie:

Ooh, I would call this one a tragedy. Um, I totally get the temptation to want to run an ad. When one of your competitors is doing that, you might get into the mind frame of like, oh my gosh, if my competitor's doing that, should I do that? Am I losing out on opportunities? But I think it's always worthwhile to stop and pause and consider, consider your goals. Like I said in the previous question, does Facebook ads align with the goal that you're wanting to achieve? Facebook ads may work for your competitor, but it may not be. What your business needs. So before you do something like that, take time to consider if it's actually the right move for you, your business goals, and even what your audience

Kat:

needs. Solid point. 'cause audience is big on that. Not all of us or not every dealer has the same audience. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. Next up. Sending targeted emails to past clients.

Ellie:

Ooh, I would definitely call this one a strategy. Um, most of our dealers, or really dealers across the US in the world, I think would agree that a lot of their projects come from repeat business clients who need a tuneup or an upgrade or they want to add on to one of their systems. And so an email newsletter is a really great way to get back in front of customers that. Maybe you haven't had a touchpoint with in a while to remind them like, Hey, I'm here. I exist. Like I'm here to help you. Um, you may not always get a sale right away, but at least it's a good way to keep your brand top of mind with those people so that when they do need that tuneup, they're

Kat:

gonna come to you. Excellent point. And, you know, for referrals as well, right? I mean, because your existing customers most likely to refer you. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Um, okay. What about building a new website? Because it's been five years?

Ellie:

Hmm. You know, this one's interesting and I would actually go with strategy on this one. Um, it's pretty common knowledge that a website. Becomes outdated within five to 10 years, give or take. And I think you can think of it like your showroom. If you don't update your showroom in five years, your tech gets outdated. The showroom might even look outdated, and people will probably go to a different showroom that has all the new technology. So experiences change, technology changes in the digital landscape as well. And so you want to keep that in mind when it comes to your website and it is smart to, to give it a tuneup or a refresh every, every handful of years.

Kat:

Okay, and that leads us right into our next question, which is about showrooms. So hosting a showroom event. Clear sales goals? Hmm.

Ellie:

Yeah, I would definitely say strategy for this one. You know, when it comes to marketing, there's a lot of things that you can do to showcase your brand online through photos and videos and things like blogs. But I think most dealers would agree that there's truly nothing like experiencing the technology in person, like being able to hear. Speakers and hear how quiet like those Lutron shades are. So if you can get people into your showroom, I think you're gonna have a better chance of closing a deal than if they were to just say, watch a video on your website. So yeah, definitely recommend putting on some showroom events.

Kat:

I, yeah, I 100% agree. I think. Where dealers fall short in those events is they don't what I call finish the drill, which is do all that marketing follow up after the event to try to, you know, get those sales that didn't happen day of.

Ellie:

Yeah. Yeah,

Kat:

definitely. Okay, and our final question in the game posting daily, but with no clear message or target audience.

Ellie:

Definitely a tragedy. I think this goes back to the, the first question you asked about copying a competitor who's running a Facebook ad. It all goes back to don't post without a goal, like you want to post with purpose. And again, this goes back to your business goals, who your audience is, what resonates with them. Um, so yes, it's great to post on social daily and as often as you can, but you wanna go into it with purpose or else it's gonna fall flat every time. It's not gonna resonate with your audience.

Kat:

I just wanna tack this on here, even though I know it's not gonna be timely by the time this episode airs, but something interesting did just happen and now Google is, um, indexing Instagram.

Ellie:

Oh, interesting.

Kat:

Yeah, so you know, posting strategically might help you get found a little more in search. Yeah, there you go. Love that. I do too. Okay, well thank you for playing my little game with me. Oh yeah. I appreciate you being a good sport. Absolutely. And we'll, we'll kind of dive into the meat of this episode. So. I think this is kind of like my, this section is called Why Bother? You know, why, why, why are we doing this? Like, what is I should ask? I mean, it is 'cause it, it's not easy as people may assume, but you've, you've, you've clearly demonstrated and you know, just this little beginning, how a lack of strategy can lead to some serious tragedies. Mm-hmm. But what exactly should dealers invest their time, their money, their energy? Into developing a strategic market plan, marketing plan. What's the, what's the payoff?

Ellie:

Hmm? What's the payoff? Yeah, so I think. Everyone would agree with this idea that our dealers clients are not impulse buyers. These products and services that dealers are offering are high end luxury for, you know, 1% of the population. And so when people are going to buy these products and services, they wanna take time to do the research because this is an investment for them. Um. And they, you know, they want to learn about different brands. They wanna see what they have to offer. They're gonna do the research, they're gonna talk to friends maybe who have utilized a dealer and get their thoughts and then go do the research. We all know that people do their research online, whether it's Google search results. Or YouTube or Facebook is one of the top search platforms in the world. They're gonna go to Facebook. And so when people come online, you want your brand to show up first. Like you wanna be the brand that they come into contact with so that when they're doing that research, hopefully they end up going with you. And so that's really where marketing comes into play. And depending on what's important to you and where you do wanna show up, marketing can help you get into those high visibility spots that you want to land in. When people are doing that research and trying to figure out who to go through. Who to

Kat:

go with. That's such a great point. 'cause I, you know, we're not a retail industry. I mean, predominantly we're not, people do research and inve, I mean, 'cause these, this is an investment. I mean, yeah.

Kat:

Matter how much money you have, spending a good portion of it on lighting, you know, makes you think more about it than it is if you're just gonna go buy, you know, something off the shelf. So I think that's a really good point. Research matters and being visible matters. Yeah. Um, okay. So. It's all about why now let's get into the kind of the how of it. So how does a dealer get started? Ellie, can you kind of walk us through a little bit about. How you start thinking about your marketing strategy?

Ellie:

Hmm. Yeah. I'm gonna sound a little bit like a broken record, but I think the first thing is figuring out what your business goal is. Um, you want to have an end goal in mind, or else you're gonna blindly walk into marketing, and that's gonna be almost a waste of your time. So I think it's good to sit down and figure out. What are my goals? And that could be a revenue goal or it could be something like, maybe you are a brand new business in the city and nobody knows who you are. And so your goal is to build brand awareness to get people to hear about you and understand what you, what you do, and what you have to offer. That could be a great goal. So first comes, first is have that goal in mind because then you can build the marketing strategy around that goal. Um, I would say the second thing, and we've talked about this too, is determine who your audience is, what makes them tick. What are their pain points? What do they need? What do they find valuable? When you have that in mind, that will help you craft the right message because you wanna have a message that resonates with your audience. Um, if you craft something that. Is not in line with who they are and what they need, then they're just gonna keep scrolling on passes, not even gonna resonate with them. Um, I would say the next thing is figure out what your bread and butter is. Like, what makes your business different, especially if you have a competitor in your area. What is it that you do that is beneficial to the customer that would make them want to go with you over another customer? And it could be a mission statement, a value statement, but figure out. You know, like I said, what your bread and butter is, what makes you guys stand out.

Kat:

So I think what I'm hearing is kind of like know yourself and know where you wanna go. And so, I mean, are, are we saying like if dealers don't know that about themselves, maybe the first step is to sit down and say. Kind of do a little bit of soul searching, do a little deep dive into yourself and say, who am I? Yeah.

Kat:

What do I want my business to be? And who, who do I want my customer to be? Yeah.

Kat:

You know what my ideal customer is if, you know, if I could have my pick and every, every, you know, customer I get would be the exact same, what does that look like? Mm-hmm.

Kat:

And, you know, again, not putting all our eggs in one basket, targeting, you know, multiple, uh, tactics and across multiple things.

Ellie:

Yeah, I mean our dealers can do so many different types of services for customers, whether it's AV or lighting and shading or theaters or outdoor or networking. Like there's so many different avenues. Figure out what you're really great at. Not that you can't, you know, utilize a bunch of services, but like figure out. What makes you guys great and lead with that? Um, because I think that's kind of the, the open door to clients when they're searching for somebody. Like let's just say you're really great at lighting. If you can lead with that in your messaging. When someone is searching for a dealer who does lighting, you're showcasing and touting that, like that is your specialty. That's gonna be attractive to the customer that's looking for that specific service.

Kat:

No, I completely agree. Being, being known as the best at one thing is better than not being known for doing anything or being known for being mediocre at everything.

Ellie:

Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's a little bit like, what's that saying? Um, Jack of all trades, master of none. Um, or being a master of one really great service, but still having a repertoire of other services that you can use to, to bolster the service that you're offering. Um, yeah, you're

Kat:

not

Ellie:

gonna stop

Kat:

the sale there, but we're just trying to get people in the door. You know, we're gonna get all of the wallet share of the project. We just need to get people to get in the door so your salespeople can do their job.

Ellie:

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I think even to that point, just this idea of getting people into the door. I would say the other part of building a good MA marketing strategy is figuring out what platforms you want to utilize. I, I said it in the beginning of this conversation, there's so many different areas and avenues you could go down for marketing. So it's good to sit down and figure out like, where is your audience? Where are they spending time digitally? Is it on social media? Is it on Google? Maybe it's a print option. Some people still enjoy getting print. Um, so it's, it's taking the time to figure out like where. Where you should put your time and, and where you want to be showing up digitally. Um, and then I would say even on top of that, last, but certainly not least, is figure out a budget. Like it's worth it to sit down and figure out how much of your annual revenue that you want to apply to marketing. We often say around here at one Firefly that if you want to grow or you want to become visible, spend that two to 5%. Even if you're not willing to spend something within that range, at least commit to something and stay there. Um, think of marketing as an investment, not just an expense that you're gonna try out. Um, you really want to invest in marketing and, and work through it for the long haul. That's how you're really gonna see and reap the benefits.

Kat:

Yeah, I mean, great points. Ellie, I think you nailed it. Nothing to add? No, no. Um, okay, so we, we talked about getting started and, and some good, some good parts of this, but what is the most common mistake that you see AV dealers miss in the process when they're trying to devise their strategy?

Ellie:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a really good question. You know, I, I resonate with what I'm about to say and I, I get it. I think one of the biggest mistakes is just not being patient with marketing. I think a lot of people. Deploy a marketing strategy and hope to receive, you know, quote unquote ROI from it within a couple of months or within a couple of weeks. And I think what we have to remember is marketing's not gonna solve all your problems. It is an incredibly valuable tool, but it shouldn't be the the life raft that you throw out when business is not doing well. It is why. Uh, talk about it as an investment. The more you pour into it over time, the more you'll get out of it. And so it truly is a long haul game like that 401k investment. So yeah, going back to your original question, I think the biggest mistake is, is not being patient with it. And I get that's hard 'cause you're investing money into something and you wanna see the benefits. But that's why I think it is an investment, not just an expense. And as, as long as you're willing to dedicate that time and that money towards it, you will see fruits from it over time.

Kat:

Yeah, I mean, great point. I think you have to look at marketing like it's an essential, you know, part of your infrastructure, of your business. Mm-hmm. So just as valuable as your people, as your tech stack, as your inventory management, as your scheduling, like it is, marketing is a piece of that and it all comes together to help it grow. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. All right. So then, so, so we've talked about how you started, we've talked about mistakes that you can make. Let's talk about success. Okay. That's the fun part. Yeah. Uh, so, so how do we make sure that the strategies that we're developing work, so what metrics or signals or, you know, smoke signals or can people look forward to see that their marketing strategy is coming together?

Ellie:

Yeah, well, I would say the first thing that comes to mind that everybody's gonna clap their hands for is leads. We all want leads. I think that's the end game, but there are a lot of other signposts that we can look out for that showcase that we're headed in the right direction. So I think the easiest, easiest examples to think of the buyer's journey or the the buyer's funnel and the three, kind of the most simplistic breakdown is you've got an awareness section at the very top of the funnel. Then you've got engagement, and then you've got conversions. So when it comes to those signposts, I would say with awareness, you're thinking about impressions and reach, and those are metrics that basically tell you if your brand is even showing up. Is it showing up in Google search results? Is it showing up in your Facebook feed? Um, and then I would say engagement, that second layer. Um, there's some other great signposts to look at and that is referring to people clicking on your social posts or people clicking through to your website and looking at the pages on your website. And then of course, we've got conversions, which people calling you, submitting a form. Maybe you have a live chat agent on your website. They start a chat engagement with them. So I would say those three areas are, are, um, the best places to look at to figure out if your marketing is working.

Kat:

Okay. And if it's not working, what is the first thing you do when you see it's not working? Is there, are we adjusting? Do we make pivots? Do we just, Sally forth. What, what are you do?

Ellie:

Yeah, it's, it's a great question. Um, marketing is always changing, so I think it is so smart to evaluate your marketing from time to time. It's definitely not a set it and forget it. Uh, type of tool. So let's go back to the funnel. So, um, I think it's good to assess the entire funnel. So let's say we look at awareness and maybe your brand isn't showing up at all. It's not showing in Google search, you're not getting impressions or reach. Figure out where the drop off is there. Or maybe it's happening in engagement. Maybe your brand is showing up. But people aren't clicking on it. Maybe they're not clicking on your Facebook ads or clicking through to your website. Maybe the message that you've crafted, the caption or the photos just aren't resonating with your audience. Maybe that's where the drop off is happening and it's worth it. To tweak some of those captions or try a different video or a different style of content, or maybe it's conversions, maybe, you know, they're finding you in Google, they're clicking on your link, they're getting to your website, but then the value proposition or the call to action just doesn't resonate with them. It wasn't what they thought they were looking for, and so they leave. And so maybe it's time to do some AB testing or just tweak the value proposition. Um, and a lot of this is data related. So you can go through and look at Google Analytics or Google Search Console and you can kind of see where the drop off is happening and look at trends over time to figure out, okay, what area of the funnel should I focus in on to maybe pivot your strategy. Maybe it's time to add in an additional service to bolster what you're already doing. Um, so yeah, that's where I would say to assess is, is look at that funnel and, and kind of sift through the data and figure out where the drop off is.

Kat:

Um, genius. I think you've just given everybody a pro tip out there, so I, you know, I'm my best. Well, I, I mean, it's so smart because knowing where people are leaving you, because we're talking about digital marketing, so these people have never met you. Essentially, or maybe they have and they're just fact checking you or whatever. So you're not involved in this process at all. So being able to tell from one of those three, three stages where you leave, where they leave, you can kind of give us a really good idea of where you're not being your best or what to make that conversion.

Ellie:

Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's pretty crazy what you can uncover. With data, and that's why, you know, on top of knowing different marketing platforms, like how Facebook works, how Google ad works, it's also knowing how these data platforms work, like how GA four works and how Google Search Console works. Because without this data, you're not armed with factual information of like what's actually happening behind the scenes with your marketing.

Kat:

I, you know me, I love some good data. Mm-hmm. Uh, so, so interesting. 'cause there is so much more to unpack. I mean, yes, obviously leads end goal, sales end goal. I'm in sales. I know sales is the end goal, but there's a lot more to measure and tweak and adjust and build that can help your brand in other areas than just marketing. For example, right?

Ellie:

Yeah, totally. And it, it really takes the guesswork out of it. There's nothing more frustrating than putting time and effort into a marketing strategy and then it not working and you not knowing why. And so being armed with data at least gives you a little bit of a storyline of what's happening with your marketing. I think that's the best way to use data, is to use it to tell. Story. Sure. You could say like, Hey, I'm growing in organic search traffic, but what is that actually getting me? But if you can see that that growth in organic search traffic is getting more eyes on your brand, the more eyes you get on your brand, the more conversations that are starting, the more conversions that you're getting. So yeah, the data portion really takes the guesswork out of it and helps you kind of steer the ship as far as where your marketing should be going, and maybe new routes and avenues to try if things aren't working.

Kat:

Yeah, it's so smart. I think, and I'll throw this in there 'cause just to tell on myself a little bit, personal flaw, and I know we're all human, so we do this a little bit, but we put a lot of ourselves into what we do every day, not just in marketing, but we tend to think, oh, I'm not on social media, so it's not, it's not valuable. Or I, or I don't look at direct mail or read my email, or I don't do X, Y, or Z, so that means my customers don't, when in reality I think we know that's not the case.

Ellie:

Yeah, that's interesting. I think it's easy to like put ourselves or even our customers in a box that way, but I mean, the truth is people are on Facebook even if you don't like it, people are on LinkedIn. Even if you don't use it, um, people do read their mail even if you tend to throw it away. Like there's always gonna people who do the opposite of what you do. So I think it's worth it to at least test out a platform and that's, that's the beauty of marketing is. You can test something for X amount of time, and if it's not working, that's okay. It doesn't mean your marketing is failing, it just means it's time for a pivot or a strategy change to figure out, to figure out where your audience is. If they're not on Facebook, for instance.

Kat:

Yeah. And I think, you know, one of the most valuable tools we have is that we have demographics. So we know who's on each platform. If you're an in or if you're a dealer who wants to target specifiers, builders, you know, designers, architects, that kind of thing. We know they're on LinkedIn. Everybody is. That's where your business is. We know, you know, what age and you know, income level demographics are in certain places, and we can target that. And maybe it turns out that's not your audience. You thought it was, but maybe it's not. Yeah. Oh, it's interesting. Oh, I'll get, I'll get down a data rabbit hole. I know. Same. I, same. Don't leave me down that rabbit hole. I, you know, I think it all comes back to strategy and, you know, I hate saying things like test and measure because it, it comes to my mind of like, you know, the spaghetti method where you just throw everything at the wall and see if it sticks. But it's not, it's, it's measuring the reality of what's actually happening versus what our preconceived notions are of what will happen. Mm-hmm. And lets us be better. Again, in more areas of our business than just marketing. Yeah,

Ellie:

and, and even to that point, it goes back to what we talked about earlier with being patient with marketing because not everything that you try out the first go around is gonna work, and that's okay. That's just the nature of marketing. Like you said, when you throw spaghetti at the walnut, everything is gonna stick and that's okay. And that's where the patience comes in, is being to work, willing to work through that and figure out what does work and when something doesn't work, finding a different opportunity and pivoting that strategy to try something new.

Kat:

Well, and I think, I think you, you said this earlier, but it bears mentioning, is giving it enough time. To get enough data to find out what part of it is not working. Is it the conversions? Is it when they get to you, what what we've told them does, or what marketing has told them doesn't match what you're telling them, and so they leave you there. So there's a lot of different parts and pieces to unpack once you have the data to do it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Okay. All right. We're, we're gonna get out of the data rabbit hole. Okay. So tell me. Some practical things that AV dealers can literally do today if they're trying to improve their marketing strategy?

Ellie:

Yeah. The first and easiest one is if you do not have a Facebook or LinkedIn or an Instagram business page build one, because that's, that takes little to no time at all. What I will say is, before you do that. Put a plan in place. Don't build it just for the sake of building it and to post for the sake of posting, like have a plan in place, figure out some goals, um, and then you can formulate your posts around those goals. Um, that's the first tip that I would give. Um, and also what I would say when it comes to Facebook pages and, and. LinkedIn and Instagram, don't feel like you need a professional photographer to, you know, take these grandiose photos of your projects. Honestly, what works the best on social is just taking out your iPhone and taking pictures of behind the scenes of your projects and finished photos, or honestly even photos of team events. When you can showcase your team, you can build that team rapport. So it's great not only for your clients, but also building comradery and rapport internally with your, uh, with your employees. I would say the second thing is just, you know, considering that most dealers clients are repeat business, send out a new a newsletter. So, you know, MailChimp is a great platform, so it was constant contact. HubSpot is another one. Set up a really simple email list and just email your customers that you haven't touched base with in a while and just say, Hey, we wanted to touch base and if you need any help, just know, know we're here. You can throw in a couple of images of maybe some projects that you've done recently to, uh. To get clients excited about upgrade opportunities and tuneups. Um, so that's a pretty easy thing that you could do. The other thing that comes top of mind is, um, a website. So obviously you can't just build a website in one day, but what I think you could do today is commit to the investment of updating your website or building a new website if you don't have one. I mean. Go back to this idea of your website is like your online showroom, and if you don't have a place where you can showcase who you are and what you do and the projects that you've done for other people, I think it'll be a lot harder to get that sale versus a competitor who may have a great website. So I would say today, commit. To updating your website, figure out how much budget that's gonna take, and, and make a decision to say yes to that, and then obviously get into the process of upgrading or building

Kat:

one. Such a good point. I have conversations with our customers where I'm like, tell me about your business. What do you do? And while they're telling me about their business and who they are and what they do, I'm, you know, looking on their website in the background and, and none of what they've told me. I can see. Mm. So go back to that thought that, you know, this is about people who have never met you, never seen you, and this is their only impression of you. Right. Does that match what you say you are?

Ellie:

Yeah.

Kat:

That's so interesting. Sorry. Yeah. It's

Ellie:

like, it's like going on on a first date and it's that first impression. It's so important and if you don't nail it. Like, it's not gonna work out that great. And so when people, when people are finding you in Google search and they're like, oh my gosh, look a Lutron dealer, and then they land on your website and it's hard to navigate, or images are outdated, like that's not a great first impression. So, oh, I think we, especially your website, that's the foundation of your marketing. So if anywhere that's a great place to start.

Kat:

I think we've just nailed another really good metaphor, which is gonna be, you know, do you lie on your dating profile in your Tinder profile? Yeah. Well, does it match who you are? Did you lie about your age or height? Yeah, you're using old pictures. Honestly, that makes a lot of sense. We're not wrong. I think we have found a new way to explain why your website's important. There you go. Oh, well, I mean, thank you Ellie, so much for coming here today and sharing your insights and advice with everybody. So before we all leave and, and you know, go about the rest of our days, what is the single most important thing, and you might've said this, but you can repeat yourself if it's that important. Yeah. Uh, what is the most important thing that you would like everybody listening to remember?

Ellie:

Hmm. I'm gonna drop you another metaphor that you can use. Okay. Think of marketing like exercise. You're only gonna see results when you stick with it. And I, I truly, truly believe in that. And it, it also goes back to this idea of marketing should not act as a life raft. When business is not doing well, try to put some marketing into place before you actually need it so that when your business does need to weather a storm, the economy has been really weird the past couple of years. We've had some, some dealers who have had to weather the storm, but the ones that have weathered it the best have been doing marketing for a long time and have been willing to invest even when they didn't actually need it in that moment because it was strong when they did need it. Um. So yeah, marketing is a lot like exercise and don't rely on it like a life raft. Put it into place proactively.

Kat:

I mean, best advice. Best advice anybody can give, Ellie, and since I have made it this entire episode without doing this, just for the reasons I have to Strategery,

Ellie:

yes, strategery.

Kat:

I'm glad Saturday Night Live, once you came on today to talk about Strategery, I took all of me to not do that. Proud of you. You made it through. Really working on that. Okay, so thank you again, Ellie, for coming on, and thank you all to everyone listening out there. Ellie, if people wanna get ahold of you, how can they reach you?

Ellie:

Mm, yeah, I mean, you can find me, um, on Facebook, on Instagram or Kat. I don't know if you wanna link in the show notes. It's my one Firefly email. If you have any questions about marketing, it's not obvious. I'd love to talk about strategy, so I'd love to have a conversation with you. So please reach out.

Kat:

Thanks, Ellie, and thanks all of you for joining us on another episode of Automation Unplugged Marketing Experts. Until next time, keep your marketing strategic and your noise level low.

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Ron Callis is the CEO of One Firefly, LLC, a digital marketing agency based out of South Florida and creator of Automation Unplugged. Founded in 2007, One Firefly has quickly became the leading marketing firm specializing in the integrated technology and security space. The One Firefly team work hard to create innovative solutions to help Integrators boost their online presence, such as the elite website solution, Mercury Pro.

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Resources and links from the interview:

• Katharine Wheeler LinkedIn Profile Page


• Ellie O'Hara LinkedIn Profile Page


• One Firefly: Who we are

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